SuzyQQ Posted March 8, 2023 Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 We have had our in-person appointment at the consulate in Seattle and passed the income test. Next step for us is to enter Mexico on a 30-day visa. We plan to finalize the process at the Chapala immigration office. If anyone has done this recently or knows someone who has I have two questions: 1. How long did it take to get the final permanent visa? 2. Can you make an appointment with the Chapala immigration office? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Quillio Posted March 8, 2023 Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 Guessing this is for Lakeside. Standard advice is hire an immigration lawyer. We used Azucena Bateman, on 16 de Septiembre in Ajijic. She's not expensive, and will reply to email. Recommended. Tell her I sent you. https://www.facebook.com/AzucenaBatemanCampos/ You can do it all yourself, but that'll only save you about $100 USD. Tourist visas are mostly back to 180 days now, by default, so the only requirement on you (besides INM fees) is to remain in Mexico while your legal residency is processed -- maybe five weeks, but allow six. An immigration lawyer can provide an entire education, has the right connections, and will send somebody with you to INM. It's the only way to fly. As an aside and if you don't know them already, I can also recommend Paul Kurzweil's YouTube videos on practical matters for expats. He keeps the content fresh. https://www.youtube.com/@qroo/featured Search for his migración topics this way: https://www.youtube.com/@qroo/search?query=inm immigration LQ 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostlylost Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 Absolutely do not need to pay anyone. They are very friendly and helpful at the Chapala immigration office. Stop in and they will help you with everything and step you through the final process, If you are going to live in Mexico you need to learn to handle simple things yourself. It's easy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WideSky Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 On 3/8/2023 at 12:43 PM, SuzyQQ said: 1. How long did it take to get the final permanent visa? 2. Can you make an appointment with the Chapala immigration office? 1. how long will entirely depend on how busy they are and if there are holidays (eg Christmas/new year). 2. Not sure about making an appointments. You could contact Ana Siller SILLERTRANSLATIONS@GMAIL.COM She speaks english and helps expats with the immigration process. She could likely tell you if you need an appointment. "Next step for us is to enter Mexico on a 30-day visa." You have six months to get to Mexico, then you have 30 days after you enter to start the visa process. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeside7 Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 19 hours ago, Mostlylost said: Absolutely do not need to pay anyone. They are very friendly and helpful at the Chapala immigration office. Stop in and they will help you with everything and step you through the final process, If you are going to live in Mexico you need to learn to handle simple things yourself. It's easy. 19 hours ago, Mostlylost said: Absolutely do not need to pay anyone. They are very friendly and helpful at the Chapala immigration office. Stop in and they will help you with everything and step you through the final process, If you are going to live in Mexico you need to learn to handle simple things yourself. It's easy. I think Lou covered both options. if you're up to wasting your time working your way through the MX bureaucratic go for it, been there done that.. now I I prefer to use my time better than hanging around and think using a facilitator the preferred option. When I think back to the hours I spent at the IMSS, driving license office, immigration office, etc etc plus the time going and coming it adds up to hundreds, thousand of hours.. most Mexicans are happy doing this, but it's not for me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Quillio Posted March 12, 2023 Report Share Posted March 12, 2023 On 3/8/2023 at 3:33 PM, Lou Quillio said: Tourist visas are mostly back to 180 days now, by default, so the only requirement on you (besides INM fees) is to remain in Mexico while your legal residency is processed -- maybe five weeks, but allow six. To clarify a bit: when you enter Mexico for the purpose of completing your legal residency, you are not a tourist, and do not want to be issued a tourist visa. Instead, you're engaged in a special process that INM calls canje. Make sure to show the INM agent (at the airport, etc.) the special sticker the consulate placed in your passport. He or she will know what to do. Most international airports are now paperless, but in your case they'll issue the old-style FMM form and give you the bottom portion. Don't lose it, because INM (or your migración facilitator) will need it and your passport to set an appointment for issuing your green card. This FMM form may be marked for only thirty days, but that's okay. As long as you've applied for a green card at INM and it's in process, you're good -- even if the process takes more than thirty days to complete. You just can't leave Mexico in the meantime. You won't get your passport back till later, so you'd have a hard time leaving anyway. The canje process is quite painless and involves no further approvals, just bureaucracy. You're already approved for residency, but it takes a while for INM to generate the physical green card. LQ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickS Posted March 12, 2023 Report Share Posted March 12, 2023 I didn't know that one had to fork over their Passport during this period. Giving that sucker up into the bowels of the Mexican INM bureaucracy is scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Quillio Posted March 12, 2023 Report Share Posted March 12, 2023 43 minutes ago, RickS said: is scary It is. We wanted ours back as soon as possible, because otherwise all we had were our California driver's licenses and our good looks. And a Costco card. Couldn't say for sure, but this is one area where a facilitator might make a difference. I leaned on Acuzena about this and, because she has a girl hand-holding her clients every day that Chapala INM is open, she could retrieve them to her office once they were no longer needed, and email me to pick them up. With the passports back, there was nothing left to do but wait for the cards. Let me mention that Chapala INM seems proud of their camera setup, but it takes the shittiest photos ever. I look like death, and Joan -- who doesn't know how to take a bad picture -- hates hers too (it's not that bad). You can't provide your own photos, either. I'm saying all this as though I and my wife went to INM together, but we didn't. I somehow got an appointment at the San Francisco consulate, went there was a ton of paper and got approved, and finished in Chapala. This let Joan apply in-country under "family unity," with only an apostille of our CA marriage license, no financials. She never did get an appointment in S.F. This is by far the easier way to go. While we were at it we got our birth certificates apostilled (New Jersey & California) because, hey, you never know. LQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldWEB Posted March 13, 2023 Report Share Posted March 13, 2023 Back in November the INM in Chapala never kept our passports. As requested, we provided colour copies, the nice lady checked them against the actual passports and handed us our passports back. When we did pick up our temporal cards, she asked for our passports again, just to confirm we are us and the temporal card is us too, handed the passport and cards to us and said "¡Adios!" Very simple process (here) and saved us $11,000 pesos that was requested by a local lawyer firm to do this "work". 😕 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Quillio Posted March 13, 2023 Report Share Posted March 13, 2023 1 hour ago, OldWEB said: saved us $11,000 pesos that was requested by a local lawyer I paid $2,000, in early 2022. I'd balk at $11,000, too. LQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldWEB Posted March 13, 2023 Report Share Posted March 13, 2023 14 minutes ago, Lou Quillio said: I paid $2,000, in early 2022. I'd balk at $11,000, too. LQ Our second trip here so it must have been our smiley, squeaky clean faces that gave us away, unlike a lot of the faces I see on my morning walks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuzyQQ Posted March 13, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2023 Thanks for the info. Turning over our US passports adds a degree of complexity I hadn't counted on. Our plan was to come down there on our 30-day visa, take care of business at the immigration office and then return to Seattle to sell house, cars, furniture, etc. It sounds like it might take more than a couple weeks to get our finalized permanent resident visa from the immigration office even if we come down in August as planned. Per your advice I will definitely contact Azenena Bateman and most likely retain her facilitation services in this matter. Thanks for the referral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Quillio Posted March 13, 2023 Report Share Posted March 13, 2023 3 hours ago, SuzyQQ said: might take more than a couple weeks to get our finalized permanent resident This is definitely what Azucena will tell you. Unless you allow at least six weeks she won't even take your money. Might you get away with 30 days, start to finish, if everything's booked and you hit all the marks, and INM doesn't have a card production delay? Sure, maybe. But if you leave before canje is complete, everything starts over, including consular approval. It's a nice place. Stay awhile. 🙂 LQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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