Applying for residency-I'm nervous.

If you have all the required documents, I think you will find it to be a very prompt and painless process.

I believe you are confusing people trying to get into Mexico with Mexicans trying to legally enter the US. In Mexico, if you meet the requirements, you get a visa. The end. In the US it is an arbitrary decision by a single person based on their feelings and can not be appealed...

We did it 5 years ago this month, and it was a very positive experience.

We emailed our local Consulate and told them of our plans to apply for Temporary Residency in hopes of being able to retire in Mexico someday. Oswald sent us yet another list of the requirements and encouraged us to ask questions about the requirements and to email him copies of everything when we thought we had them ready. We sent them to him, he suggested a few changes and tweeks and finally told us we were ready to make an appointment. In Oxnard, they offered two appointments two days a week. Even 5 years ago we had to wait a month for our appointments.

When we arrived, we found out that our person was Oswaldo!!! Perfect English, very nice, as we had already discovered on line. He took all of our paperwork, leafed through it quickly and said, "I've seen all of this before, and it's all correct!"

As a note, a few of our items didn't fit exactly into their requirements. Certain bank accounts were only in my name, some account balances were for 6 months, not a year, but he was happy with them. Try your best.

He told us he had neglected to tell us that we had to write a paragraph or short essay about why we wanted to live in Mexico and handed us two pens, two clipboards and two blank pieces of paper. Writing is easy for both of us, so it only took a couple of minutes. Then the Consul came down to "interview" us. A very nice woman whose English was about on par with our Spanish. She wanted to know if we already had property, where we would like to live and why. The three of us wished we had better communication skills because it was fun and interesting.

We were sent to another window to pay for our visas, Oswaldo shook our hands, thanked us and sent us on our way. It took just under an hour.

Relax, it's a cool experience. Get your paperwork checked before you go to your appointment if you can. Be prepared to write a paragraph and meet the Consul. Also be aware that at least in our case, none of your paperwork is returned to you except your passports. Marriage license, bank statements, nothing returned.

Congratulations!!! You are almost here forever! Next step, Citizenship!!!

At the Atlanta consulate we just handed over our docs. They were reviewed with no questions, interview or essay writing. It was quick and easy.

Well, we got our visas and it was not horrible. The woman who took care of us was very helpful; she even gave us her email address to answer any questions about our menaje de casa. The whole process took about 45 minutes; we were at the consulate about two hours.

As it turned out, I didn't need most of the armload of documents I had spent the previous week and a couple sets of ink cartridges producing. It was kind of like that time in college when you busted ass preparing for the final and when you get get to class, ready to stand and deliver, the professor says "everybody who showed up today gets an A. Now go home."

Of course if I hadn't done all that preparation...