Obtaining a permanent or temporary residency

I'm planning on obtaining a residency card and could use some advice.

I hope to get it done in a couple of weeks in October. Is that realistic, assuming I have all necessary documents?

Thanks in advance.

Personally, I recommend obtaining the help of a Mexican lawyer. It won't cost much. Have you read through the requirements? As I remember, you will first need to contact a Mexican embassy in your country of origin.

If your American you must do your filing in the USA at a local embassy. This can take a few months to get the appointment and interview. Prior to the appointment you send to them all the documentation that they require. All of this is on a Mexican website. Then if you get the approval from the local consulate, they will give you a stamp in your USA passport. Then you have 6 months to enter into Mexico. Once you enter Mexico your first time using your stamp in your usa passport, you have 30 days to get your residency card from INM.

If your Canadian or another nationality, I can not help you.

You CAN NOT start the process in Mexico.

We just completed the Permanent Resident process last month. We obtained the Visa from the Consulate in Saint Paul after providing all of the required documentation, being interviewed, and paying the $51 USD fee per person. The Visa was good for six months from date of issuance, but they did type in our travel date of August 20. When arriving at the Mexico City airport, the agent stamped the Visa and wrote 30 days. When we arrived in ZIH, we went to the immigration office the next business day at 9:00. They said we needed an appointment and asked us to come back the next day at 9:00. We only needed our passports and a credit card to pay for the $6226 MXN fee (per person). The rest of the information was already in their system. We were fingerprinted and photographed. The process took about 2 hours. We were the only ones in the immigration office the entire time so two agents worked on our paperwork. We walked out with copies of everything and both our cards. Hope this helps.

You have to apply at a consulate outside of Mexico. It does not have to be in your home country. Find the consulate that has an appointment available that works with your dates. Then, once you have the appointment, contact them and make sure that all of your paperwork is exactly as they want it. We were able to send all of our paperwork to the consulate electronicly, make the changes they wanted, so when we showed up for the actual appointment (turned out to be with the person who had reviewed all of our paperwork on line) it took less than 30 minutes for both of us, because he had already review all of it. Then, just like as stated above, you have a defined period of time to get here, then 30 days after arrival to finish off here.

It's easy, as long as you have exactly the paperwork they require. There is no longer any reason to use an attorney.

In addition to the helpful comments that have already been made, I have a cautionary comment about my experiences.

For years I had FM3, the previous temporary resident status. It was a one-year status. The holder had to “re-qualify” every year. This involved considerable paperwork, but importantly, it required timing. The completed renewal application had to be submitted by the expiry date. It had to be submitted no more than 30 days prior to the expiry. If I missed a renewal, I would have to start from the beginning, applying for a year-one FM3.

So the first point is, if you had an FM3, it was important to gave an expiry date at a time when you plan to be in the Zihuatanejo area every year.

Consider your future renewal dates

For years I started applying for renewal a couple of weeks before the expiry. I was always completed by the expiry date. Then I would wait, sometimes for weeks, wondering whether I would get my renewal completed before my departure date.

One year I thought I got smart. I went to Zihuatanejo earlier than usual and applied at the first opportunity, 30 days prior to expiry. I had my renewed FM3 in a couple of days. But that “reset” the date for my renewals to the date the renewal was approved. I ended up having to change my vacations for subsequent years in order to be in Zihuatanejo in time to start the renewal process.

Don’t think that things will go smoothly

Eventually, I applied to convert my FM3 (temporary resident status) to an FM2 (permanent resident status). I got through the paperwork in Zihuatanejo. That included surrendering my FM3 card. My permanent status was approved. The card was prepared in Acapulco. I just had to pick up my PR card in Zihuatanejo when it arrived.

There was a big storm. Bridges were washed out. No traffic was getting between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo. My card did not arrive before my departure. I had to get a special authorization from migración to leave the country. But I also had onky 30 days to sign for my PR card.

I ended up flying from Zihuatanejo to Canada, then two weeks later flying from Canada to Zihuatanejo to have a five minute signing fir my PR card, then return to Canada.

Remember, if you want to hear the gods laugh, tell someone you have a plan.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies. I'll get it done one way or another!