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What legal documents are necesary to move to Mexico?


Garth

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For those of you who have moved to Mexico, what documents did you need to bring with you from your home country (canada in our case) Almost nothing is required for a visa, but I wondered if other documents were needed later for heath care, banking, drivers licence, etc. For example birth certificate, marriage certificate, official driving record, degrees, criminal record checks? Do they have to be legalized at the Mexican consulate?

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We moved here from the US three months ago with a Mexican visa for temporary residence (Residencia Temporal) in our passport. We got it from the Mexican consulate nearest our home, Seattle. The consulate required proof of income, marriage (in our case), criminal record check, and citizenship (birth certificate copy). BUT, we found that each Mexican consulate has a little different set of requirements--Seattle is not the same as Portland is not quite the same as Phoenix, etc.

Once here in Ajijic, we "exchanged" the visa, which looks sort of like the main page of our passport, for a Temporary Residence card from the Mexican immigration office in Chapala. This cost us the equivalent of several hundred US dollars, as I remember. Our understanding is that the visa that we have previously had stamped upon entering the country when we've flown here for vacations, would only allow us to be here legally for 6 months. The temporary resident visa allows us to stay here a full year, I think--at least, and can be renewed for three years and then exchanged for permanent resident status. But, that's just our understanding; we're still learning--facts are elusive, we've found.

We didn't bring a car, but need our US driver's license to rent one.

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Thanks. I was surprised that our consulate in Quito (online info) did not need a police record check or marriage certificate. We are going back to Canada in a few weeks for a trip, and wanted to pick up various certificates "just in case." Did you need to have any of them apostiled to be accepted by the Mexican consulate in the USA? In Canada we would have to get them legalized, rather than apostiled.

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You may need your marriage certificate. The proper terms are: Residente Temporal and Residente Permanente. Intercasa (Spencer) is a member of this board. He is an attorney whose office facilitates immigration matters. Contact him for accurate information. Tombo, that goes for you too.

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We moved from Sask in June 2014. In Canada each consulate is responsible for a particular area i.e. Vancouver office for BC & Yukon; Calgary for AB & SK; etc. Sooooo we had to get our Sask marriage cert authenticated by the Calgary office. I actually made several color copies once authenticated and have put the original away. We needed it when we applied for the VISAs and when we bought our house. I understand that there is a question on the new immigration form regarding criminal activities but we didn't need a criminal record check. Haven't run into anything else yet although it has been mentioned to it may be handy to have your birth certificate authenticated.

If you are Cdn, not sure why you would go thru a US consulate. We were in an out of a Cdn consulate in hours and had our passports stamped with VISAs within a few days. It might be an idea to call and make an appointment at a consulate before you get to Cda. We ended up in Toronto to apply for our VISAs (only one that we could get an apptment at) and they allowed us to email all our documents to them for vetting before we showed up. The consulate can tell you what type of financials they want/need; we used quarterly investment statements and anything we got from the bank needed a teller's stamp.

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Get info WideSky. My wife and I are Canadians, but we are living in Cuenca Ecuador. So we will apply to the Quito Ecuador Mexican consulate. However, we have not yet been able to talk to anyone there, the phones have not been answered for over a week, or I am doing something wrong. Great tip on quarterly financial statements with a tellers stamp. I did not think of that. I am also checking with Spencer, the local Lakeside lawyer, to see if he can think of anything else we might need.

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Nothing should need to be apostille nor legalized once in Mexico for visa if both pre-approved. If one is pre-approved and the other applying under family once in Mexico marriage license needs to be legalized. Canadian documents can only be legalized (not by a MX consulate).

You can get pre-approved visa at any MX consulate and if driving, Laredo would be easiest and usually 2 hours or less. The law says only go to a MX consulate where you live legally but this is not enforced. Once in Mexico a birth certificate and marriage license may be handy from time to time.

For those seeking pre-approvale almost no MX consulates require a back ground check. Seattle is one of the very few.

A foreign plated car is not allowed once a Permanent Resident.

Canadian driving record is not required.

saludos

Sonia

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Perhaps Cdn consulates do things differently. I did not change my name when I married and although we applied (I as permanente & my husband temporale/family) both Calgary & Toronto consulates were adamant that the marriage cert needed to be authenticated by the area responsible consulate before our pre-approval applications would be considered. The marriage cert was one of the docs the consulate wanted in the application package.

Once we arrived and applied I was granted permanente status, my husband temporale but only for one year; when he reapplied this year expecting permanante under family unity, it was denied as he was not married to a mx national.

so he is still temporale for another 2 years before he to can become permanente.

Garth, if you are accessing your bank statements on line; print them off and have them stamped at the bank. Broker statements were on their letterhead so they were accepted (consulate & here). Oh, it can only be ONE of the money selection not a combination of say, investment and pension. Remember your pre-approval application will include financials AND your MX application will also need to include them; so maybe have 2 sets stamped. In Cda they kept all our paperwork so...

Getting stuff 'legalized' in Cda (Cdn version of apostille) is a royal PITA; had to do it at work a few times; a notary can legalize the document, then the lieutenant governor/commissioner needs to attest that the notary is legal in that jurisdiction (cost/time varies).

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Best to bring legalized marriage and birth certificates. You may need them to prove your relationship or in the event of the death of one of the parties.

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Thanks everyone! Sounds like we will need 4 copies of our marriage certificate legalized (one each to give to the local consulate and one each to take to Mexico with us) and two copies each of our birth certificates legalized (one for the local consulate, and one for Mexico). I would not have thought of the extra copies.

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Almost no MX consulates asks for apostille or legalized marriage certificate. In Laredo and several consulates they accept common law including same-sex relationships based on one's word.

Out of 100 + clients with pre-approved visas max 3 had to provide background check. I wish it was everyone but that is reality. I have had no one having to legalize a marriage license or birth certificate or any other document to be pre-approved.

Legalization of Canadian Documents

Did you know that Canada IS NOT a Member State of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation of Foreign Public Documents (known as the Apostille convention)?

Your documents must therefore be legalized.

For further information on legalizations, these links will be useful:

Canada:

http://www.international.gc.ca/department-ministere/authentication-authentification_documents.aspx?lang=eng

Mexico: http://embamex.sre.gob.mx/canada_eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1255&Itemid=41

saludos

Sonia

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Thanks for the info Sonya. SInce we are wanting to get pre-approved in Ecuador, I am trying to find out which documents have to be apostilled in Canada,a and which do not. I will let you know what happens. If we don't find out before we go back to Canada for a quick trip, we will be bringing home apostilled documents with us, just in case!

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Thanks for the info Sonya. SInce we are wanting to get pre-approved in Ecuador, I am trying to find out which documents have to be apostilled in Canada,a and which do not. I will let you know what happens. If we don't find out before we go back to Canada for a quick trip, we will be bringing home apostilled documents with us, just in case!

"... apostilled in Canada ..." As far as I know Canada does not apostile any documents.

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Canada apostilles documents only at their office on the beaches of Alberta.

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If you are moving to Mexico, I suggest you bring ALL your documents and copies. For instance, to get a senior's card, a birth certificate, as well as photocopies of every page in your passport (yes, even the blank ones) are required, at least by the DIF office in my area. Different govt. bodies require different info. Mostly they just all love paper, the more the better.

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  • 1 month later...

Let's say I am applying for temporary residency at the Phoenix consulate. I've been told to prove the minimum monthly income requirement (which is currently $1,500) my most recent Social Security award letter (they send out out each year which states your name, SS number and the dollar amount that is directly deposited into your account) is sufficient.

I will also be bringing six months of bank statements to prove I'm not on the edge of becoming impoverished if for some reason SS misses or stops my checks. How does one get "bank stamps" of these statements? The US doesn't really have a stamp system. Can I print my on-line statements (which also reflect my monthly Social Security direct deposit amounts) and is that sufficient, or do they need to be notarized in the US? Or, notarized here in MX? Given that my bank has no branch here, the only other way I can see getting them "stamped" (if I understand the meaning correctly) is to call customer service of my branch, ask them to mail me my past 6 months of statements, but I am not sure if they will do anything formal (such as stamp them - I just don't think that is done in the US, and instead I'd have to get them notarized.)

Anyone been through this?

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