Tag Archive for immigration

Migratory Reforms: Conclusion

Solomon Freimuth | August 29, 2011 | No comments

After looking at the classifications of VISITOR, TEMPORARY RESIDENT and PERMANENT RESIDENT, it is probably also important to look at the way the new law is going to treat the old migratory classifications; therefore, the wording in the provisional articles of the law is important, because it talks about how the old migratory “qualities” will convert to the new migratory “conditions”.

Here is the sixth provisional article of the “Ley de Migración”, translated into English with as little modification as possible:

Sixth. For effects of the application of the “Ley de Migración”, the following should be taken into account:

I. The foreigners who have obtained the migratory quality of Non-Immigrant, within the characteristics of tourist, transmigrant, visitor in all its modalities except those foreigners who have obtained migratory quality of Non-Immigrant with characteristic of Local Visitor, granted to nationals of neighboring countries to visit border populations of the United Mexican States, religious leader, distinguished visitor, provisional visitor and correspondent will be considered Visitors without permission to realize remunerated activities.

This section needs to be analyzed carefully, it contains a lot. It is important to take into consideration that the full name of the most common “working FM3” is No Inmigrante, Visitante, Cargo de Confianza: For purposes of the new law, the “working FM3” will now equate to the condition of Visitor. Under the new law, visitor status cannot be renewed and once expired its possessor must leave the country (Art. 53, LdM).

II. The foreigners who have obtained the migratory quality of Non-Immigrant within the characteristic of Local Visitor, granted to nationals of neighboring countries to visit border populations of the United Mexican States, will be considered Regional Visitors.

III. The foreigners who have obtained the migratory quality of Non-Immigrant, within the characteristic of Student, will be considered Temporary Resident Students.

Students will fall under the category of Temporary Resident, which hopefully will mean that they will only have to renew their migratory documents every four years. For most students this may mean only needing one migratory document for their entire school career.

IV. The foreigners who have obtained the migratory quality of Non-Immigrant, within the characteristic of political asylum or refugee, will be considered Permanent Residents.

V. The foreigners who have obtained the migratory quality of Immigrant, within the characteristics of Retiree, Investor, Professional, Position of Trust, Scientist, Technician, Family Member, Artist, Athlete or Assimilated, will be considered Temporary Residents.

All those who currently possess an FM2 will fall into the category of Temporary Residents, except for refugees, who will be permanent residents.

VI. The foreigners who have obtained the migratory quality of “Imigrado”, will be considered Permanent Residents.

In summary: foreigners that have a migratory status of “No-Inmigrante” that allowed them to work in Mexico will now have the condition of Visitor; refugees and political prisoners will be Permanent Residents; everyone who had obtained “Inmigrado” will now have the migratory condition of Permanent Resident; students will be considered Temporary Resident Students; and almost everyone who previously had the migratory status of “Inmigrante” will now be Temporary Residents.

The final piece of the legislation that should be included in this chapter is Article 53, a short article of legislation with much importance:

Article 53. Visitors, with exception of those for humanitarian reasons or those who have a bond with a Mexican or foreigner with regular residence in Mexico, cannot change migratory conditions and must exit the country at the conclusion of the authorized period of their stay.

I think this is going to mean that changing from a tourist card to a temporary residence card will no longer be allowed.

About the author: Solomon Freimuth is an American citizen living in Mexico and working on completing his degree in Mexican law. Solomon works in the law firm Calderón & Asociados in Playa Del Carmen, Quintana Roo, where he specializes in migratory and real estate law. Solomon Freimuth can be contacted at info@c-a.mx.

This article may be reproduced, free of cost, via electronic or print means in whole or in part as long as this paragraph and the paragraph about the author, including a link to or mention of the website http://www.c-a.mx, are included in the text of the reproduced article.

Category: Blog, Migratory Law 2011, Useful Expat Info | Tags: , , ,

Migratory Reforms: Temporary Resident

Solomon Freimuth | July 27, 2011 | 2 comments

This is part two of my series on new Mexican Migratory Law; it deals with the figure of TEMPORARY RESIDENT.  The previous article dealt with the figure of VISITOR and the following article will deal with the figure of PERMANENT RESIDENT.  I would imagine that I will include a forth article which talks about the way the law is going to treat the old migratory documents in regards to the new migratory documents and possibly even a fifth that talks about the procedures for obtaining the migratory permits when the regulations to the new law are published.

The previous article in this series dealt with the figure of Visitor, as explained in the first part of Article 52 of the new Mexican Migratory Law.  The next section of the same disposition talks about the figure of Temporary Resident, which is equivalent to the old figure of  “Inmigrante”, but will include some foreigners who previously fell into the category of “No-Inmigrante” and will exclude some who previously were considered “Inmigrante”.  The section of the law that follows explains, very generally, the figure of Temporary Resident:

Article 52. …

VII. TEMPORARY RESIDENT. (This condition) authorizes the foreigner to remain in the country for a period no longer than four years, with the possibility to obtain permission to work in exchange for a remuneration in the country, subject to an employment offer, with the right to enter and exit the national territory as many times as he/she desires and with the right to preserve the family unit, whereby he/she may enter with or solicit after the entrance of the below listed persons, who may reside regularly in national territory for the time that the temporary resident permission is valid:

A note here that might give hope to many foreigners, in the previous law in this description of the status, the law specifically mentioned that the document would be renewed annually.  This might give hope to those who receive this document that it will truly be a document that is valid for four years.

a) Children of the temporary resident and the children of their spouse or concubine, as long as they are children or adolescents and have not contracted matrimony, or are under the custody or guardianship of (the spouse or concubine);

b) Spouse;

c) Concubine or equivalent figure, accrediting that said situation conforms to the legal hypotheses signaled in Mexican legislation, and

Concubine, or common law spouse, is the person who, having no impediments for marriage, lives with someone for a certain amount of time or who has children with someone they are not legally married, and therefore by virtue of this figure possesses many of the same rights and obligations as a spouse.  The time period required to obtain this legal protection varies from state to state.

d) Father or mother of a temporary resident.

The persons referred to in the previous paragraphs will be authorized to reside regularly in national territory under the condition of temporary resident, with the possibility of obtaining a permission to work in exchange for remuneration in the country, subject to an employment offer, and with the right to enter and exit national territory as many times as they desire.

In the case that a temporary resident receives an employment offer, he will be granted permission to work in exchange for remuneration, in the activity related to the said employment offer.

As with many previous migratory documents that allowed the foreigner to work, the authorized activity will be specific to the job offer, not a broad offer to do whatever the foreigner decides.

The foreigners who are granted the condition of temporary resident may introduce (import) their personal properties, in manner determined by the applicable legislation.

This paragraph talks about the famous Menaje de Casa, the load of household goods, clothing and other items for personal use that are allowed under current customs law.  Under the same legislation, foreigners who possess “No-Inmigrante” and some “Inmigrante” statuses are also allowed to temporarily import foreign-plated vehicles; it will be interesting to see how the change in this law affects the application of the customs law.

Temporary importation means that anyone importing items in this manner agrees to remove that item from Mexican territory when their migratory status expires. For example: John Doe is coming to Mexico for labor purposes under the modality of Temporary Resident, he will be able to bring his car and his household goods with him, however, when his permit expires he will have to exit the Mexican territory with his goods: He can not sell, give away or abandon the imported items, unless they where destroyed, robbed or consumed according to the nature of the item.

The rest of Article 52 deals with the conditions of Temporary Resident Student, which is fairly self-explanatory and not entirely relevant to the audience of this piece, and the condition of Permanent Resident, which will be explained in the next installment of this series.  The description laid out in the previous section does not talk about the process of obtaining Temporary Residency, except in cases where the foreigner has a relationship with other Temporary Residents.

Following the humanitarian tendency that spurred the generation of this law, one of the new considerations that are included in the “Ley de Migración” is the preservation of the family unit, which is regulated as follows:

Article 56.  Mexicans have a right to the preservation of the family unit whereby they may enter the country with or solicit the entrance (into the country) of the following people:

I.  Father or mother;

II. Spouse, to whom will be granted the condition of Temporary Resident for two years, after which he/she may obtain the condition of Permanent Resident, as long as the marital bond still exists;

Here we have one way to obtain Temporary Residency, this is similar to the status of Inmigrante Familiar.

III. Concubine, accrediting said legal situation in accordance with the hypotheses signaled in the Mexican civil legislation, to whom will be granted the condition of Temporary Resident for two years, after which he/she may obtain the condition of Permanent Resident, as long as the concubinage still exists;

Here is another method of obtaining Temporary Residency; this method was not recognized in the previous migratory legislation.  This shows the progressive nature of this law: the marriage rate in Mexico has dropped by 25% in the last ten years.

IV. Foreign born children, when in accordance with article 30 of the Constitution they are not Mexican citizens;

This fraction refers to children of naturalized Mexican citizens who were born outside of Mexico.

V. Children of the foreign spouse or concubine, as long as they are (under 18)* and have not been married, or are under (the Mexican’s) legal guardianship;

VI.  Siblings, as long as they are  (under 18)* and have not been married, or are under (the Mexican’s) legal guardianship.

*The actual words used in this subsection are “niña, niño o adolecente”, which translate to “girl child, boy child or adolescent”.  This wording is found commonly in much of the newer Mexican legislation, which has in recent years experienced a very humanistic trend.  The wording (under 18) was substituted for aesthetic purposes, but it might be important to know the original wording in this case.

The following part of the law is important, in the view of the author, because it is the first place that the process of obtaining any migratory condition is discussed:

Article 58.  Foreigners are entitled to have the migratory authority issue the documentation that accredits their migratory situation once all the established prerequisites in this law and its regulations are fulfilled. When the documentation that the migratory authority issues does not contain a photograph, the foreigner must additionally exhibit his passport or valid travel and identity document.

The next article is interesting, because it alludes to the fact that foreigners will have the condition of residency before entering into national territory, as if they may need to either solicit said status at the border or in a corresponding consulate.   This is one of the parts of the process that will need to be explained more in depth in the regulations.

Article 59.  Temporary and Permanent Residents, with the exception of those who solicit political asylum, refugee status or designation of Stateless Person, will have a period of thirty days from their entrance into national territory to solicit, from the Institute, the corresponding residence card, which will be valid for the authorized period.  With this card, (the foreigner) will accredit their migratory situation in national territory, while it is valid.

Those who solicit political asylum, refugee status or designation of Stateless Person, or who are issued complementary protection, will obtain their residency card at the conclusion of the corresponding procedure.

Once obtained the residence card, Temporary and Permanent Residents will have the right to obtain, from the Ministry of Government, their CURP (Unique Population Registry Number).

The prerequisites and procedures to obtain the corresponding residence card will be established in the Reglamento.

A lot depends on the regulations (Reglamento), which should be published before November 25th of 2011.  Hopefully they will make the migratory process easier and more agile, possibly even eliminate the yearly renewal as it is today.

Solomon Freimuth is a paralegal in the law offices of Calderón & Asociados in Playa Del Carmen, Quintana Roo.  He is an American citizen who decided to study Mexican law after living in Mexico and trying to do business as a foreigner in a foreign land for the last six years.

This article may be reproduced, without cost, in its entirety or in part, as long as the author is given proper credit and these last two paragraphs are included in their original form.

Category: Blog, Immigration Questions, Migratory Law 2011 | Tags: ,

Migratory Reforms: Visitor

Solomon Freimuth | July 8, 2011 | 7 comments

This is PART ONE of a series of articles that will talk about the migratory reforms that were published on May 25th, 2011.  This part of the series only talks about the condition of VISITOR, I will publish more articles as I write them and get them properly proofed and edited.

On May 25th, 2011, Mexico published it’s new migratory law (La Ley de Migración) in response to glaring human rights violations, but as well as the human rights protections, the new law also includes some changes that affect expat foreigners.  The current system of FMM’s (tourist cards), FM3’s, FM2’s and Inmigrados is going to go away, at least in name.  The old system that was regulated by the “General Law of Population” contained a total of 34 migratory modules, but the new system, according to the law, will include nine types of immigration “conditions”.  In the author’s opinion, these nine can be consolidated in three general types of immigration permits (or migratory documents or visas, it hasn’t been clearly defined yet), some of which will include subtypes.

It is important to understand that, even though the law, technically, went into effect the day after it was published, its original publication was with the caveat that the dispositions pertaining to migratory documents, among others, would not enter into effect until the Mexican Congress approves and publishes the Regulations of the law, which it must do within no more than 180 days from the law’s date of publication.  This means that the FM(M/3/2) system remains valid until the supplemental law is published.  There is rumor that this publication will happen soon: some government officials are even calling for an extraordinary session of Congress to approve the Reglamento.

Below is the first part of article 52 of the Law of Migration, the section of the law that pertains to migratory documents: this section deals with the classification VISITOR, which according to the sixth transitory article of the law will be equivalent to the tourist card and some FM3’s.

It is important that the reader understand that while this translation was carried out by a native English speaker, fluent in Spanish, in the manner truest to its original text, the nature of translation and the genre of language used in legal documents make it necessary to take certain liberties and change the order of the words so that they make sense and are aesthetically pleasing in English. This document is for informational purposes and it, or any other translated document, should not be used as legal proof or justification before any authority.

Article 52…

I. VISITOR WITHOUT PERMISSION TO REALIZE REMUNERATED ACTIVITIES. The foreigner is authorized to traverse or remain in national territory for an uninterrupted period no longer than one hundred and eighty days, counted from the date of entrance, without permission to realize activities subject to remuneration in the country.

This classification is equivalent to the traditional tourist card.  It grants up to 180 days of vacation in Mexico with no permission to work or realize any activity for which the tourist would receive payment.

II. VISITOR WITH PERMISSION TO REALIZE REMUNERATED ACTIVITIES.  The foreigner who has a work offer, invitation from any authority or academic, artistic, sporting or cultural institution for which they will receive remuneration in the country, or who will realize a remunerated seasonal activity in virtues of international treaties celebrated with foreign entities, is authorized to remain for an uninterrupted period of no more than one hundred and eighty days, counted from the date of entrance.

There is discussion whether or not this classification is going to be the equivalent to the old FM3/Non-Immigrant with permission to work or if this is going to be a new classification all together.  This classification is not renewable and only is valid for 180 days, therefore whoever possesses this classification must leave the country after working here for 180 days.  It will be interesting to see what the regulations of the law say about this.

III.  REGIONAL VISITOR. The foreign national or resident of neighboring countries is authorized to enter the border-region with a right to enter and exit the region the number of times they desire, as long as they do not remain more than three days but may not receive remuneration in the country.

By means of administrative policies, the Ministry of Government will establish the validity of the authorizations and the municipalities and states that make up the border regions, for effects of granting the condition of regional visitor.

The classification of REGIONAL VISITOR is equivalent to the current FM3/Non-Immigrant document that is given to Local Visitors.  This document is traditionally granted to people living in border regions (Belize, Guatemala, Texas, etc…) who regularly cross the border for personal/family reasons but do not intend to work or receive payment in Mexico.  There is no specified lapse of time of validity in the law, the current Non-Immigrant Local Visitor document is given for five-year periods, but this can change at any time.

IV. BORDER-REGION LABOR VISITOR. The foreigner who is national of countries which the United Mexican States share territorial limits is authorized to remain up to one year in the states determined by the Ministry of Government.  The border-region labor visitor will have permission to work in exchange for remuneration in the country, in the activity related with a previous employment offer and has the right to enter and exit national territory as many times as he desires.

The classification of Border-Region Laborer is equivalent to the FM3/Non-Immigrant document of the same name.  The current permission allows citizens of Belize and Guatemala to work and live in the states of Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Campeche, pending a previous employment offer.

V. VISITOR FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS.  This condition authorizes that foreigners may remain in the country under the following circumstances:

a) Being victim, witness or injured party of any crime committed in national territory.

For effects of this law, subject to other applicable legal dispositions, the person who is the passive subject of criminal conduct, independent of the identification, apprehension, trial or conviction of the perpetrator and without regard to the familiar relation to the perpetrator, is considered the victim or injured party.

The victim, witness or injured party to whom the status of Visitor for Humanitarian Reasons is granted, is authorized to remain in the country until the process is concluded, at the finish of which he or she should exit the country or solicit a new migratory status, with the right to enter and exit the country as many times as he/she desires and with permission to work in exchange for remuneration in the country.  Later, the status of permanent resident may be solicited;

b) Being non-accompanied immigrant minor*, en terms of article 74 of this law.

c) Having solicited political asylum, possessing refugee status or complementary protection of the Mexican Government, until his/her migratory status is resolved, in terms of article 54 of this law.

The Ministry of Government may also authorize the status of Visitor for Humanitarian Reasons to foreigners who do not meet the previous hypotheses, when a humanitarian cause or public interest exists that makes his/her entrance or assimilation in the country necessary, in which case permission to work for remuneration will also be granted.

VI. VISITOR FOR PURPOSES OF ADOPTION.  The foreigners linked to the process of adoption in the United Mexican States is authorized to stay in the country until an executive resolution is reached and in that case, until the new birth certificate of the adopted minor* has been issued by the civil registry and the respective passport and necessary permits have been obtained in order to guarantee the exit of the adopted minor* from the country.  This authorization will only be granted to citizens of countries that have celebrated treaties regarding adoption with Mexico.

These last two classifications are fairly self-explanatory and fit very much with the humanistic trend that Mexico is going through with its legislation.  The special classification given for purposes of adoption is, in the opinion of the author, a step in the right direction towards the encouragement of international adoption in Mexico.

*The actual words used in this subsection are “niña, niño o adolecente”, which translate to “girl child, boy child or adolescent”.  This wording is found commonly in much of the newer Mexican legislation, which has in recent years experienced a very humanistic trend.  The word minor was substituted for aesthetic purposes, but it might be important to know the original wording in this case.

Category: Blog, Immigration Questions, Migratory Law 2011 | Tags: , , , , ,

New Requirements to Renew an FM3

Solomon Freimuth | December 26, 2010 | 9 comments

The businessman in me thinks I shouldn´t disclose this information because its really the bread and butter of what a lot of people do to earn a living in Playa Del Carmen, but the blogger who wants to generate attention for his site thinks that this is good content and the expat in me feels the need to help others who are being taken advantage of.  So, with that aside, I present to you, the new “requisitos” for renewing your FM3.

The Department of the Interior here in Mexico issued this year a new manual for the way immigration paperwork is going to be done, in an effort to streamline the process and cut down on the warehouses of storage that every delegation of immigration has to have in order to function.  Their own words say it best:

…with the finality that the Instituto Nacional de Migración continue the signaled improvements in the proceeding paragraph, as well as improving the realization of migratory processes through the update, simplification, elimination or fusion of requirements and incorporating in the processes, as much as possible, the use and exploitation of information technology and improvement of the legal framework to accomplish better agility, certainty and diminish the discretion of the migratory authority through the publication of the criteria, the following has been issued:

We’ll get right down to it, the new requirements for renewing an FM3 are these:

a) Original migratory document(FM3) – You don´t need any copies, they have all that

b) If necessary, the proof of payment of fees – Don´t pay the fees until they tell you

c) Letter swearing that the same conditions exist as when the original document was granted - They want the letter to include the sentence: “I swear that the same conditions exist as when the original document was granted.”

d) If the FM3 is authorizes you to work, the last pay-stub is required

e)If the foreigner is a religious minister, refugee, foreign-aid or human-rights worker, the invitation from the corresponding competent authority proving that the same conditions exist as when the document was issued is required.

What they don´t say there, is that they will want a copy of the front page of your passport as well.  Also, since they have just switched from the bulky passport-style booklet to the handy not-so-wallet-sized photo-ID card you will have to bring in 5 infantil(2.5cm x 3cm) photos: 3 face shots and 2 profile.

For the doubters out there, all this information is available in Spanish on the Instituto Nacional de Migración website at this link:

http://www.inm.gob.mx/static/marco_juridico/pdf/manuales/03_MANUAL_DOF_29-ENE-2010.pdf

Category: FM3's, FM2's & Imigrado, Immigration Questions | Tags: , , , , , ,

Entering Mexico on an Expired FM3

Solomon Freimuth | December 22, 2010 | 17 comments

In a recent post on a local forum, someone expressed a concern that their FM3 had expired while they were out of the country and they were worried about it being an issue when they come back to Mexico.  I reassured them that they would be fine as long as they re-entered the country within 60 days of the expiration and then renewed within 30 days of their re-entry to the country.

Somebody later asked for the document that backs up that statement, because we have all heard horror stories about the guy who gets stuck in Mexican Immigration at the airport for half the day because his FM3 is a day expired.  So I have decided that I can produce that:

The NEW Immigration Manual, as published in the Official Newspaper on August 9, 2010

That’s a lot of reading to do, so I will suggest the good parts:  Print page 11.  It talks about expiration of migratory documents.  Here is the important section, in its original Spanish:

6.3 Si el extranjero se encuentra ausente del país al vencimiento de su FM3 o FM2, podrá solicitar su prórroga o refrendo, según corresponda, dentro de los treinta días siguientes a su reinternación, siempre y cuando no se haya ausentado del país más tiempo del que la Ley le autoriza.

6.3.1 En el caso de la FM3 no podrá exceder del plazo de ausencia señalado en la LGP o, de los sesenta días posteriores al vencimiento.

And here it is translated:

6.3 If the foreigner is outside of the country at the expiration of their FM3 or FM2, they can solicit their renewal or referendum, whichever applies, within 30 days following their re-entrance, as long as they have not been absent from the country more time than the law allows.

6.3.1 In the case of the FM3 the absence cannot exceed the period signaled in the General Population Law or sixty days after its expiration.


Category: Immigration Questions | Tags: , , ,