Job Discussion Forums

[teach_the_world]

I just recieved my temporary residency visa for Mexico last week (Mid-October, 2014). This is how I did it.

It should be noted that the FM3 is outdated. The president changed the laws. You can no longer get a work visa inside of Mexico. You have to be outside of Mexico. You cannot legally look for a job inside of Mexico. You have to know about it before you go to Mexico. Personally, I think that they are just begging people to lie, but anyways...

Once I found a job (online), I sent in all of my apostilled documents. I keep a stash because I change jobs every year or so and I don´t want to keep dealing with this.
I hear that they are picky about apostilled documents. other forum conversations talk about this.
All of this happened the first week of August. so IT TOOK 2 MONTHS FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO PROCESS MY APOSTILLED PAPERWORK. This may change at different times of the year.

I went to Mexico. 2 weeks ago my job said that I was going to Guatemala. I had 2 working days notice. they said that THEY ONLY HAD 2 WEEKS or so in which to send me. I forget the exact time frame but it was very short and that is important if you are paying for this yourself. My school paid for me.

THE SCHOOL MADE AN APPOINTMENT for me at the Mexican Embassy in Guatemala City. I don´t know if you could do this by yourself.

Once in Guatemala, I made my appointment on time. There were 2 lines. The shorter one was for us requesting a temporary residence visa in our passort. The lady in front checked that we were there in time for our appointments. There were not many people. It was basically line after line in there.

I needed paperwork (that the school provided for me), my pasport, a visa picture (with the correct dimensions), a copy of my passport picture, and a copy of the passport page with a stamp into Guatemala. There was a place near the embassy that does copies and visa photos with men yelling to advertise it but I suggest doing it ahead of time.

Once they had checked all of my paperwork, they told me to come back in 3 business days (I have head that this is the law) between 8-9 AM.

I came back. They got more paperwork. They interviewed us. I believe that they were just CHECKING TO SEE IF WE HAD BEEN WORKING AT THE SCHOOL ILLEGALLY. For example, they asked me where I had taught before. I listed the places. They mentioned the school in Mexico that my visa is for as though I had worked there. I said, no. That is where I wanted to work. They asked me if I had a contract with the school. I said no. They asked where I had heard of the school and if I had heard of it before I came to Mexico. In which grade were the students that I was teaching? How many students? I answered mostly that I didn´t know or I thought approximately xyz. It felt like they were trying to trick me into saying that I was already working there. YOU DO NOT WORK THERE YET. It doesn´t mater if you actually do work there. If you do, you just have to lie through your teeth and act like you don´t so that they will give you the visa. The man was intimidating and stared down some of the others going through this process, but we all walked away with visas in the end, but not yet. Take him seriously.

We were each called up to have our picture taken, again.

Then we were instructed to go to their bank (with directions as to where to go) and deposit 295Q. They gave us tiny forms for that. We went to the bank. It is suposed to be $36USD that we deposited but the exchange rate was really bad everywhere we went, including their bank. We gave the bank the money as $36USD and then they asked for additional money in Guatemalan currency to cover the exchange rate.

Then we brought the form that said that we paid to the embassy. They told us to come back at 3-4pm the same day. We got our visas. They are temporary residence visas that are good for 6 months. I have no idea what we have to do in 6 months.

I may have left out a detail or 2. I say that because I am trying to give you as many details as I can to take any mystery out of it.

Good luck and enjoy Mexico.

[esl_prof]

Thanks for sharing! What part of Mexico are you working in, and how is the job going so far?