It was an amusing time at INM, today (always easy to say that, when things end well) with my application for a "cambio a residente permanente, basado en puntos." This was something I've had in mind for a long time, and the new laws made it a little more obvious route to permanent residency than it had been, before. I got there at around 11:45 AM, and there were six customers ahead of me in the line to submit the documents to start the process. After a twenty minute wait it was my turn. I told the girl what I want to do. She made a face and it was easy to see she didn't really want to deal with this. She muttered something to her colleague and I offered her my letter, written in Spanish, explaining the basis for my request (permanent residency, based on points), and asking her to read it. After she read my letter, she started receiving my documents, but read each one carefully before accepting the next. About half way through the 23 documents I intended to submit today she started smiling, so I knew things were looking up. As she continued, she commented, by way of apology, that mine was the first application for permanent residency that they'd received under the new law, based on the points system; hence, their initial hesitancy. With my application I was able to tick all the boxes above, except for items number V. and VI., giving them latitude to find in my favor. The process ended with her telling me to check online in 15 days for the ruling, and to be prepared to come back to the office if I was asked to "presentarse". I thanked her, and she responded, "I hope it's approved." Frankly, when dealing with bureaucrats, it doesn't get any better than that. ________________
V, why do you want to change to this new status? And aside from the pro's, are there any con's? ("I have a lingering concern about the tax implications of permanent residency, and am hoping Steve will look into it before he files his renewal, which must be fairly soon, as I recall!") I don't mean to pry into your personal life. I'm just curious of the motives.
Hi, Dave. We'll pay you a visit, next time you're in P.M., which we like very much. It's a mix of psychological and practical reasons, I suppose. I'd like to get rid of the necessity of going to INM every year (will I miss those visits? Gee, I never thought of that!). I'd also like to be able to pursue whatever employment I like, without permission of INM, just as a Mexican can, which I could do with permanent residency. And, at least for a little while, I'd enjoy the idea of having done something few others have done, by getting residency based on points. I don't consider the tax implications to be a threat I couldn't manage if it came up, and Steve has said he's not worried about it, having considered it and sought professional advice. Finally, and this is the crux for INM, I like the idea of being a Mexican Resident, having adapted to the life here, and found it mostly to my liking. I might have preferred to live in Thailand, or Vietnam, but it's a hell of a long way from the states, and we got to hating those long flights from Asia across the Pacific. There are other posters to this forum who've experienced those, and will know what I'm talking about. Our life here just keeps getting better and better: it hasn't been easy, but it's coming. Others, like Gringation, may be a little further along on that journey then us, and ToriB, just one step behind and gaining fast, but we've had fun meeting the challenges here as they've come along. Last night, we attended an event sponsored by the International Women's Club: it was the best of these we've attended; then, today, visited the new Malecon on Laguna Nichupte. The city, and the activities it offers, just keep getting better and better.
Permanent Residency Application Part 3 Mauricio picked up our remaining documents yesterday, he made the copies after all. The application went in to today and he was asked to check back in a few weeks. I expect I'll be held up by the Christmas close down again as usual.
Anomalies in the handling of some cases for permanent residency have been mentioned as occurring in other jurisdictions, but I haven't heard of any arising here, yet. I would hope our INM office will apply the new law, as written, just to keep it simple for everyone.
The only anomaly I heard of (via Mauricio) is that if your 4 years residency is a mix of time on an FM2 and FM3 then they wont have a record of your previous Visa and it wont count. So, 4 yrs on an FM 2 or 4 years on an FM3, not a mixture. That seems to be an anomaly from what has been reported elsewhere. From my 'previous life' where I was involved in drafting and reviewing Environmental legislation, unless there is a central unit dictating policy then local areas will interpret the same words in different ways.
I think, in the end, they will decide that cumulating the time on both, so long as the periods were contiguous, is the better interpretation, it fitting best, in my opinion, with the plain language of the law, which equates both No Imigrante and Inmigrante status with the new residente temporal status. The No Inmigrante and Inmigrante documents show how many prorrogas there have been; copies of the earlier documents (FM2/3s) show how many of those there were. If applicants retained copies of their prior documents, as I did, it would help with the proof element you mentioned, Steve.
This issue is NOT one of the NUMEROUS Q&A's in today's Surviving Yucatan blog that Yucalandia references. CHECK IT. It showed that for me, someone who lives for 3 months max in Mexico, it looks my best options are: 1) Permanent Residence based on having an FM3 for 4 years, or 2) Tourist card for 180 days. I'm on the fence, but, if Mauricio doesn't charge TOO much, am leaning towards Permanent Residence status.
