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| Resident Visas for Mexico - FM2 & FM3 Mexican Visas |
Resident Visas for Mexico FM2 & FM3 For those of us who want to stay a while, but don’t want the burden of leaving the country every 6 months, dealing with the uncertainty of playing the “puedo tener 180 días” game, or those who just can’t seem to ignore the whole thing, there are the FM2 and FM3 visas. Generally you must fist get your FM3, wait five years, then apply for your FM2, but most stop at the FM3 because it has distinct advantages over its higher ranking counterpart.
Why is this? Well, as the holder of an FM3 you are considered a non-immigrant resident as you can stay without going to the boarder every 6 months for a new one. I think you can also move your stuff down without paying tariffs at the boarder. You can have a car with foreign plates, you can come and go as you please. The right to have a foreign plated car is great becuase you don't have to pay the tenencia (the anual car tax which assesed according to the value of your car andit can be expensive).
In order to obtain an FM3, you need:
1) Proof of income over some arbitrary amount that changes frequently but is usually somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 to $1,500 and sufficient proof (a bank statement at least and it’s a good idea to bring copies of all relevant financial documents).
Disputing opinion from Mexican officials themselves about the nature of this income. That is, if you are young, they might deny you a FM3 visa unless you can demonstrate that it is interest income earned on investments rather than just income of the everyday sort. To get this sort of income, you would need several hundred thousand dollars invested. If you are an older person on a pension, then it should be no problem.
There are so few good jobs in Mexico, the last thing the government wants is some Spanish speaking gringo to come down to Mexico and take all the good jobs so I guess, in theory, that’s understandable. In practice, anything pretty much goes and there aren’t a lot of hassles… provided you could really find many go getters who want to work 6 days a week for a few hundred dollars a month with no benefits. I'll pass.
If you own and live in/on your own property, this income requirement can be reduced somewhat.
You'll also need:
2) A letter of application the states: your name, DOB, address, etc.
3) A letter of clearance from the local police or Mexican citizen or two to sign a statement that you are of good moral character.
4) Two passports sized photos
5) The visa application
6) and the application fee which also changes but is currently $65 USD.
You have to renew it each year and it's good for 5 years. At the end of the 5 years, you can upgrade to the FM2 or better still just get a new FM3.
For the FM2, you need pretty much the same things that you would for the FM3, but you get a different set of rights. After 5 years of this visa you basically get your Mexican Green card that gives you all the rights of a Mexican citizen save the right to vote. Two big disadvantages are that you must reside in the country a majority of the year and you can no longer have a car with foreign plates. But you can work in most any job... provided you would actually want to.
Here is the actual application. Side 1 & Side 2
Here is a not so useful list of consolate locations from the official website of the Mexican embassy in the US. http://www.sre.gob.mx/acerca/directorio/dircons.htm
You'll notice that there are a few ringers thrown in like QUETZALTENANGO and RIO DE JANEIRO but don't let that fool you ... these aren't really US cities.
The Place to go online is: http://www.gobernacion.gob.mx In fact it's listed on their "Solicitude De Trámite Migratorio" (Immigration Aplication). I was really excited to see that Mexico was gettiing organized.and putting an end to all the false information out there online and circulating among their own beaureacrats. So I went to their site and clicked on "Trámites" and there it was "Instutito Nacional de Migración." This was it, pay dirt, the jackpot, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so I clicked the link and, ah but of course, "The page cannot be displayed."
Well, better luck next time I guess. In the meantime, I hope this page and the forms I've managed to get togther will serve as a good half measure or stop gap in the meantime.
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| What's happening
in Acapulco? |
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