Job Discussion Forums

[Tretyakovskii]

Fitzgerald, if I understand correctly, you left your old employer and your old city behind, which removed the issue INM would face if you still were being sponsored on your permission to work by an employer at the time you asked to have independent status.

This thread started with this question, "I noticed a post from just after the new immigration procedures took effect, that it was possible to have a work visa through a school, and have an added Independiente aspect so that you could work for others...."

This is the question that I've been addressing (most of the time!).

[Fitzgerald]

[Guy Courchesne]

[Tretyakovskii]

Since you were responding to this, Guy, is it your understanding the OP's remedy will be to wait till renewal time, then get approval of independent status, sponsoring themselves at their own cost, instead of having an employer sponsor their application for permission to work?

[Guy Courchesne]

As far as I understand it - and this is by no means 100% clear to me - one cannot sponsor themselves as an independent. Fitzgerald has done this by registering as a persona fisica with SAT and moving off sponsored status by an employer, but he did it some time ago. I'm told you can't do this now.

My cousin is in Merida and tried to go this route but was denied. He ultimately had to have an employer sponsor him again.

A solution that I am seeing right now in one case in DF is someone who is registering as a persona moral and forming a company. Once formed and registered with INM to be able to hire foreigners, he will drop his sponsored status with a school and have his company sponsor him. This is costly and time consuming and probably not a viable option for most people.

So no, I don't think the OPs rememdy is to wait until renewal time. I would start by establishing a persona fisica status with SAT and hope that it would work a la Fitzergerald but if it doesn't, you'd have to upgrade to persona moral or find another employer.

Or marry a Mexican.

[Tretyakovskii]

[Guy Courchesne]

For the last two years, I have been advising folks that work with us to do exactly as Fitzgerald has, without incident. Again however, I was directly told by two different lawyers in DF that it can no longer be done, my cousin in Merida was rejected trying to do it, and another teacher I know was rejected on the same procedure in Guadalajara - all this covering roughly the last 3 months. No reference to a specific change in the law - each case cited a change in policy, if that's any different.

[Tretyakovskii]

My first migratory status in the country was independent. I had learned about it from you and a few others at the time. I was nervous about being denied, and I hadn't dealt with INM before so I went in with a long list of supporting documents: everything certified, apostiled, and translated by a perito; letters of reference from former employers, translated; a list of nurses who'd said they'd like a chance to study with me, and a letter from the Delegado for IMSS saying they appreciated my offer to teach their employees English, as a volunteer, which I thought would have a persuasive impact on the personnel at INM. I was trying to make the case that I had something to offer the people here. The permission was granted and I got set up with the SAT as the next step.

It wasn't until more than a year later that I took a job with an employer; when I did, INM said I didn't need to do anything more than give them notice that I had changed some aspect of my work situation.

Since these applications are decided case by case, unless there is a rule change, or reinterpretation of a rule, it would be nice to know if there actually has been any rule change at the national level that would account for the denials that you know about. Too bad the people you talked with at INM didn't offer a little more information, like showing you a bulletin addressed to the staff that these applications are to be denied, and explaining why.

It hasn't been my experience that INM officials act arbitrarily, however, so there may very well be an internal communication about this that hasn't been shared so far with you, and those you mentioned, unless it was the lawyers you mentioned. Had they, too, not been provided an explanation of the change in practice?

[Guy Courchesne]

[Tretyakovskii]

[Guy Courchesne]

[Tretyakovskii]

[Guy Courchesne]

No, it's been pretty clear since November 2012 that you cannot enter the country on your own and work independently right from the get go. Since the changes, you've needed a sponsor for the work visa. Fitzgerald doesn't fall into that category as he already had sponsorship.

'My guess is...' refers to what has changed in the last months or so.

[Guy Courchesne]

Well, sorry, I couldn't get it in writing anywhere. The word repeated from two lawyers today is that in DF, they do not accept an independent status as per our discussion here. An offer of employment must accompany any such change in status. Once dropped from an employer, you have 90 days to find another.

Same as I've heard in Guadalajara and Merida.

Let's see if someone else comes up with an alternative. To solve my problems with this, we've started the process of registering with INM so that our group can sponsor foreigners.

[bdbarnett1]

I meant to bring this up with my immigration lady last week, but we started talking about having anchor babies and passports and I forgot all about it.

I think in my situation, that may be the best way to go