It has been on YouTube since February but I just came across this video about San Felipe.  It’s especially cool as we know Tom and Ben.  Ben is a one of our faithful helpers at Volunteers Without Limits.  Sam Grubb  of San Felipe Storage and Tom and Jeanie of Rumors and Fat Boys are also regular contributors.

The following article was written by Robert Hoare and originally posted on his site San Felipe Life.

Mexico’s New Migration Law

The regulations for the new (2011) Migration Law for Mexico were published on 2012-Sept-28. This will affect all foreign residents, and soon-to-be residents, in Mexico.

Quick Summary

• * No more FM3 or FM2. Just a 1 to 4 year temporary resident visa (working or non-working), followed by a permanent resident visa with the right to work.

• * Should be possible to apply direct for permanent resident in some cases, without a temporary resident visa beforehand.

• * Ownership of real estate can qualify for a temporary visa, without requiring specific income, which can then be converted to permanent residence after four years.

Sources

You can download pdf’s of the full texts in Spanish and in English (unformatted, poorly translated), for the regulations and the law to which they apply, from the links under “attachments” on the side column of this article at San Felipe Life.

Purpose of the law

The main purpose of the law is to protect the rights of migrants, especially women and children, and to allow for more humanitarian family reunion. If you have a partner or child who is Mexican, or if you are a refugee there is a lot in the law that addresses your rights.

For clarity, I’ve limited the discussion below to those who do not have Mexican family, and who are not refugees, and who are not students. I’ve also not gone into detail about how working visas will work as a lot of that, such as points system, is still to be defined.

The law consolidates and simplifies rules that were scattered around other laws (and repeals those). It certainly seems like it’s going to be much simpler. It does remain to be seen if it will be implemented like this, or if local rules will be added!

The article numbers below are those from the regulations (and law), so you should check my summary with the real documents (downloadable alongside) if you need to know the exact wording.

Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, nor have anything to do with immigration, so there are likely to be errors in this summary. Plus, of course, the actual way these rules and laws are interpreted may vary depending on which immigration office, which person, and what phase of the moon it is.

Article 93

The article 93 in the regulations describes the procedure at land borders. It requires passports (and visas, where applicable) to be checked on entry, including for pedestrians and people in private cars. Maybe this won’t be implemented immediately, but when it does it might add delays at the border.

Article 101-106

The issuing of visas at consulates is described. Ten year multiple entry 180-days per entry visitors visas are also mentioned, but unless something has changed, visas are not required for visitors from major Western countries, so this doesn’t really apply.

There is no mention of any changes to the FMM or FMT, which were often called “tourist visas” but were actually entry permits (issued without visas for people from low-risk countries). So for most tourists from the US and Canada it is likely the existing FMM will continue as at present for trips up to 180 days.

Article 107

Article 107 in the regulations refer to how article 40 (IV) of the law will be implemented. This is for the temporary residence visas that are available for those who want to stay for 180 days to 4 years, without the right to work. It roughly replaces the FM-3 or “non immigrant” rentista permit.

This is what you need to get a Temporary Resident visa. You have to meet only one of the conditions listed. They include, among others, (I) enough money for “accommodation and meals during stay”, (V) ownership of Mexican real estate above a certain value, (VI) investments including Mexican stocks and commercial property, or job creation. The amounts for the real estate and investments are to be announced later (presumably during October 2012).

Article 138

Article 138 is for temporary residents who may work, whether for pay or not (article 52 VII in the law). As well as the conditions listed above, other options are (II) have a job offer from a genuine employer or (III) have registered with the tax office for work that doesn’t involve pay (I can’t quite see the logic in that, but that’s what it states).

Proof of knowledge and experience for the job is required if applying under II or III. It appears from reading this that ownership of property is an option that actually allows work with no job offer, experience, or existing business needed, but maybe there’s some other condition somewhere.

Article 109

This article covers Permanent Resident visas from article 52 VII of the law, which are without the right to work. Conditions for granting this include one of (among others): (II) pensioned or retired with sufficient income to live in the country (amount not stated yet, but likely similar to the existing FM3 or FM2 rules), or (III) qualify under a points system to be defined (this will be mainly for highly qualified skilled workers, similar to the points-based immigration to Australia, Canada, New Zealand etc).

This is worth repeating: with a sufficient retirement income, the rules state that a permanent resident visa is immediately available. No requirement for temporary visas first.

Article 139

This covers the law article 52 IX, which is Permanent Resident visas with the right to work. Like article 109, a pension income is enough (III). So it probably makes sense to apply under this category rather than article 109, to have the right to work and keep your options open. There is also a points-based qualification option for skilled workers (IV).

In addition (V), anybody who has been a temporary resident for four years, working or not, is eligible for this permanent resident visa with the right to work (two years if you have a Mexican spouse/partner).

Article 141

Article 141 VI reiterates the conditions under which a temporary resident can change to permanent resident. These are a) qualify under the points system (for work), b) retired or receive a pension with sufficient income (amount not stated), or c) have been a temporary resident for four consecutive years.

It’s unclear whether an existing FM3 or FM2 counts towards the temporary resident time, this is probably the most important question for many people! If anybody can point me to some written statements on how existing temporary visas will be treated it would be very helpful.

Article 156

The temporary resident card can be issued for 1, 2, 3 or 4 years. If you’re under 3 years of age (well done for reading this far!) you can only get a one year visa, which implies that 4 year visas should be available to others. Hopefully no more annual renewals! For a working visa, it is restricted to one employer and also to the length of the contract, which may be where the other lengths come in.

Article 157

The permanent resident card is valid indefinitely. Again if you meet one of the conditions for granting it, such as having retirement income, you should be able to get this straight away, no stepping through FM3 then FM2, which is a really major change.

There doesn’t appear to be any requirement to spend any specific amount of time in the country each year before or after you have this (there are separate rules if you plan to become a citizen later).

Article 167

If you have either the temporary or permanent resident card you must notify a change of residence (in Mexico), workplace (for work visas), marital status or nationality within 90 days.

Article 111

Temporary and permanent residents can apply to bring in their parents, spouse or partner, and minor children.

Transition rules

The new regulations are intended to come into force 30 days after they were published (29 Sept), so this will be on Monday, 29th Oct 2012.

Any applications submitted before that date will continue to be processed under the old rules. Existing cards remain valid until their expiry dates.

Updates

I’ll update this post when the monetary amounts have been announced (such as how much real estate is needed, as one of the ways to qualify for the temporary visa).

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