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

Originally Posted by Woooosh

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?

Well......they won't bother. In fact, they pretty much quit bothering a few years back.
Seems to me these new regs are being put in place for, literally, nobody, but I don't think 'burdens to their system" is their motivation. Mexico has been flexing her muscles lately and that usually indicates a disagreement with the US. and it may just be Calderon's farewell gift to the country that forced his hand to witness 70,000 deaths at home.

Then again, Mexico may have a new president, but it's far from clear at this point who will be calling the shots.

Originally Posted by Msterieus

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.

There are two separate options to demonstrate solvency: one is monthly income, and the other "investment and bank accounts". For the latter, it looks like you have to show an average balance over 12 months that exceeds whatever they want for your particular residence card. So presumably if you have a 401K or IRA or brokerage account that doesn't fluctuate too much, you could use those statements instead of trying to show income. It's not really the same thing as having $18,000 or whatever in (say) your checking or savings account, although I guess that could be part of the total if it stays put for the year in question. It looks like they want to see long term assets, at least enough for four years. That may be easier for some people than the income option. Me, for example.

So far, there hasn't been much discussion about this on the La Paz Yahoo group. I'm not sure whether it means people are unaware of the new requirements, or not worried about them.

Originally Posted by Woooosh

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?

But remember, people aren't required to spend that much money. They only need to show that they have it. As far as I can tell, the money doesn't even have to be in Mexico. That's one reason I can't quite figure out where they're going with this.

I don't think that's it. I have the investments with which to meet the requirements, and I would have had my visa months ago, except for this: My statements (2 different ones per quarter) are 15-20 pages each. When I showed up at the Immigration Office ("IO") months ago, with everything I needed (I thought), including over 100 pages of financial statements, I learned I needed translations of them all. Well, that's a lot of translating! Later, I heard that people had gotten visas by showing an account with something more than the annual minimum income requirement. One of the pages from one of my lengthy statements showed just that -- a money market fund with minimum balance of around 150% of the new annual income requirement. To be sure about it, I took my statement back to the IO last Tuesday, showed them that one page, and asked if that page, alone, would be sufficient to establish my financial eligibility. I was thrilled to have been told, "yes," the one page would be fine, as long as I provided documentation of the money market fund at issue over the last six months, with translation. I spent 2-3 hours, the next day, translating that documentation (2 pages from 2 quarterly statements). I returned to the IO on Thursday, with what I believed was (finally) everything I needed. At that time, I was informed that (a) I could not apply at an IO in Mexico; needed to apply in San Diego (although I assume I could apply anywhere in the US), and (b) the two pages showing I had investments of 150% of the annual income requirement were inadequate because they did not show a stream of income.

The new regulations seem to say that, in order to use documentation of investments, rather than income, you need to have a multiple of the minimum income requirement that amounts to close to $100,000 US.

So, I think I am back to having to translate at least 60 pages of financials. :(
Does anyone know whom I might retain, in the Ensenada area, to do the translation only? The immigration consultant I talked to would do this only if I paid him the entire fee for services, and he advised me not to do that, since I'd done everything necessary, already, other than translating the documents.

In any case, I may just give up and use a consultant, and chalk up the countless hours (and gas money) I have spent on this project as a lesson learned.

Nothing like being one of the first through the gate!

Well, if you do have to go to San Diego my family paved over a lot of the topes in the road.

There is a man there named Jose Manuel that learned with us through the process and I have no doubt he will become more and more efficient with the process as more people have this experience.
He was great with us and apologized a number of times for the lack of smoothness during the consulates learning curve.

It all worked out.

Originally Posted by Msterieus

The new regulations seem to say that, in order to use documentation of investments, rather than income, you need to have a multiple of the minimum income requirement that amounts to close to $100,000 US.

Yes, that's what I meant. If you're applying for Residente Temporal using the "investments and bank accounts" option, they ask for 20,000 times the daily minimum wage in DF (Mexico City area). That's simply the formula they use. Currently it's 62.33 pesos. So you would need to produce a year's worth of statements showing an average monthly balance of 1,246,600. If the exchange rate is 13:1, that's around USD $96,000.

It has nothing to do with your income or the amount required for the "income option", whether monthly or annual. What you're showing with this option is "assets", for lack of a better term. Here's the wording in Spanish from the government document:

"Original y copia de comprobante de inversiones o cuentas bancarias con saldo promedio mensual equivalente a veinte mil días de salario mínimo general vigente en el Distrito Federal, durante los últimos doce meses"

Originally Posted by Msterieus

I don't think that's it. I have the investments with which to meet the requirements, and I would have had my visa months ago, except for this: My statements (2 different ones per quarter) are 15-20 pages each. When I showed up at the Immigration Office ("IO") months ago, with everything I needed (I thought), including over 100 pages of financial statements, I learned I needed translations of them all. Well, that's a lot of translating! Later, I heard that people had gotten visas by showing an account with something more than the annual minimum income requirement. One of the pages from one of my lengthy statements showed just that -- a money market fund with minimum balance of around 150% of the new annual income requirement. To be sure about it, I took my statement back to the IO last Tuesday, showed them that one page, and asked if that page, alone, would be sufficient to establish my financial eligibility. I was thrilled to have been told, "yes," the one page would be fine, as long as I provided documentation of the money market fund at issue over the last six months, with translation. I spent 2-3 hours, the next day, translating that documentation (2 pages from 2 quarterly statements). I returned to the IO on Thursday, with what I believed was (finally) everything I needed. At that time, I was informed that (a) I could not apply at an IO in Mexico; needed to apply in San Diego (although I assume I could apply anywhere in the US), and (b) the two pages showing I had investments of 150% of the annual income requirement were inadequate because they did not show a stream of income.

The new regulations seem to say that, in order to use documentation of investments, rather than income, you need to have a multiple of the minimum income requirement that amounts to close to $100,000 US.

So, I think I am back to having to translate at least 60 pages of financials. :(
Does anyone know whom I might retain, in the Ensenada area, to do the translation only? The immigration consultant I talked to would do this only if I paid him the entire fee for services, and he advised me not to do that, since I'd done everything necessary, already, other than translating the documents.

In any case, I may just give up and use a consultant, and chalk up the countless hours (and gas money) I have spent on this project as a lesson learned.

Are you really in that big a rush to get through this process? If not, take a break and let the offices get used to the new regulations and requirements (let them learn the new rules by making other people jump through the hoops- not you).

It would seem all the paperwork now goes through Mexico City to cut out the local facilitators. How will your local guy handle this? Since everything is clear as mud- why not wait a few weeks and let things settle. Basic translations in Rosarito run around $10 a page- why waste $600? . jmho
[/I]

Originally Posted by Woooosh

Are you really in that big a rush to get through this process? If not, take a break and let the offices get used to the new regulations and requirements (let them learn the new rules by making other people jump through the hoops- not you).

It would seem all the paperwork now goes through Mexico City to cut out the local facilitators. How will your local guy handle this? Since everything is clear as mud- why not wait a few weeks and let things settle. Basic translations in Rosarito run around $10 a page- why waste $600? . jmho
[/I]

I'm with Woooosh on this one. My guess is that over the next several weeks they will slowly "tweak" the process to make it more realistic and workable.

But then again, this is Mexico...

I'll find out the true definition of "real and workable" manana & let you know if it meets MY definition of those terms! Or get deported trying!

I also agree with Woooosh's suggestion, if waiting is an option.

Thanks, all. I think the advice to wait is right on. My impatience is mostly about having to get yet another tourist visa (I have gotten a couple, just to apply for the visa, and now the second one may expire before I use it) and my desire to sign up for some insurance such as Seguros Popular. But I have waited this long, and I guess the hassle to get another tourist visa (and the $22 or whatever) are outweighed by the hassle involved in getting the residency visa.