As I was posting my rant about US Immigration, a friend was posting on another forum about her experience in Juarez. She and her fiance have been living together in Playa since 2005 and have been dating since 2003. Guess what? Denied! Lack of evidence. Hopefully they'll have better luck when they go back tomorrow to try to talk some sense into them. And people who met their mail-order bride online, take two visits (or in some cases just one) to their country, and amass a billion photos fly right through the process!
Apparently Juarez is easier than many other places for Mexicans to get green cards. Immigration lawyers keep track of which offices are granting more green cards and citizenship to people of different nationalities. Evidence is critical. Your friends need to show love letters, and clippings from the paper showing them together and photos of them in different locales and bills with both of their names on them.
The evidence that convinced the US Immigration agent who interviewed us was a State Farm insurance policy with both our names on it for a Rolex I gave my husband when he turned 40 and became an old fart.
Clarification: I meant that from what I'd seen U.S. immigration was consistent from day to day with any given person's case - that they don't tell you one day you need two copies of something, then they tell you the next day it's four when you show up with two, etc. I don't doubt that U.S. immigration inconsistently applies the rules between different people or groups of people.
Good point, Gringa. That does make sense. Had I applied for a visa from Cancun, we would not have the type of primary evidence necessary to prove an ongoing relationship. Bills in Mexico are very rarely registered in even one of the couple's names, much less both if renting. It's proven much easier stateside: my visa bills with charges in Cancun, months of hundreds of text messages and calls to and from his cell phone, boarding passes, pictures dating back seven years, my thesis acknowledgement page thanking his family...if that's not enough, I'll go ballistic. Sorry to have sidetracked this thread.
You are right, they set forth the rules and those are the rules. But they treat everyone differently and judge each case separately. In Mexico if you fit the criteria you get an FM3. In the US that's not how it works, they judge you individually and apply the rules erratically.
If you accept the Immigration process as part of the price you pay to live here, it doesn't hurt as much. It is a pain in the ass, but it just makes getting your documentation all the more sweeter.
Immigration I have to disagree with you Rivergirl. You can go to Immigration 100 times and it doesn't mean things are progressing. We spent a year running back and forth trying to get my husbands FM2 renewed. Every other week was a new letter, a $25. fee (which over the year added up to more than $500)and more time wasted in the Immigration Office. Well, wouldn't you know it...it came down to a yes or no after the year was up and they denied his FM2! THAT WAS AFTER LIVING HERE FOR 5 years!!!After being totally fed up, we applied through our attorney in Mexico City. It was a bit more expensive but 95% less hassle....she handled EVERYTHING! I can't say the Immigration guuys are bad guys. My experience after 8 years of dealing with the Immigration Officers in the airport has always been positive. We have always been treated very nicely and the Officers are generally friendly...everyone has a bad day but I can honestly say we have never had a bad experience with Airport Immigration. I think the Immigration Officers in the Immigration Office, however, require an IQ test. If you FAIL, they hire you...the closer to 0 you get the higher your position! Just my take on the subject!
CancunNurse - Your husband's case is not typical by any means. Not to say that he was treated well, I know he wasn't, and I know that in his case they just gave him the run around for a while. But in general when people are asked to go back and bring another paper it does mean that things are moving forward. The reality is that Mexican immigration law is quite hard to comply with, all things considered. And it's not difficult to run amok of their rules and find that you don't comply perfectly and when that happens it's difficult to fix. I know that you have not shared every gory detail of your husband's case with me, but my understanding is that somehow in the process of getting his permission to work and to live here something was done in the wrong order, and he became at least partially ineligible to live here. Like I said, not a typical case at all. The good news is that it's all straight now.
