# another fm3??



## dpebbles (Oct 28, 2011)

WE have been living in Mexico since April 2011. Last month we went to go back to the U.S. for our yearly trip back ( company pays for it) The company my husband works for got him an fm3 but never told us that we needed anything for the rest of the family ( our 5 children and me) well we got hassled horribly trying to get our boarding passes. We were told since we had been in the country longer than 190 days or whatever that we were no longer tourists and needed to go to immigration. As you now, immigration at the airport is a nightmare...the man gave us a ton of trouble...refusing to stamp our passports and actually hinted around that he wanted money to do so. They ended up making us miss our flight and we had to pay extra money to take the next available flight...it took hours at the airport to get all this straightened out. My question is do the rest of us need to have an fm3 or fm2..or something to be here legally. My husband's expat assignment ends in April of 2013. 
Thanks so much!


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2012)

dpebbles said:


> WE have been living in Mexico since April 2011. Last month we went to go back to the U.S. for our yearly trip back ( company pays for it) The company my husband works for got him an fm3 but never told us that we needed anything for the rest of the family ( our 5 children and me) well we got hassled horribly trying to get our boarding passes. We were told since we had been in the country longer than 190 days or whatever that we were no longer tourists and needed to go to immigration. As you now, immigration at the airport is a nightmare...the man gave us a ton of trouble...refusing to stamp our passports and actually hinted around that he wanted money to do so. They ended up making us miss our flight and we had to pay extra money to take the next available flight...it took hours at the airport to get all this straightened out. My question is do the rest of us need to have an fm3 or fm2..or something to be here legally. My husband's expat assignment ends in April of 2013.
> Thanks so much!


Every foreign person living in MX needs their OWN visa. You and the children will probably need to be added to your husband's visa as "economic dependents".


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## dpebbles (Oct 28, 2011)

Thank you so much for the reply. I am so upset that his employer never took care of this before now. I'm positive it's a matter of them not wanting to pay the extra money to do things the right way.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

dpebbles said:


> WE have been living in Mexico since April 2011. Last month we went to go back to the U.S. for our yearly trip back ( company pays for it) The company my husband works for got him an fm3 but never told us that we needed anything for the rest of the family ( our 5 children and me) well we got hassled horribly trying to get our boarding passes. We were told since we had been in the country longer than 190 days or whatever that we were no longer tourists and needed to go to immigration. As you now, immigration at the airport is a nightmare...the man gave us a ton of trouble...refusing to stamp our passports and actually hinted around that he wanted money to do so. They ended up making us miss our flight and we had to pay extra money to take the next available flight...it took hours at the airport to get all this straightened out. My question is do the rest of us need to have an fm3 or fm2..or something to be here legally. My husband's expat assignment ends in April of 2013.
> Thanks so much!


You do need either a visa or a tourist permit to stay in Mexico. Since you will only be here for another 10 months it might be easier at this point to just stay on tourist permits. I am assuming that when you returned from your trip back to the US last month, you and the children were given tourist permits. These will be good for 180 days. Then you would have to leave Mexico and reenter on a new tourist permit. This would be around November. You do have to leave the country to get a new one, but there is no minimum length of time you have to be out. Some people go to the border and just cross out, then back in. It is not too convenient from Irapuato since you are right in the middle of the country, but there are pretty cheap buses and planes to the border. It would probably be cheaper than the visa if you are paying for it yourself, rather than the company.


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## dpebbles (Oct 28, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> You do need either a visa or a tourist permit to stay in Mexico. Since you will only be here for another 10 months it might be easier at this point to just stay on tourist permits. I am assuming that when you returned from your trip back to the US last month, you and the children were given tourist permits. These will be good for 180 days. Then you would have to leave Mexico and reenter on a new tourist permit. This would be around November. You do have to leave the country to get a new one, but there is no minimum length of time you have to be out. Some people go to the border and just cross out, then back in. It is not too convenient from Irapuato since you are right in the middle of the country, but there are pretty cheap buses and planes to the border. It would probably be cheaper than the visa if you are paying for it yourself, rather than the company.



Seriously, can you believe a large coorporation would send a family to Mexico on an expat asignment and not get them the proper paperwork or at least inform them of the laws??? Unreal!! I am very angry and will be paying them a visit later today....they will be paying for the permits needed and reimbursing us for the added cost of getting on another flight for 7 people. Thanks for the response!


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## FHBOY (Jun 15, 2010)

dpebbles said:


> Seriously, can you believe a large coorporation would send a family to Mexico on an expat asignment and not get them the proper paperwork or at least inform them of the laws??? Unreal!! I am very angry and will be paying them a visit later today....they will be paying for the permits needed and reimbursing us for the added cost of getting on another flight for 7 people. Thanks for the response!


BUENA SUERTE - remember what you've learned in Mexico - patience, patience, patience.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

dpebbles said:


> Seriously, can you believe a large coorporation would send a family to Mexico on an expat asignment and not get them the proper paperwork or at least inform them of the laws??? Unreal!! I am very angry and will be paying them a visit later today....they will be paying for the permits needed and reimbursing us for the added cost of getting on another flight for 7 people. Thanks for the response!


Good for you! Don't forget to ask for recompense for the aggravation and embarrassment you faced when you tangled with the Immigration authorities at the airport.


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2012)

dpebbles said:


> Seriously, can you believe a large coorporation would send a family to Mexico on an expat asignment and not get them the proper paperwork or at least inform them of the laws??? Unreal!! I am very angry and will be paying them a visit later today....they will be paying for the permits needed and reimbursing us for the added cost of getting on another flight for 7 people. Thanks for the response!


Yes, I believe it - this might be the norm for companies doing business in MX. And, with 6 dependents, the minimum support income number will go up.

Just remember, if you're talking to a Mexican at the company, anger will get you nowhere and might cause long-term relationship problems at the company. Anger is a no-no. Take a breath and use your education to remain calm when you're there.


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## edgeee (Jun 21, 2012)

GringoCArlos said:


> . . .Just remember, if you're talking to a Mexican at the company, anger will get you nowhere and might cause long-term relationship problems at the company. Anger is a no-no. Take a breath and use your education to remain calm when you're there.


excellent advice, and i wish to point out it is just as good if you never speak to any Mexicans, Japanese, Koreans, Russians, french, blacks, yellows, pinks, greens, baldies, hairies or albinos. i've heard it works on some Canadians, but i don't advise trying it.
but IMHO anger sure doesn't gain one much dealing with anything above the level of a mosquito or other insect.
but then, it does not work on WASPS either.
you could get stung.


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## dpebbles (Oct 28, 2011)

GringoCArlos said:


> Yes, I believe it - this might be the norm for companies doing business in MX. And, with 6 dependents, the minimum support income number will go up.
> 
> Just remember, if you're talking to a Mexican at the company, anger will get you nowhere and might cause long-term relationship problems at the company. Anger is a no-no. Take a breath and use your education to remain calm when you're there.


lol very true...but in this case all the top people within the company are Americans.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

I wonder how many of them are illegal aliens in Mexico?


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

GringoCArlos said:


> Yes, I believe it - this might be the norm for companies doing business in MX. And, with 6 dependents, the minimum support income number will go up.
> 
> Just remember, if you're talking to a Mexican at the company, anger will get you nowhere and might cause long-term relationship problems at the company. Anger is a no-no. Take a breath and use your education to remain calm when you're there.


What Carlos said. Remember that to the company, it's all pesos and centavos. They don't care about your issues or your anger. What they DO care about is the ability to get other executives to agree to go to MX. 

Point out the economic fallout for them of their failure, should they fail to make you whole again for what happened due to their negligence.

Note the word negligence. It has a BAD legal connotation. I recommend you use it a lot.


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## dpebbles (Oct 28, 2011)

RVGRINGO said:


> I wonder how many of them are illegal aliens in Mexico?



Apparently not many in our expat group here in my city. I sent out a group email yesterday asking about this and ALL of the other families here were given FM3s by their husband's companies. They are all apalled that HR overlooked this for us.


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

dpebbles said:


> Apparently not many in our expat group here in my city. I sent out a group email yesterday asking about this and ALL of the other families here were given FM3s by their husband's companies. They are all apalled that HR overlooked this for us.


I hate to be this cynical, but I very much doubt that it was overlooked. Rather, they thought they could get away with it.


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## dpebbles (Oct 28, 2011)

mickisue1 said:


> I hate to be this cynical, but I very much doubt that it was overlooked. Rather, they thought they could get away with it.


you are correct. The longer we are here the longer I found out all of the things they try to get away with.


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## gudgrief (Jun 20, 2011)

82-85 I worked for a very large US company that transferred me from my job in the US to one of its locations in Mexico.

They dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's and paid consultants and runners to hold our habds the first time and each yearly renewal for our visas.

In the city where I worked there were several other US companies and they had some, even management level, employees who were essentially illegal aliens. They must have been paid entirely from the US operation into US bank accounts so the Mexican government never caught on. Those employees had no complaints about their status or their companies, they knew what their situation would be from the start. Getting a tourist card every 6 months was not a hardship since they to periodic trips to the border anyhow.

I don't think that is typical of US companies in Mexico.


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## FHBOY (Jun 15, 2010)

*FM3 (whatever) timing*

This is a question for my Lakeside friends. It goes like this. 

I will be down there from 8/11 thru 8/29, roughly 18 days. Obviously I will have an FMM. I also have a signed lease for a house for the month of August and then again for a year beginning February 2013. Should I apply for my FM3 (whatever) on this trip or wait till we finally move there in February? Will there be enough time in August to have it processed? I believe I have to surrender my FMM while the process is ongoing.

The reason I ask is that when we arrive in February, the first thing after settling in will be to get a car and for that I need: proof of residence, and an FM3 (whatever) and if that process takes a month, we'd be without wheels for a long (-ish) time when we need transportation to set up our house.

Opinions, por favor?


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

My understanding is that you surrender your FMM together with the application for the FM3 and therefore you are required to remain in the country until that FM3 application is acted upon. If my recollection is accurate then I think you should wait until you arrive in February to apply for the FM3. Regarding the car purchase: why not purchase one in the USA and bring it with you? Maybe I've overlooked your comments about that elsewhere.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

FHBOY said:


> This is a question for my Lakeside friends. It goes like this.
> 
> I will be down there from 8/11 thru 8/29, roughly 18 days. Obviously I will have an FMM. I also have a signed lease for a house for the month of August and then again for a year beginning February 2013. Should I apply for my FM3 (whatever) on this trip or wait till we finally move there in February? Will there be enough time in August to have it processed? I believe I have to surrender my FMM while the process is ongoing.
> 
> ...


You do surrender your current immigration documents when applying for a new or renewal visa. I have never had to do it, but my understanding is that if you need to leave the country while your visa is in process, you can apply for a letter that will serve as a temporary visa. The other point to note is that it is pretty quick to get a visa these days. If all you paperwork is in order, i.e. you have copies of everything they want (proof of address, proof of income, copy of passport, letter requesting visa in Spanish, form from web site), it just takes about a week. Having said that I would be nervous if I only had 18 days, but I am overly nervous about stuff like that. Probably if you apply as soon as you arrive, you will have the Visa long before your stay is up.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

FHBOY said:


> The reason I ask is that when we arrive in February, the first thing after settling in will be to get a car and for that I need: proof of residence, and an FM3 (whatever) and if that process takes a month, we'd be without wheels for a long (-ish) time when we need transportation to set up our house.


Wait till you get here in Feb. You'll have 6 months to get settled and organized. The FM3 process used to take a month but sounds faster lately .... but you never know

You said you have a lease ... and it's unsure if you need an FM3 to buy a car. If not rent one


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

Are you planning to buy a car, or drive down?

If driving down, take your time with the visa application, and drive your US plated vehicle for the trips to the stores for getting settled in. 

If buying a car there, you'll be hampered, anyway, till you get one, right?


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## FHBOY (Jun 15, 2010)

mickisue1 said:


> Are you planning to buy a car, or drive down?
> 
> If driving down, take your time with the visa application, and drive your US plated vehicle for the trips to the stores for getting settled in.
> 
> If buying a car there, you'll be hampered, anyway, till you get one, right?


Thanks to all, I don't think I want to depend on the promptness of the government so it'll wait till February. 

I am not bringing my car - I'm selling both of them here and will buy a car (seminuevo) when I get there. Yes, if I was still a road warrior, I'd drive down but those days are gone, driving is just a drudge (interstates are boring and tedious). Then I'd would have my car, but Ajijic would be a two day trip back over the border to sell the car, and based on the # of expats, I doubt I'll get a good price in Texas.

And lastly, nationalizing the car, as has been discussed over these two years is an expensive and nasty process, and just not worth it.

So, when I come in February, either I'll rent a car, or rely on the goodness of neighbors or something. 

As earth shaking things go, this is a one on the Richter Scale. Once again, thanks to all.


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