Permanente Process - Part 2 - after the Consulate

[crockatt]

I am going to write the Post that I wish I had found BEFORE my 3 trips to INM AFTER arriving back from the Consulate with my ''Permanente Visa Pre-Approval'..

After waiting almost 90 minutes on my first visit, I was advised that I needed to visit the bank & pay 4,828 pesos, using the form below to direct payment to the correct account...

Upon returning with the receipt in hand, I waited another 45 minutes to learn that additional requirements must be met and the attached form would guide me in their preparation.

Today, after waiting for ~60 minutes, I successfully completed Part 2 of the process after submitting the listed documents & copies (no photos required yet).

I have received an email confirmation & exchanged my FMM - CANJE for a letter saying my application is being processed.

Next, I was told to expect a 2 week wait, before needing to return to INM with photos for fingerprints...

I'm getting excited...

[ComputerGuy]

Yes, this is one of those chores that does well if you check around first to see what the requirements are. In fact, INM will gladly help you if you step up to the counter and sort of ask on the side, what you need. They are very good about it. When you get to the part where you have to go to the bank to pay, they will let you back in as if you were next in line.

[Global Roamer]

Agree fully with Crockatt.  Wish someone, somewhere would make it clear that you can save yourself at least one wait at INM if you complete the requirements he listed above BEFORE you go to the INM office.

The web form can be completed online and printed before your visit to INM office (see link in Crockatt's post). Same with all the requirements for photocopies; do them all ahead of your visit to INM.  The photos aren't needed before you go back for the fingerprinting but it is good to have then so they can check they are the correct size ("infantil").  The only thing I am not sure of is if you can pay for your Permanente before going to the INM office to get the form (maybe someone can clarify?).  Whatever, they give you a form to take to a bank to pay the "DERECHOS" and you get the "COMPROBANTE DE PAGO" from the bank, which you must then make two photocopies of - one for INM and one for you to keep (I'd make three to be on the safe side).  I stopped at a local cybercafe to have my copies made rather than go home to do it.

Come to think of it, it probably does take two visits at minimum to start the process; one to get the bank form and one to submit the proof of payment, your "solicitud" and all the other documents and photocopies.  Mind you, if you arrive with all the forms the first time, you may only have to return to submit the "comprobante de pago"  and, as Computer Guy has noted above, if it is only for that, they may let you cut the line, so to speak.

A cautionary tale.  While at the INM office in Chapala, I met a Canadian couple who had driven down to Mexico.  They had bought their car permit online and so didn't stop at their first point of entry (Laredo) to get their FMM.  At mile 21, since they had their car sticker in their windshield, they were waived through and so, again, did not stop to complete the entry requirements.  1000 km later, at the INM office, they realized they did not have an FMM to submit.  Don't know how their saga ended but I suspect that they probably had to skulk back to the border area, pretend they had just arrived and do the entry paperwork then.  Whoever said "Ignorance is bliss" never had to go through the Mexican immigration process.

[ComputerGuy]

I want you to stop and think about what you just said. I want you to pretend you are Mexican trying to get into Canada or the United States. The rules here are nothing compared to up north. NOTHING. You just try and tell a Canadian border guard you want to come in look around for six months, driving your Mexican-plated car.

But more to the point, where exactly do you expect "someone, somewhere would make it clear"? What, a big sign on the highway as you leave one country and enter the next? A tourist office that sells tickets to stage shows and hands out immigration information at the same time? Not bloody likely. You want to do something different, you ask around. You go to people who might know. You don't blame the other country for not coming to you first. I can't believe the entitlement.

Let's say you go, as an American or Canadian, to Iraq. You really expect to walk up to some desk at the airport and have them tell you that you can hang your own country's flag out your hotel window, that women can wear short sleeves and skirts no problem, and not only that but you can get Cdn dollars at any bank machine and everyone speaks English. Uh-huh.

This forum is, ostensibly, designed to be a source for that kind of information, a potential first stop.

[HarryB]

Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[camillenparadise]

Not exactly on topic, but does anyone have info on replacing a stolen but valid permanente? I have a photocopy, thanks to Bellon.

[RVGRINGO]

I think you will have to report it stolen to the Ministerio Publico, and then to INM, before you can apply for a replacement. Check with Spenceer, Chapala Law, to be sure.