Job Discussion Forums

apfennig · Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Posts: 4 Location: USA

I have been offered a position in Mexico City with a language center teaching business English to professionals. The hourly wage is 140 pesos. They said they would help me find housing but would not provide it (which is fine). I would begin in January. They told me to come on a Tourist Visa and get a copy of my degree notarized and when I arrive I will go to Migracion to apply for the FM-3 Visa.

From the forums it seems as though the hourly wage is sufficient and the visa process is standard. And is it standard to just have a letter of invitation and just kind of wing it on not knowing every detail?

However, I will need to send about $200 USD each month back to the States via a bank transfer or PayPal and I will need a bank account in Mexico to make deposits to make this work. Is it true that you cannot open a bank account in Mexico until you have your FM-3 Visa? How else could I send money back to the States to pay student loans? This would be on a monthly basis.

Any feedback will help. Thanks.

-Alyssa

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

You need the FM3 to open an account. Another poster (Samantha?) here mentioned tht you can do it without the FM3 but I've never seen it happen.

Western Union or Moneygram is another way to send money, or you can have a bank wire it for you, but it can get costly.

If your FM3 is late in being processed and you need to send money back, perhaps you could have the school transfer it off for you. Or a friend, or another teacher.

Polly0607 · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 64

These people don�t seem to know a lot about the immigration process. You need an apostille for your degree (and another other important document) before leaving the U.S. Your degree and other documents will have to be translated by a special kind of legal translator once you are here. That can be costly.

Also, 140 pesos an hour is not very good for business English classes. Especially when you might have to travel all over the city.

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

Bancomer in my area has been opening bank accounts for foreigners without FM-3's for the past few years. My husband has helped with translations. It is possible that may only be because they are here to invest money and buy properties and may not apply to teachers. But that said, I had an account opened for me at Banamex by a University I worked for, before I was able to get my FM3 processed. They made up a last name for me since I didn't have enough last names to suit the system and auto-deposited my pay. So I know it is done in my area, but that's not to say it can be done in Mexico City or anywhere else in the country. Mexico is fluid, shall we say.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

some waygug-in · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 339

I don't know if the rules have changed from a couple of years ago, but at that time Western Union WOULD NOT allow you to send money out of Mexico. They would only receive money from north of the border.

I think you can send money within Mexico though.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

'Elektra' have a service that allows you to send money out of Mexico via Western Union. I checked into this last month and was told it would be no problem to wire money to Canada.

MELEE · Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 3:38 pm Post subject:

Most banks will open a NOMINA (direct deposit) account with no FM3 because for them its a sure thing. They have an established relationship with the employers who use their bank for their nominas so they have different rules for this type of account. So what the OP should do is ask his new employer if he will be paided by nomina or checks or cash.

Oh and it was two years ago, that western union started sending money out of Mexico as well as recieving it, but really its not a good deal the comission is very high. The people who I know that make regular payments get another bank account apart from their nomina, send or take the ATM card for that account to a trusted person like a parent in the US, who then makes an ATM withdrawl once a month, that is the way with the lowest surcharges.

You may have trouble making 200-dollar-a-month payments living in Mexico City on that wage, depending on how many hours you work, of course. If you have experience and training and are interested in the state of Oaxaca (not Oaxaca City), rather than than Mexico City, pm me.