Thanks for adding those details, Tracey. I can imagine your frustration. Had they yet established the system I described in my first post? That was done during the week just past, according to eyewitness reports: that being the case, next Monday would then represent the first full week in which this new system will have been in place. You didn't say when your daughter's application for the visa was filed, but I'll presume it was filed after 8 November, and the new laws will govern it. Was the INM offices closed the entire time she was here? Pity if it was, or that she couldn't have come earlier or stayed longer to deal with this. In your situation, I wouldn't hesitate to insist on going with the lawyer to the offices of INM and taking whatever time is required to have a chance to talk with the staff there about what the holdup may be [your daughter would need to write a letter to the lawyer, with copy to you, requesting that he personally visit the offices of INM, with you in tow, to check on the case. Without the letter, the lawyer might put you off. Even with the letter, he may nevertheless say he will not act unless the company directs him to, in which case you'd need a letter from the company, written at your daughter's request. You would be going mainly to verify that the lawyer actually does it, instead of just saying that he did (do you detect a low opinion of the veracity of lawyers?): when I've had my own cases stuck at this stage a personal visit to INM has immediately moved it along to the next.] It may be that no more than this is required, at this point, and the company lawyer is simply loath to do it, now that he risks getting into a slow moving line. Relying exclusively on what the lawyer tells you to do now (nothing), or on what he tells you by way of explanation for the delay, risks achieving neither progress nor clarity about the situation. Your daughter's case is an interesting one, raising the possibility that she could have come to Mexico, visa free, then have you apply for permission for her to stay based the family relationship (such a status change is pemitted under the new law) and be given temporary residence (former FM3) as a result, then followed by her filing an application at Cancun INM for a change of activities- asking for permission to accept the job offer she has. If this sequence could have been followed, as I think it might have been, it would have taken the Embassy out of the loop, simplifying the process. [After the investment all of you have made, including the lawyer's investment of effort and time in the approach he chose, I wouldn't expect him to agree that this alternative approach would have been available. The critical difference in the two is the right to change status, in country, from FMM to FM3 (now called residente temporal), based on family relationship- something not permitted in country when the application is based on a job offer.] ___________________
As a footnote to my previous post, here's the details on what is required to go from FMM to Residente Temporal, based on family ties, at the local offices of INM. http://www.inm.gob.mx/static/Tramit...e_residente_temporal_por_vinculo_familiar.pdf And, here's the requirements for changing from a family based temporary residence to an employment based residence, again, at the local offices of INM. http://www.inm.gob.mx/static/Tramites_LM/Estancia_LM/Permiso_de_trabajo/Permiso_de_Trabajo.pdf Looking at these it's hard to mistake that this option could have been pursued, and your daughter have been here with you for it.
While V, Mr Positive has only great things to pass on, I would also add to the masses that I am sick of this shit. I am here now, arriving before 9am to hand in my photos and such. I was given number 27. It is now 10:33, they are on freakin 11. The main line to hand in docs or get info are moving right along. Soooo, when it comes time to do photos and fingerprints, plan to be here the whole day. Last week I waited 2.5 hours before giving up when i found out I had roughly another 2 hours more.
...plan to arrive early! Now that they have this new system in place in which everyone must take a number and the office now opening at 8 AM, it changes the dynamic, and coming early can pay off as it did in my case. I was number 2 in the fingerprinting line, and was seen immediately when they began their work at that desk. Right now there is a huge backlog of cases so the lines are long: in another four weeks or so I bet it won't be so busy. Good luck there, ToriB! Hang in there, just a little longer. At least you're nearly done with the processing for this year.
While it doesn't make it any better for people who are currently experiencing frustration due to the Mexican immigration system, you may feel a bit of justice knowing that American immigration also does quite a bit to make to experience unplasant for Mexicans. In Cuidad Juarez, you get to strip down to your undies and undergo a medical exam! You will get your breasts or testicles fondled! You will be asked extremely personal questions! And then, once you are ready to go to the visa interview, Americans are not a allowed into the Embassy, so you wander in at 7 am and could be in there for hours! My husband went in at 7am and was one of the last ones out at 5pm and I sat outside all that time having NO IDEA what was going on.
I, too, have had some dealings with US Immigration, gbchayctca, and I am grateful that it is Mexican Immigration that I have to deal with. In my experience it has a far more human face. Over and over I see the frustration people experience dealing with administrative processes such as the one represented by INM. The combination of uncertainty how to proceed, the difficulty of getting clear information about what may be needed, and the wait times involved all combine to create stress. (I've mentioned before that my wife can't bear to deal with it. As soon as I get my card I'm planning to apply on her behalf for permanent residency, making it unnecessary for her to have to even think about this again.) The ones at the greatest disadvantage in dealing with INM are those who have a company lawyer handling their application, such as Tracey mentioned, earlier. They end up in the unenviable position of having no direct access to information about how the case is going, not being sure everything is being done as it should be, and little to no influence over the way the matter is being handled. I've probably put together a dozen or so processes before INM, Cancun, since I've been here. Everything I've applied for has been granted, and the files considered complete at submission. Among the more novel has been permission to work independently and, now, permanent residency based on points. I am not married to a Mexican, have no Mexican children, have been in Inmigrante status just two years, did not submit any financial documents, etc. In other words, the only basis for the permanent status in the application was points, a method that appeared for the first time in the new laws relating to permanent residency, and is discussed in this thread- http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/liv...a/24948-permanent-residency-requirements.html I'd be happy to chat informally with anyone who feels they could use a little help with understanding the issues relating to immigration, here.
new rules I had my first experience with the new system in Cancun this month and it really sucked. My son and I were there for 4 hours only to be told that the new rules which went into effect in November no longer allow applications for visa as family members. He came in on a tourist visa and will now have to return to Houston to get his fm3 or fm2 visa. The application and information I was given in October was nixed in November. They told me converting a tourist visa is no longer possible in Mexico. You have to get them back home. Has anyone had a recent experience applying for a visa back in the states? I got mine 11 years ago, so I'm sure it's quite different now.
Tristan this is exactly what my daughter is having to do- she is in UK waiting for immigration here to do their thing then advise the consulate in Uk that its ok for her to trravel. She has been waiting since Novemeber and we have been told her requst has been pre approved but now we have to wait.
Tracey, what "thing" is immigration here doing? I was told they have nothing to do with it. That my son just has to go back to Houston and apply. Funny thing is, the last time I faced something like this, I was told u COULDN't apply backin Houston. That you had to come here and apply. I'm applying for citizenship asap. Eleven years of this is more than enough.
Sorry you had a bad experience. Now that they open at 8 AM, and everyone must take a number, it pays to get there before 8 AM, and get a low number. Tristan, do you have legal counsel? Because this is simply not true in the case of a son or daughter of a foreigner who holds an FM3 or FM2 (though the person who said it was undoubtedly thought it was true when they said it). Read this, which was posted above, and you'll see what I mean. http://www.inm.gob.mx/static/Tramit...e_residente_temporal_por_vinculo_familiar.pdf ["Sticklers" can kindly ignore my use of FM2/3 terminology as this is something people easily relate to, having lived with that terminology for years.] Tracey's daughter's application is for a visa to work, not a visa to join her family here. Work visas require the local INM to determine that it is appropriate, under all the circumstances, for a foreigner to be given permission to accept a job offer.
