Say the word immigration in Mexico and you might get a similar reaction as you would saying Internal Revenue Service in the United States. It seems everyone has a bad word for immigration, generally in the context of immigration being slow and ineffiecient. Perhaps we need to take a step back and reconsider our opinion.
After I spent eight hours in the US Passport office getting my US Passport renewed, I’m not too quick to judge Mexico’s immigration office with regard to speed or efficiency. After all I’m an American who has had a passport since 1979, but it took a special trip to Miami and a day out of my life to get it renewed in less than four months. I spent about an hour at the Mexican consulate in Miami to get my FM3 Rentista. Not bad by comparison.
The real test was getting my FM3 registered at the Playa del Carmen immigration office. My wife and I started with an attitude that it would be a process. Our comforting thought was that if we stand in line long enough, we would get our FM3s validated. Yes it seemed tedious, but I have never applied for a Visa in the United States. I bet it’s just as tedious for Mexican’s applying there.
Our first step was to take all the documentation to the local immigration office that we took to the Miami consulate. The first objective was to get past the document checker at the door of the immigration office. We didn’t make it. My wife and I both needed to complete a form and write a letter in Spanish requesting our FM3 status. The Immigration Officer was courteous and attempted to speak to us in English since we couldn’t communicate with her in the native language of the country we were seeking to live in. We suspect that the Immigration Officers seemed a little aggravated by our poor Spanish skills, but we were determined to get through the process.
After our first visit we reminded ourselves….if we stand in line long enough we will get our FM3s registered.
With our second visit a week later, we came armed with our completed immigration forms, all our documentation, and our letters of request typed in Spanish. Again we failed to pass the document check. Our forms were fine, but our letters were inappropriate even though we had paid $20 USD to have them translated. But we were close and the Immigration officer took it upon herself to scratch through and correct our letters to such an extent that the copy and passport photo vendor down the hall was able to determine the letter we needed. We paid him another $200 pesos to provide the correct letters for us. We walked back to the head of the line at the document desk – as instructed by the Immigration Officer on duty there – and we were directed to take a seat in the waiting area. We made progress. After about an hour, we were called by name to Mesa II. It’s really not a table, but a section of the service counter. Now another Immigration Officer examined all our documents individually then began to stamp, stamp, stamp…rubber stamping each document. It felt like progress. He then created a file folder for both of us, took our FM3s we were given in Miami, and asked us to return in two weeks with one form that he gave us that had our file number written on it. He informed us that the file numbers were important and we should not lose them. He spoke to us in English and was very understandable.
After our second visit we reminded ourselves….if we stand in line long enough we will get our FM3s back.
Two weeks later we again returned. We checked in at the document desk and we were given a yellow tag with a number on it for Mesa I. Again, Mesa I is not a table, but the left end of the service counter when facing it. After a good hour wait, we were called to the counter. We gave the Immigration Officer our forms with our file numbers and we were asked to take a seat. We waited another hour. We were then called back to the counter and the Immigration Officer began talking to us in Spanish. We were clueless. I informed him that we did not speak Spanish well. He told us that he didn’t speak English well – then just stared at us for what seemed like a long while. Then he started over in very good English explaining that our files had been reviewed but needed to be approved by the supervisor. He then made an appointment for us to return in two weeks with passport photos. The appointment was for a specific date…not a date and time.
After our third visit we reminded ourselves….if we stand in line long enough we will get our FM3s back.
We returned in two weeks on the day of our appointment. We visited the passport photo vendor who had helped us with our letter. It took him about 20 minutes to take our photos and print them. We then checked in at the document desk. We were given another yellow call tag for Mesa I. We waited again. The Immigration Officer a Mesa I – the one who claimed not to speak English – was backed up. We had number 14 and he was on number 20 when we first arrived. That meant we would have to wait until number 30 was called, then wait for next 13 ahead of us. I took a nap. To our suprise, another Immigration Officer began working Mesa I along with the Mesa I Officer and the line began to move more quickly. After about an hour and fifteen minutes we were called by the assisting Immigration Officer. She took our form with our file numbers and our passport photos and returned quickly with our files. While she spoke Spanish, she was asking questions that we understand…such as mothers name, our age, etc. She kindly helped us out in English when we stumbled. In a matter of a few minutes, she began to fingerprint us and glue our passport photos on forms signed by the supervisor. We were asked to sign the documents attesting to their accuracy. She then handed us our complete and registered FM3s.
Remember, if you wait in line long enough, you will get your FM3s.
Looking back on the process, we were out much less time getting our FM3s registered in Playa than we were getting our US Passports renewed. While the immigration process took patience, I suspect that there was a method to the process. Afterall, providing a foreigner permission to live in your country for year should not be as easy as ordering a burger. Perhaps the Mexican government is testing our resolve to complete the process.
