# Currently in Mexico but need a visa for colombia for 12 months



## EleganceStudio (Nov 5, 2019)

Here is the problem I am currentlyrrsident in Mexico BUT have been ffered a 12 month job in Santa Marta Colombia at new studio and model agency in Santa Marta called Elegance Studio Agency

Now there are 1001 visa experets in Playa de Carmen dealing with incoming Brits ,Canadians and Americans .....burt ask them about Colombia and you get a ot of blank stares.


.Grrrrrrrrrrr any suggestions 


Info


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

You may want to go directly to the Colombian Consulate in Mexico. | Consulado de Colombia en Ciudad de México

However I expect that your employer-to-be should be able to assist you in obtaining the correct visa.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Best to do it in person and maintain control of your passport.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

yes taking the passport and keeping the woman captve is a big racket in some areas , especially with the model agency offers...

Call the Colomban consulate and ask them.No need to go through facilitators you do not know.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

citlali said:


> yes taking the passport and keeping the woman captve is a big racket in some areas , especially with the model agency offers...
> 
> Call the Colomban consulate and ask them.No need to go through facilitators you do not know.


Wow. I had no idea that was a practice. I have always dealt with immigration on my own without a facilitator. I don't even like leaving my passport with hotel desks, which used to be a common practice in some countries.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

If you apply for and recieve any immigration visa that a temporary resident [temporary work visa] can get in any country you have broken Mexican immigration law and they will invalidate your Residente Temporal or Residente Permanente visa/card. This will be hard to hid when re-entering Mexico when they check your passport and ask you what you were doing in Columbia. People from Columbia on international flights are automatically "red flagged" and sent to secondary inspection entering Mexico. Also Columbia and Mexico share information in their data bases to combate drug smuggling.

If you go to your local INM office with documentation you will work there for a year and then return to Mexico you could get a letter of permission to work abroard if you have a valid INM visa/card for that amount of time.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

If you want a residency visa for Mexico don't you need to obtain it at a consulate in your 'home' country. (I suspect part of that has to do with the financial/criminal background checks etc) Perhaps the same is true in this case - acquiring a Columbian residency visa. From the initial post it appears Mexico is NOT the home country. But - as Bev suggested earlier the I'd ask the Columbian consulate (and probably INM) preferably in person.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

n Europe there would be adds from model agencies and they would hire you , offer to pay for all visas and transportation would take your passport to do the paperwork and off you went ,never to be seen again..That was a well known practice when I was young , it as known and some young women still fell for it.. So never give your passport to any organization,..


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

But - perhaps EleganceStudio is a male photographer ...


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

the best thing is to go through the consulate for te visa or the instructions.. and yes find out what you do about returning to Mexico if that is what you want to do. I would think you would have to give up your current visa and reapply for a new one but who knows..


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

AlanMexicali said:


> If you apply for and recieve any immigration visa that a temporary resident [temporary work visa] can get in any country you have broken Mexican immigration law and they will invalidate your Residente Temporal or Residente Permanente visa/card.


I believe this is untrue. It does not exist in the 2011 immigration law as far as I recall, Article 64 makes that clear. Can you cite a source?

I was in Colombia earlier this year and the immigration process is somewhat similar to Mexico.

Santa Marta is on the Carribean coast and is hot and humid at 4 degrees north or whatever it is.

Maybe the OP will not return, but anyway, be VERY careful with job offers. Especially in Latin America, fraud is common.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

It is in the 2011 SEGOB INM Law. You cannot immigrate to another country while being a legal resident in Mexico. If you do your RP or RT visa/card is invalidated.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

xolo said:


> AlanMexicali said:
> 
> 
> > If you apply for and recieve any immigration visa that a temporary resident [temporary work visa] can get in any country you have broken Mexican immigration law and they will invalidate your Residente Temporal or Residente Permanente visa/card.
> ...


Google Translation:

MIGRATION LAW New Law published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on*May 25, 2011 CURRENT TEXT Last reform published*03-07-2019



Article 64. The Institute shall cancel the status of temporary or permanent resident, by the following causes:

I. Demonstration of the foreigner that his departure is final;

II. Authorization abroad for another condition of stay; [ immigrating to another country]

III. Provide false information or display before the Institute apocryphal or legitimate official documentation but that has been obtained fraudulently;

IV. Losing the foreigner his condition of stay for the other causes established in this Law;

V. Losing abroad the recognition of their refugee status or complementary protection,in accordance with the applicable legal provisions, and SAW. Being subject to criminal proceedings or having been convicted of a felony according to the laws national in criminal matters or the provisions contained in international treaties and conventions of which the Mexican State is a party or that due to its background in the country or abroad could compromise national security or public safety.

Article 65. Foreigners must prove their regular immigration status in the country, in the acts legal entities that require the intervention of public notaries, those who replace them or Do your times, regarding real estate issues, and trade*brokers.In*accordance with the provisions of article 27 of the Constitution, the Foreign Investment Law and other applicable laws and regulations, foreigners must make the corresponding waivers."


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

AlanMexicali said:


> Google Translation:
> 
> MIGRATION LAW New Law published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on*May 25, 2011 CURRENT TEXT Last reform published*03-07-2019
> 
> ...


AlanMexicali, I don't want to argue, this is just a discussion, ok? Legal documents and legislation are fiendish, but google translate???.

I just looked at the actual law and it reads:

I. Manifestación del extranjero de que su salida es definitiva; (my comment, "extranjero" is the holder of a Mexican visa)

II. Autorización al extranjero de otra condición de estancia (my comment, "extranjero" is the visa holder, not "abroad")

Maybe I'm wrong, but there's no reference to a foreign visa, but this is indistinct in Spanish. Did google really screw that up?

And yes, I horribly over-think these things, I'm getting a PhD in them.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

xolo said:


> AlanMexicali, I don't want to argue, this is just a discussion, ok? Legal documents and legislation are fiendish, but google translate???.
> 
> I just looked at the actual law and it reads:
> 
> ...


Xolo, Google Translate is still far from perfect but it's been improved by a multiple factor since it's introduction. I wish I could say mathematically beautiful to disguise my ignorance of math as it's been improved by 10 to the third power, but just know it's gotten much better. Many fewer howlers, just clumsy still with awkward.

Remember Wiki when it came out? College and high school teachers forbid its use. I was a working journalist and we were forbidden to cite it. Now it's the standard source of intergalactic knowledge. Sure, still stuff incomplete but everyone cites Wiki and everyone else just nods the head. If Wiki says it, that's good enough.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

"Articulo 61. Ninguna extranjero podra tener dos condiciones de estancia simultaneamente."

Google Translation:


Article 61. No foreigner may have two conditions of stay simultaneously.

Article 65 appears to further state that if a foreigner has 2 approved INM visas this will invalidate a valid Residente Permanente or Residente Temporal visa/card.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

I agree Google Translate has gotten much better in perhaps the last year or so - but I would only use it to get the gist of something. I would never use it for serious, life related issues. Walking into INM and telling someone - but Google Translate said so is almost as valuable as saying - but I read it on expatforum...

Lately, I supplement my use of Google Translate with Microsoft Translate, which is also very good and kind of complements Google. For one thing I prefer that it seems to default to the formal use of verbs.

As for the INM issue on this thread. Looks like there is an INM office in Cancun (some 40 miles from Playa del Carmen). They have a website which has a phone number and even an email address for the Titular. Here is a link :

https://www.inm.gob.mx/gobmx/word/index.php/quintana-roo/

Edit : what I would like to find is a good, free way to translate a PDF file.


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

AlanMexicali said:


> "Articulo 61. Ninguna extranjero podra tener dos condiciones de estancia simultaneamente."
> 
> Google Translation:
> 
> ...


I know waaay too much about this, my apologies to everyone. My little 2-year project was getting my permanent residency. It was really my fault it took so long, I was working on an MA Spanish linguistics at the time and it was a background project. But I got down into the details. I was living in Santa Barbara and the consulate in Oxnard was pretty thorough.

I usually say to people, if you want to parse words, you need to go to the original text/language. I stand by that even though it is a bit pedantic. Google translate?? por favor, no, gracias! no seas wey!

OK, not to belabor this, but Article 65 has nothing to do with that. It has to do with identifying oneself and one's immigration status in real estate and other legal matters.

Article 61 is the reason why, if you come in on a visitor visa, you invalidate your residency visa, it has nothing to do with holding a foreign visa as far as I see, but I'm not a lawyer. Talk about language ambiguity, I see no reason why the visitor visa can't be invalidated instead, but I always hear that your residency visa gets zapped. I really don't know how INM or whoever would know this and do this?


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

xolo said:


> AlanMexicali, I don't want to argue, this is just a discussion, ok? Legal documents and legislation are fiendish, but google translate???.
> 
> I just looked at the actual law and it reads:
> 
> ...


I, for one, much appreciate your precision in language and that you are a stickler for solid translation, Xolo. I completely agree with you that there is nothing in the Articles quoted above with any reference to getting a visa for another country. The term “extranjero” in this context is clearly in reference to “the foreigner” with TR status, albeit in a different context the word could be translated as “abroad”. I tried to make the sentence in Art. 64.II mean what Google translate said it means, and it simply does not make sense grammatically. Artículo 64. II definitely seems to me to be in reference to more than one of type of immigration status within Mexico, i. e. no one can have 2 types of Mexican immigration status. You can’t be both a visitor and a temporary resident, or both a temporary resident and a permanent resident. If you acquire a PR, your TR is cancelled, etc. 

As an aside, there is also a difference between spending a year working on a work visa in a third country and formally immigrating to another country.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

TundraGreen said:


> Wow. I had no idea that was a practice. I have always dealt with immigration on my own without a facilitator. I don't even like leaving my passport with hotel desks, which used to be a common practice in some countries.


The keeping of passports as a way of controlling people is commonly done by those involved in human trafficking, which is far more common than most people realize. 

https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/human-trafficking/

An instance where a person’s passport is held by a government is when someone arrives in Canada and requests refugee status. The Government of Canada holds the passport throughout the process, until either the person is granted refugee status or leaves the country (and in leaving they have to make arrangements with Immigration to have their passport returned as they are literally getting on the plane).


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

yes ojosazules, that is correct. I would vst my grand-mother in Marseille a lot and it was not uncommon to hear the horror stories of the traite des blanches where young women were promised jobs, ther passports would be held until they had the right papers.. They were then trained or held n various houses in the old port and then shipped to northern Africa. The few who escaped would all have the same story, they had applied with model agencies or for a job abroad and basically were held prisoners and shipped out.. One of them was kept accross the street from us Rue des petites Maries and managed to escaped to the train station where the police was, she was a minor and the people accross the street ended up n jail. I was there for 2 weeks and never saw the girl although we hanged cloth on a line on the street and the street was extremely narrow. Never knew anything until we heard it on the radio..


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