# Renew visa while NOB?



## Andreas_Montoya (Jan 12, 2013)

I renewed my residente temporal for the last time in January. It expired on the 8th so I went in a week early. The man took all of my paperwork but then the lady called and said it had to be done on the 8th, the expiration date which I did.

The next time will be the last temporal. I will get permanent resident next January. However, I have received a job offer that may be too good to refuse. It will allow me to make very good money for the next 19 months until my social security kicks in.

My question is being as they were such sticklers about the date, can I renew my visa NOB at the consulate or do I need to be in Mexico? I may work past my SS date.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

I think you will need to be in Mexico. Consulates are SRE, not INM.


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## Andreas_Montoya (Jan 12, 2013)

RVGRINGO said:


> I think you will need to be in Mexico. Consulates are SRE, not INM.


If that is so, do you know if it can be renewed in any Mexican state? I can fly back to Veracruz but Tamaulipas would be much closer. I began the process in Quintana Roo so that should be possible.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Trying to renew in another state might require formal change of residence notification along with the renewal. Your current residence of record is what determines where you must renew. As you know, there is time involved, which would make it difficult either way. Have you considered letting your visa lapse, or cancelling it, and starting over again when your US working period is over? It would postpone becoming Residente Permanente for another 4 years, but really only 2 1/2 years, since it seems you will be in the USA for about a year and a half anyway.


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## Andreas_Montoya (Jan 12, 2013)

I really don't want to start this process all over again. The job will allow time for travel if needed.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

That is quite understandable. You will have to make a few trips, but if there is a good lawyer with lots of experience with renewals, you might be able to minimize them. If you were in Chapala, I would know who to recommend, but I have no contacts in Veracruz. The hitch is that while you are en tramite, you are supposed to be in Mexico and can only leave once, for a maximum of 60 days, with a special letter of permission purchased from INM to exit and re-enter. That is intended to cover emergencies. You cannot use an FMM as a tourist to cross the border, as that would cancel your visa, or the application for renewal. So, it looks like starting over might be the only option, other than a long enough vacation at renewal time to get the whole tramite completed; which can take up to a couple of months.
That said, I wonder if you could return to INM now and renew for the entire remaining time permissable, which would have been a good idea at your last renewal; ie: a three year renewal after the first year, which would have allowed you the time you need outside of Mexico without the necessity of returning to INM for any reason. You might try that.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Andreas_Montoya said:


> I really don't want to start this process all over again. The job will allow time for travel if needed.


I would not complicate things by trying to renew in another state. The Mexican bureaucracy is complicated enough already.

The problem I see is that it often takes several trips to INM to renew, at least it always has for me. This is neither convenient nor cheap if you are having to travel from the US each time.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

TundraGreen said:


> I would not complicate things by trying to renew in another state. The Mexican bureaucracy is complicated enough already.
> 
> The problem I see is that it often takes several trips to INM to renew, at least it always has for me. This is neither convenient nor cheap if you are having to travel from the US each time.



I don‘t think he could “travel from the US each time“, as INM is not likely to allow him more than one letter of permission to exit/re-enter during the tramite period. They would certainly determine that he was not in residence.


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## Andreas_Montoya (Jan 12, 2013)

I'll do whatever I have to do.


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## Andreas_Montoya (Jan 12, 2013)

Well the last time I drove home all Mexico cares about is a toll when you leave. When I returned I went through the "nothing to declare" lane and they didn't even stop me. Just saying...


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Turn around time here at the San Luis Potosi INM office for a renewal or going from RT to RP is 13 working days until finger prints and 3 working days to recieve the new card.


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## Andreas_Montoya (Jan 12, 2013)

I know a guy who was bringing back a load of clothes and shoes from a church. He went to Matamoros and they wanted 1,500 pesos tax. So he went to Los Indios and they wanted 2,500. Back to Matamoros and paying the tax, they never once asked for his visa.

Later he needed to renew his drivers license, did so and again was not asked for his visa.

Before that he drove his wife back to the U.S. to leave her there for a divorce and again was mot asked to show a visa or to get one.

The last time he returned he just drove through the nothing to declare line and kept on going.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

AlanMexicali said:


> Turn around time here at the San Luis Potosi INM office for a renewal or going from RT to RP is 13 working days until finger prints and 3 working days to recieve the new card.


SLP sounds more efficient than Guadalajara. Here, every renewal required multiple trips to INM and took a month or so. Maybe it is because it I was always changing status: from FM-3 to FM-2 to Inmigrante to Residencial Permanente. It was something I dreaded every year. Applying for citizenship was even worse, but once it comes through I will be done with both SRE and INM forever. Well, except for passport renewals.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

But.....If you were stopped for any reason and asked for your immigration document, you would be without one; an illegal alien until they processed your passport and found your true situation. You might then kiss living in Mexico goodbye. I don‘t recommend that you take that chance.


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