Job Discussion Forums

[Samantha]

For those on FM2's remember to keep track of your time out of the country. I was speaking to a woman today who was recently fined $1500.00 pesos for being out of the country over the allowable days in the 5 year period of the FM2. It was worked out based on some per diem rate they use. Her FM2 booklet is lost in the system now, which is a whole other story! I don't know how many this information will be useful for, but one teacher I worked with last year was started out on an FM2 rather than an FM3 (she is married to a Mexican)...so maybe there are some of you out there that come and go from Mexico and need to be aware of the different rules involved.

[moonraven]

Good relationships with INM do not happen out of the blue. You need to understand how the people who work there FEEL dealing with folks who 9 times out of 10 do the Gringo Dance.

They much prefer folks like myself who call them on the phone to tell them she is coming over, and suggesting a little party to make the situation more upbeat.

[thes80]

Yes, its me again. This will, however, be my last post here about INM, because I decided to get the Heck out of Mexico.

After 2 posh uni job offers (and one at Tec that wasn't so posh), my new employer told me they wouldn't be able to file my visa change with in 30 days, so I would have to pay some multas, etc. After a little thought and convo with level-headed friends, it was decided that it would be best to pack up the car and get out as quickly as possible.

In the U.S. (not wanting to compare, but it is necessary here) the employer pays for visa costs and is responsible for the paperwork. There are no lengthy, costly, unnecessary hastles for the employee to deal with. However, foreign workers inMexico continue to pay ridiculous amounts of money, and spend equally ridiculous amount of time trying to do the right thing, but they can never get ahead. I guess I never understood why the hiring institutions just don't pay for the visa and consider it part of the "hiring package"

Although I LOVE Mexico, I had two choices: to leave, or to stay and do something that to me was morally wrong. In the end, I really felt bad for leaving my "new boss" hanging without a teacher only a month or so before school started. On the other hand, it was the people in the migration office at the school that couldn't get their acts together to fill out my paperwork. When all is done, I WIN. Yeah, I am back in the states under the Bush economy and many people can afford to buy gasoline anymore, but at least here I can make enough to be able to fill up my tank once a week.

Good luck to all of you who will face the same bureaucracy that I have just escaped from.
Theo

[ls650]

[moonraven]

I must be missing something. What was morally wrong?



My first "employer" in Mexico did not turn in paperwork the way that INM wanted it--they avoided saying what I would be teaching, for example. I met with the head of the Mexico City office--who told me that my documentation was fine, that it was the university that was the problem. I told the university to take a long walk off a short pier.

If I had not done that--and immediately gone to work for a different organization--I wouldn't have had all those wonderful years in Mexico!

[Samantha]

ls650, This person may be a troll, but I suspect it is someone looking for an excuse to leave Mexico and place blame rather than admit he/she wasn't suited for Mexico. The part I found weird is that anyone living here over 6 months must have an FM-3 at a similar cost so this is not unique to he/she in his dilemma. Maybe I lost the plot of the story along the way, and that is quite possible.

An independent teacher doing private lessons and so forth, would pay for their own FM-3. If I decided to become unemployed and sit around eating mangos and avocados, I would still need an FM-3 or FM-2, even married to a Mexican. The category is Ama de Casa...my sponsor would be my husband who then pays for the privilege of keeping me in Mexico. LOL

[MixtecaMike]

What is wrong with you people? Someone gets totally frustrated with the b.s. at migracion and the exhorbitant demands of Mexican beauracracy and the ridiculous costs (compared to the earning level) associated with working legally in Mexico, and you jump on him (or her) as a troll?

The Mexican government spends how much time whining about "migrantes" to the US and how the US should forget about the fact they are breaking US laws and to lend them a helping hand. And yet its own government officials rape, rob, and even kill illegal immigrants from other countries, plus make it extremely difficult for foreigners (except their beloved gringo tourists) to enter Mexico legally.

Are you people just becoming part of the Mexico good, elsewhere bad, club, or are you already full-time members? Samantha may put a smiling after her comment "... pays for the privilege of keeping me in Mexico" but people coming to Mexico should realize that the Mexican government does consider they are granting you a privilege to work in their country, and that you should pay heavily for that privilege.

[ls650]

[Samantha]

[moonraven]

On page 1 of this thread I described what the OP did as The Gringo Dance. That doesn't necessarily make him a troll, I suppose--but it does make him an undesirable.

Puebla INM folks were not only wise but clairvoyant in showing him the door.

A few months later he is finally accepting their invitation to leave the country. That is the first rational act that he has described to us.

[MixtecaMike]

[ls650]

[moonraven]

I agree. Mexican bureaucracy is no worse than any other country's bureaucracy--and less troublesome than that of many countries.

I don't see why folks think that they should be able to go into any country and not pay for the privilege of joining its work force.

[MixtecaMike]

[moonraven]

Mike,

You're far too bitter in regard to something that is no longer affecting you. Please think about letting it go. You may add years to your life by doing so.

Then again--obviously--you may not.