Just got My FM3 it took me 3 trips and a little less than one month, first trip was the 8th of may. I had no problems at all in fact it was even easier this year because we no longer have to fill out the SAT 5 forms. There is a whole lot of changes in personel though and it looks like they got rid of the most obnoxious guy that worked there have not seen him, good move on their part.
Congrats! This could be a new World record! Cant believe your still on FM 3 though, after what 10+ years?
The people I know with dual citizenship swear it's wonderful, and that you don't lose anything. After lots of research I've decided that it's only a benefit to me to become Mexican, I don't see a downside at all.
Lucky lady, this was the WORST year for me, I guess someone had to have it easy! And as Rivergirl said, there are no drawbacks to having dual citizenship, you don't lose any of your American rights (or Canadian in my case).
Dual Nationality: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html Possible Loss of U.S. Citizenship and Dual Nationality http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_778.html If you read the above-linked pages carefully you will see that the US Gov't does not encourage dual citizenship because of the potentially compromising situations that may arise (though I'm hard pressed to imagine what these might be). In my reading of this there is no downside. If you became a Mexican citizen and then went to work for the Mexican gov't you could lose your US citizenship. But you basically can't lose your US citizenship unless you TRY to.
And for the Canadians....pretty much impossible to lose your Canadian citizenship, here's some basic info, lots out there on the Canadian government sites.... http://www.voyage.gc.ca/main/pubs/dual_citizenship-en.asp http://www.voyage.gc.ca/main/before/faq/dual_nationality-en.asp http://www.cic.gc.ca/ENGLISH/citizen/dualci_e.html
So for those of you who are going for a duel citizenship, are you going through a lawyer? After reading the paperwork there are a couple of things I don't know how to word correctly, ie if it has to be written in formal jargon. I don't want to risk messing it up. I have receive one price from a lawyer which was $8000 pesos in total - a lot higher than the cost of the citizenship itself. Any advice? Thanks Jen
You are both correct you can't lose your citizenship however you do lose your rights in Mexico as a US or Canadian citizen you gain all the rights as a Mexican paying taxes, voting, owning property You also have to travel with a Mexican passport . Also you can't bring in a car or a boat. I guess it depends on what individually works for you.
Not being able to bring in a car hardly seems like a problem to me, I know lots of people like to do that but I just don't get it. Cars here are only a little more money, and some of them are cheaper (a used Mini Cooper is WAY cheaper here than where I used to live in the States, so is a used Honda). And being able to work anywhere without jumping through the INM hoops would be a big advantage. Not to mention not having the hassle of paying for and renewing an FM3 each year. When you enter Mexico now you are required to enter with your FM3 and your US passport (2 documents). If you become a Mexican then you ONLY need to enter with your Mexican passport (1 document). So that would actually be simpler. You would still use your US passport to enter the US. Having to pay taxes here, now that's a drag. But as a US citizen you HAVE to file your taxes in the US even if you don't live there and don't earn there. THAT seems ridiculous to me, but being expected to pay taxes in the country I live in seems normal. To me the only thing you really lose is that the US won't come rescue you if there's a major hurricane or if a war breaks out here. But after seeing how they "rescued" all the tourists stranded after Wilma I know that I'm better off not being rescued by them (besides if you have money you can PAY to get rescued from anywhere that the U.S. Consul could help you anyway). And war is more likely to break out there than here. Losing the right to run whining to the U.S. Consul doesn't seem to me like it's much to lose. And from what I'm seeing that's ALL I will lose when I become Mexican.
