TalkBaja.com » Baja Mexico Forums » Visas for travel and living in Baja California, Mexico

Originally Posted by Marty Cortez

Helps to be prepared.

Now I just read that homes worth 40,000x the D.F. daily minimum wage ($192K USD or so) can earn the owner exemption from other financial requirements. A notario has to attest to the value. No idea if that's true, but a couple of people are crying foul. It seems they undervalued their homes on the closing papers in order to pay lower acquisition taxes. How, they ask, are they going to get a notario to sign off that they paid $250K when the official paperwork says $125K?

I posted today on Mex Connect about my experience at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego.
I will update tomorrow.

We are just starting the process for a visa in La Paz. I mean just starting, yesterday.

First we were told at the front desk that they are no longer doing visa's in La Paz.
They said the Visa must be applied for at a Mexican consulate outside of Mexico.

My wife (Mexican/Canadian) immediately requested to speak to the supervisor.
She was then informed that for us becuase she is Mexican and we are married the rules are not the same. We can do the paper work from here!

My wife asked about the other situation and the basic response was yes outside the country because we don't know what is going on!

I also know somebody who recently renewed theirs, they fell under the old rules and happy to have the choice to purchase a visa that is good for 3 years at a 50% discount.

For me I am happy for most everybody else, I feel for them

It does seem that when things change, some offices never get the full memo. To me, this is the type of significant change that requires real training to communicate, not a document many " city hall bureaucrats" don't have the reading skills to decipher. But as long we all end up with the same laminated card in our hands, it doesn't matter if we have to jump through different hoops to get it. It doesn't make much sense, but it really doesn't matter. I'm sure people can list many laws and regulations that are "fluid" from office to office. :)

Uniformity in the interpretation and application of laws and regulations

Thanks I need that

Originally Posted by CDN_JOHNNY

First we were told at the front desk that they are no longer doing visa's in La Paz. They said the Visa must be applied for at a Mexican consulate outside of Mexico.

Johnny, did you already have an FM3/Inmigrante card? From all I've read, I think what you're describing is specific to people who are applying for residence status for the first time. Those who are here and already have valid, unexpired cards under the old system (FM3/No Inmigrante, FM2/Inmigrante) don't have to leave the country. People with FMM who wish to upgrade to a residence card do have to leave the country.

The "visa" in INM-speak is a permit issued by a consulate allowing an applicant to enter Mexico, where he/she completes the process with the local INM office and gets the actual card for Residente Temporal or Residente Permanente. Here's the government document with instructions for obtaining the "visas" from a consulate:
http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.p...cha=08/11/2012

It looks like you fell under a unidad familar exception, for people who have Mexican spouses or children. Whatever, I'm glad you succeeded, congratulations!

Originally Posted by kate

Johnny, did you already have an FM3/Inmigrante card?

Kate I am in Mexico under the standard Tourist visa.

Because of the need to travel out of Mexico over the last year or so this will be our first chance to get that part of our new life out of the way.

Originally Posted by kate

It looks like you fell under a unidad familar exception, for people who have Mexican spouses or children. Whatever, I'm glad you succeeded, congratulations!

Yes I will be falling under the "unidad familar exception" !

Hi, all. I haven't posted in ages, but I found this thread via Google. I appreciate all the information it contains!

I am kicking myself, because I started working on applying for a residency visa (i.e., the current equivalent of an "FM3") months ago. I worked hard - did lots of research, filled out the forms, got the photos, did everything myself. I think I visited the INM office three times, in the process. I went there with what I thought was everything I needed, last July, and was told I lacked one thing: translations of my (very lengthy) financial statements. I then asked a neighbor and immigration consultant if he could do the translation. Seeing that I'd done everything but that, already, he advised me to have a friend help me translate the financials, because he would have to charge his full fee just for the translations. I took his advice and found a friend to help me. Then, things came up and time passed.

I resumed the process about a week ago, knowing the rules had changed somewhat. I went to the INM Office (Ensenada) last Tuesday, with a couple pages from my financials showing enough to live on for over a year and asked if these, with translations, would suffice, rather than my having to translate entire statements (they are like 20 pages each). She said "yes," they were fine, just come back with documents showing 6 months' of such savings. The next day, I spent much time translating these pages, with my friend's help. I returned to the office yesterday, with everything in hand. The INM agent glances at everything and informs me that I have to apply at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego - I can't do it in Ensenada! Furthermore, she tells me - in direct conflict with what I'd been told 2 days earlier - that my financial documentation is inadequate. What a mess! You can't apply for a residency Visa in the country in which you wish to establish residency!?

Anyhow, all my efforts were for naught, I guess. I'll likely be hiring someone to help me.

Good grief!! Sounds like you got caught in the changeover. The new law went into effect on November 9, so if your application had been submitted before then, you'd probably have been okay. Incredible that the agent didn't warn you. Hopefully someone in Ensenada can suggest a person to help, maybe a facilitator with connections at INM. If you do end up having to go to a consulate, I guess you can be thankful you don't live in Acapulco or somewhere.

PS to Johnny … thanks, that's what I figured.

Thank you, Kate. Yes, I got caught, but it was my own darned fault, for delaying so long. I do have the names of a few recommended facilitators. (If I'd hired one to begin with, I'd have gotten the Visa 6-10 months ago and saved countelss hours of work.) Live and learn ...

The irony is, as I think someone pointed out, that this sort of change and tightening of regulations just discourages some of us law-abiding citizens (who easily qualify to retire here) from becoming legal. I know it has crossed my mind, "maybe I should just not bother." But I guess that is more of an issue near borders such as TJ, where so many enter or stay illegally - than it is for most of the country.

Originally Posted by Msterieus

The irony is, as I think someone pointed out, that this sort of change and tightening of regulations just discourages some of us law-abiding citizens (who easily qualify to retire here) from becoming legal.

Is it "being illegal living in Mexico" by staying in Mexico with the Tourist Visa?
I think that being in Mexico for 180 days with a tourist visa is fine and with people living so close to the border it is a easy drive north do a bit of shopping and get a new tourist visa upon ones return.
Maybe I am looking at this wrong but as long as you don't outstay the tourist visa your legally in Mexico, even if you own property.
The only way that you might be illegal is if you earning income in Mexico without the proper Visa.
The only other issue is the inability to have a Mexican Bank account because you cannot legally have a bank account with a tourist visa.

Just saying :)

Originally Posted by Msterieus

Thank you, Kate. Yes, I got caught, but it was my own darned fault, for delaying so long. I do have the names of a few recommended facilitators. (If I'd hired one to begin with, I'd have gotten the Visa 6-10 months ago and saved countelss hours of work.) Live and learn ...

The irony is, as I think someone pointed out, that this sort of change and tightening of regulations just discourages some of us law-abiding citizens (who easily qualify to retire here) from becoming legal. I know it has crossed my mind, "maybe I should just not bother." But I guess that is more of an issue near borders such as TJ, where so many enter or stay illegally - than it is for most of the country.

There are hundreds of people asking the same questions on-line right now- it'll sort out soon as people return from applying. The rules are in effect now. Some clarifications I believe are correct: If you do not currently have a Mexican Visa- you will need to start the process outside of Mexico, and complete it at the local office in Mexico where you live. ALL the paperwork and income verifications are now being processed in Mexico City, so no local facilitators and shortcuts (that will sting).

There are rumors this move is to chase the riff-raff out of Baja and some even said the gov't will soon knock on doors and ask for Visas. Mexicans love rumors and conspiracy theories- don't believe it until you see it.

Originally Posted by CDN_JOHNNY

The only other issue is the inability to have a Mexican Bank account because you cannot legally have a bank account with a tourist visa.

In La Paz (and maybe all of BCS), you can't get a driver's license or register a car, either.

I'm with Woooosh about not believing much until it happens. For example, I don't believe that everything will be processed through Mexico City. Can you imagine? They would need a gazillion new employees, and everybody's immigration cards would take forever. My initial FM2, which had to be approved there, took between four and five weeks. Of course, things are much more computerized now , so ¿quien sabe?

Originally Posted by Woooosh

some even said the gov't will soon knock on doors and ask for Visas. Mexicans love rumors and conspiracy theories- don't believe it until you see it.

I can't count the times I've heard that. Usually the threat comes when the US is being harsh on the illegals in the states and the public in Mexico starts screaming for equal measures here. The authorities bluster and promise strong enforcement, but never deliver and eventually everyone settles down and goes back to business as usual.

Originally Posted by DENNIS

I can't count the times I've heard that. Usually the threat comes when the US is being harsh on the illegals in the states and the public in Mexico starts screaming for equal measures here. The authorities bluster and promise strong enforcement, but never deliver and eventually everyone settles down and goes back to business as usual.

This isn't a huge increase in the amount of income needed, but it is significant. If enforced, do you see it being a problem in your area?

It is illegal if you do what most of us here in the Ensenada area (and north) do -- get one tourist visa and keep it at home, while making trips back and forth across the border without surrendering it or purchasing a new one. Just sayin'.

I knew people who, previously, just put a lump sum in the bank equivalent to a year's worth of the minimum income requirement (plus a little extra) and were granted a visa. How much was that -- $18,000 or so? Now, without a showing of regularly-deposited income, I gather that the lump sum in the bank must be around $100,000.

Originally Posted by Woooosh

This isn't a huge increase in the amount of income needed, but it is significant. If enforced, do you see it being a problem in your area?

Yes......."if enforced." Many.......as in MANY here are illegal and they conduct themselves with various attitudes of impunity. Actually, what I'm saying is......Ensenada and Punta Banda are loser magnets being affordable and close to the border.
The immigration costs could be reduced to a little bit of nothing and they still wouldn't comply because they don't even know, or care, that Inmigración exists.

My opinion will remain until proven wrong that INM ENSENADA will continue to be a well guarded secret agency.

I still don't understand how someone still making hundreds of times the annual national wage is a burden to the system. If Baja becomes the same defacto price as retiring in Arizona or Florida- why would people bother?

Can one retire in AZ at all comfortably on $2,000 per month? (I DO find it odd that Panama's income requirement for retirees is still only $1,000 per month, while Mexico's is double that.)