Job Discussion Forums

[JohnBleazard]

I have read in several places about the need to have my "documents" made official, translated, whatever, first here in the USA before coming to Mexico if I intend to stay and teach and will require a work permit.

You are all such wonderful people on this board, replying faithfully and helpfully to those with needs and questions.

Would you please take a crack at succinctly outlining which documents need to be Mexicanized (translated, stamped, blessed, whatever the correct expression is) and where and how to get it done.

I have the following documents that I suspect will need to done: US passport, birth certificate, my expired Kansas secondary education teaching certificate, my BA diploma, my MA diploma, transcripts from all the colleges and universities I attended, my CELTA certificate. I think that is everything.

Thanks for your help. I am getting so antsy about coming to Mexico to teach I can hardly wait to get laid off.

[dduck]

[LM]

Here is how I see it...

1. Dduck is right, your passport is an international document and does not need an apostille (US) or legalization (Canada).

2. The requirements seem to change depending upon what immigration office you go to and who handles your case. Some may not ask for your birth certificate while others will demand it. Some may only want your highest qualification, while others will ask for everything.

3. I don't believe you would be able to get an apostille for an expired document. Even if you did, expired documents are never accepted in Mexico. If you would like to work for a SEP school (a school recognized by the government), a teacher's license would be very useful, maybe necessary. Get another one if you can and get it apostilled if you are planning on staying in Mexico a long time.

To sum up, I would get the following documents apostilled: birth certificate, BA, MA, CELTA and a current Teacher's certificate. This way you can't go wrong, especially if you plan on staying for a while.

A little anecdote...There used to be a commercial on T.V in Mexico, where a guy is standing in front of a window and the lady on the other side is demanding documents from him for some unknown paperwork. He keeps handing over document after document. She even asks for the receipt for his home refrigerator. Once he has handed over everything, she abruptly tells him that business hours are over for the day and to come back tomorrow. Everyone laughed about this commercial because it was so true. It has happened to me at immigration more than once.

What I have learned...keep your cool and YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH DOCUMENTATION IN MEXICO.

Good luck.
LM

[MELEE]

LM is right, it seems to be different in each immigration office.

In the Oaxaca Office you need:

An Apostille on a copy of your highest degree (for US Citizens contact the secretary of state of your state to find out about the appostile process, In England contact the Home Office sorry I can't remember, but do have written down somewhere for Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, and Jamaica)

The Apostille and the degree need to be officially translated (having the seal of our university works for "offical" in the Oaxaca office)

A simple copy and a translation of something that relates to the teaching of English if your degree does not.

A copy of every page of your passport notarized by a MEXICAN notary.

A letter of job offer and tax papers pertaining to your future employer (that you will get here).

A bunch of other forms that they will give you, and a letter from you to them.

I did not need my birthcertificate until this year, when I both got married and got a government housing loan.

[lozwich]

[LM]

I realized after reading MELEE's post that I forgot to mention translations.

I have been keeping up with immigration requirements because I will be moving back to Mexico (from Canada) in the next few weeks with my Mexican husband.

We got married in Toluca 7 years ago and I did need my birth certificate, but it wasn't legalized, translated and it was just a wallet-size. We had to do everything at the Secretaria de Governacion in D.F. because there was no office in Toluca.

Now the website for mexican immigration states that all foreign documents must be legalized (apostille in U.S.) and translated by a certified translator. The translation is best done Mexico with legalized documents because if you do the translation first outside, then there is an extra step, something about the translation being legalized as well. To avoid that, I had my documents legalized here in Canada and I will have them translated in Mexico by a certified translator.

Hope this helps.

[TeresaF]

Does anybody know whether I would be able to obtain an offical translation of my diploma (which, for some ungodly reason, is written in Latin) in Mexico? Is this something I should do before I leave? If not, where do you normally go to get official translations in Mexico? For what its worth, I'm not leaving until January, so I've still got time to get all my ducks in a row. Thanks!

Teresa

[Ben Round de Bloc]

In the city where I live, there are at least 2 or 3 officially licensed translators. All of them that I know of just happen to be lawyers, too, by the way. I was directed to one of them by the DOS of the first school where I worked. The cost was relatively inexpensive, but the quality wasn't the best -- a couple of blatant errors in his translation -- but it did the trick at immigration. My original was in English. Not sure about finding someone to translate from Latin.

[LM]

One of my degrees is in Latin as well, but the university provided an official stamped English translation of the degree. When I got the degree legalized, I sent the degree and the translation together. I will get them translated in Mexico by an official translator.
Maybe you should try contacting your university/college for an English translation.
LM

[MELEE]

If LM's suggestion doesn't pan out, I'd suggest that you ake your Latin degree to the local diosis and see if they will translate it and put their stamp on it for you. I'm sure the immigration office will accept the word of God