# Consulate Visit Report (Little Rock, AR)



## Howler (Apr 22, 2013)

Howdy Gang!

As promised, here is my report of our trip to the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock, AR from Broken Arrow/Tulsa, OK. As a run-up to our trip I posted 5 threads over a week ago for your input & advice about the issues we wanted to resolve. They were:

1) "Recovered" Mexican Citizenship for my wife
2) A Matricula Consular for my wife
3) Permanent Residence / Citizenship (Mexican) for me
4) Moving Household Goods to Mexico
5) US Vehicles in Mexico (permanently)

All in all the visit went very smoothly & painless... very unexpectedly so. I spent most of the last week reading through the your posts & comments and the websites for the Mexican government, consulates & embassies. I must have cut & paste about 20 pages worth of information that I printed out & we used for documenting our requests for the consulate. My wife, the ever-efficient family archivist that she is, had it all together & ready ahead of time for our trip. We had planned to leave either Sunday night or early Monday morning, but she was overtaken with a strange stomach bug, that made the mission appear a bust before it started.

While resting on Monday, we were going over our summer calendar - week by week - for our travels, and began to discuss our trip to the consulate. She had criticised me for not speaking with the consulate in person or for not making an appointment ahead of time - notwithstanding my repeated assurances that I had tried & had contacted them 4 times to no avail. I even tried to show her the website comments to verify that I was not the only one with the same problem. Then on a whim, I suggested that SHE try calling them at the same phone number.... wouldn't you know it - she got through on the FIRST try to someone that would actually answer questions and was helpful!! Grrrrrrrrr.... all I could do was grumble & pout the whole time she was on the phone.

Anyway, she got a wealth of information from the call - plus made a required appointment for the next day (today). As she began to feel better in the afternoon, we finished packing & made hotel reservations for the night in Little Rock before heading out. The trip took us right at 4 hours, or so, and we got there a little after 10pm. A little bit of searching and we finally found the hotel, then settled in for the night without a dinner. The appointment was for 8am, so we set a wake-up call for 5:30am in order to have enough time to rise, shower, dress, find the consulate and a place to eat... and to get back to the consulate in time for the appointment.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the consulate pretty close & easily accessible from where we had lodged for the night, and an IHOP up the street from it for an adequate & unrushed breakfast before our appointment time. As consulates go, it was a pretty small one, located directly across the road from Arkansas State University on University Way. The doors didn't open until 8am sharp, and nobody was allowed inside until then. So the parking lot filled up quickly with waiting & expectant people, clutching children & documentation, from all over the area, hoping to get in ahead of each other - whether they had an appointment or not. We had dressed in our Sunday best in hopes of making a favorable impression that would net us solicitous service & attention... but looking around us, it really didn't seem all that necessary - we stuck out like sore thumbs!

Inside we made a line to explain our purpose(s) for our visit, go over our documents & appointment, then received our number for call-up to any one of 6 coded windows from "A" to "F". We needed an appointment for my wife's citizenship issues, but were deferred for my residence questions. The inside of the consulate strongly resembled a small drivers license office where you wait for your turn to take a test, smile for the camera, pay your money, etc. Nothing really fancy or even expected for an official office of a foreign government.

My questions about permanent residence & citizenship were really non-issues, according to the young lady answering our questions, until we were actually ready to move to Mexico to establish a residence. It didn't seem to matter that I wanted to start the process based on my wife's established Mexican citizenship. With that, the questions about moving household goods & vehicles to Mexico were also non-issues for the present, until we're ready to move.

So, the only success of the day - and the most important - was for my wife's purposes of re-establishing her citizenship. In reading over all the instructions & information leading up to our visit, we had some concerns about the nature of some of the expected supporting documents... in particular, a birth certificate for a birth not immediately registered at the time of birth. My wife wasn't registered until she was 17 years old. However, common sense (surprisingly) prevailed in showing that it was accepted before when she got her Mexican passport for US permanent residence... that if it were good enough to establish her identity & status then, it didn't need to be redone all over again.

The age-old headache of original documents, copies & certified copies - and photos was no longer a headache! Upon verification, all original documents were scanned into a computer - and RETURNED!! Pictures were taken & digitized right there!! Wow!! I hate to sound sarcastic, but it was so much better than the last time we dealt with the Mexican bureaucracy, even though this same technology was already available. No slam intended, but it seemed easier, more convenient & more advanced than dealing with the government down IN Mexico.

In short order my wife was done, then quickly called up for the finished products & paid for services. She received a new Mexican passport (good for 6 years) and a Matricula Consular, and we were out of there by 9:40am!! My only mistake was in my concern about her needing a "matricula consular" for her property transaction in Veracruz... what she'll need for that is a "credencial electoral"; which she can't get until she is back in Mexico with a supposed address of residence. No matter, we'll set it up when we go down there this summer with the mailing address for her brother's home.

I'm very pleased at how things went. I felt really sorry for what my wife had to give up because of my military career... and was more than glad to see it restored to her after being married for almost 30 years. She described it was a fitting & special gift for her birthday this Friday (the 13th). I'm really happy for her because she has always been - and still is - as Mexican as she ever became an American. And make NO MISTAKE of her patriotism to BOTH countries & cultures. Hell, count me in for that one, too! :smile:

Anyway, there you have it... I'll have more to question & report as we get closer to our "jump date" next year, when we are finally ready to make our move to Mexico as an integral part of our retirement. I hope to see & meet many of you then!!


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Thank you for the courtesy of providing such a detailed report!


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## Howler (Apr 22, 2013)

Longford said:


> Thank you for the courtesy of providing such a detailed report!


Again, thanks for everyone's help (including yours) for making it such a breeze!!


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

Just a question, why does she need a Mexican passport? My wife had one when she first entered the US, but when she became Permanent Resident, she never renewed, as no need, unless we go to a third country before she gets her US passport, no?


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Let me speculate that a Mexican passport is the only official Mexican ID that she can obtain at this point in time, since (as Howler reports that they told her) she can’t get an IFE card until she is living in Mexico.
For example, to enter Mexico, she must enter as Mexican – since anyone with dual nationality is required to represent themselves as a Mexican and not as the other nationality when in Mexico. So to enter Mexico with her official Mexican ID, the passport is the only option open to her at this time. (Maybe the birth certificate would be a possible alternate, but it doesn’t bear a photo to identify that the person on the certificate is the same person as the bearer.)


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

maesonna said:


> Let me speculate that a Mexican passport is the only official Mexican ID that she can obtain at this point in time, since (as Howler reports that they told her) she can’t get an IFE card until she is living in Mexico.
> For example, to enter Mexico, she must enter as Mexican – since anyone with dual nationality is required to represent themselves as a Mexican and not as the other nationality when in Mexico. So to enter Mexico with her official Mexican ID, the passport is the only option open to her at this time. (Maybe the birth certificate would be a possible alternate, but it doesn’t bear a photo to identify that the person on the certificate is the same person as the bearer.)


Makes sense to me. My wife, in the 9 years without a Mexican passport, has never been asked to show proof she is a Mexican, when we were stopped at checkpoints in Mexico; they always took her word. I always had to show papers.  But, she does have her IFE, if ever needed, and Howler's wife does not. Thanks.


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## Howler (Apr 22, 2013)

coondawg said:


> Just a question, why does she need a Mexican passport? My wife had one when she first entered the US, but when she became Permanent Resident, she never renewed, as no need, unless we go to a third country before she gets her US passport, no?


maesonna is correct in what he/she said. If/when my wife enters Mexico again representing herself as a Mexican citizen, she would need to have a current passport to use & identify herself as such. Pretty much the same as for anyone else that has has naturalized as a Mexican citizen who wants to reenter the US as an American citizen in spite of holding dual citizenship.


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## Cristobal (Nov 25, 2014)

Curious about her requirement to renounce her Mexican citizenship because your military career. Can't military personnel have foreign wives? IIANM there are soldiers/sailors in the US military that are legal permanent residents but have yet to become US citizens.


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

Congratulations and thanks for the report.


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## Howler (Apr 22, 2013)

Cristobal said:


> Curious about her requirement to renounce her Mexican citizenship because your military career. Can't military personnel have foreign wives? IIANM there are soldiers/sailors in the US military that are legal permanent residents but have yet to become US citizens.


Yes, they can have foreign-born wives of a different nationality for the most part. Because I had to upgrade my security clearance to become an interrogator (97E/MI) all immediate family members of mine had to be American citizens by birth or naturalization. My wife had already been a resident for several years, so the process was pretty quick & clean for us. From what I understand, the INS could/would have accelerated the process, if needed, for the sake of military obligations & assignments.

Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen/Marines that are serving as permanent residents can do so, but will be limited in their choices of training & specialization according to the security clearance required for the job or the material / intelligence that they would be working in. This is something they would be made aware of as a part of the recruiting process.


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## Cristobal (Nov 25, 2014)

Thanks for the response.


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## Howler (Apr 22, 2013)

Cristobal said:


> Thanks for the response.


PS - their military service does help them to qualify & accelerate the process for citizenship. Upon become US citizens, then other career options are open to them based on their established potential & qualifications. I would hope their superiors are more supportive of their efforts once they've proven themselves thusly.


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