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There are links to the addresses of the various Mexican Consulates/Embassies on the Why Mexico info links page. 11/01/07- For new FM3's, renewals, or anything else pertaining to immagracion; the papeplaria in San Antonio is no longer issuing the papers and now you must go to the municipal offices in Chapala to file, get info , drop off or pick up papers. 4/20/02- We are in the process of renewing our FM3s. Now that we are permanent residents, this will be a yearly thing. We didn't get here until July of last year but they were issued from the Philadelphia branch of the Mexican Consulate last April. You go to the papelaria (newspaper store) and get six copies of the form. Three for each of us. It is a one page thing. You take it to the immigration office in San Antonio, along with a couple month's bank statements, copy of your tax bill (as property owners you have to prove a lower amount for income than a renter), copy of your passport. You have to pay a renewal fee at your bank. Supposedly they stamp the form there. As always when ever I say a copy of something that means three copies of the item! We tried to go this week, but it being Semana Santa, we assumed it wouldn't be open. Tune in next week. 8/25/02- Now long after the fact let's discuss the registering of the FM3. This may be the reason so many people just get it when they are here in Mexico. We assumed this was some routine formality. After all we already had the damn thing from the consulate. Go sign your name some where, bring a telephone bill or something to prove you are now living here..NOT!!! In the labyrinthine ways of the Mexican government you basically HAVE TO DO THE WHOLE THING OVER AGAIN!! With a bunch of pictures (which have to be studio portraits, no using the instamatic!) and you need two reference's names, addresses, phone numbers. A photo copy of every page of your U.S. passport..even the blank ones! It was a hoot. Plus the ultimate insanity, all the paperwork has to typed on a machina..as in typewriter!! How many of us have one of those lying around! My eventual thought was why did we bother to do all the paperwork back in the states. Well you say, you need it for the Menaje. I have since found several movers who handle all paper work and you don't according to them and the people they, moved (Walt and Jean Smith at Casa Flores B&B) need to do the Menaje..so based on that I would do the FM3 here. The real shock was when they took the paperwork for two weeks processing and told us we could not leave the country during those two weeks and Harry already had reservations to go back to NJ for a week during that time! The things you find out after the fact. :-) 5/1/02- In the midst of the move from condo #2 this weekend, the package from Fed-Ex arrived. We now both have our little army green FM3 passbooks! We weighed the truck this weekend as it headed to the storage container and it is over the two thousand pound estimate. No surprise! <GRIN> We have a couple more boxes to pack. We also printed off the manaje de casa list we have been keeping and sent it in to school to the Spanish teacher for a spelling/vocab check. As soon as we get the last box packed (probably this weekend) we will apply for the menaje de casa at the Philly Consulate. 4/25/02- I just got off the phone with the polite, charming and English speaking Hilda Ruiz at the Philadelphia, Mexican Consulate. I guess my picture with bangs was OK, as all the paperwork is done and the FM3 visas are ready. The consulate has an account with Fed-Ex so I just gave her the credit card number and they will be shipped out today. So far this has been very professional and painless, now on to the menaje de casa!! 4/18/02- My dearly beloved, <GRIN> Harry, has been working on this for several weeks. He told me just last night to be sure to post a warning for you all.. so here goes. While I can list the requirements/things you need when you go to the consulate to apply, please remember that the "interpretation of the rules and regs" varies from consulate to consulate! For example the FM3 visa is not solely for people who are retired but.. some officials at some consulates will not issue it to someone who isn't retired! Your only recourse if you run into something like this is to do the paperwork on site at Ajijic or somewhere else in Mexico. Here is how our saga is going. First we discovered we do not "belong?" to the Mexican Consulate in NYC. The powers that be, divided up the counties in NJ that they are responsible for and we belong to Philadelphia not NYC. Wise husband rounded up a Spanish teacher and called the consulate last week. Between the two of them handing the phone back and forth he got most of his questions answered. We do not have to go there, we can FedEx the paperwork to them and they will send the visa etc back to us. So the multiple copies of all and sundry are just about ready to go. We did manage to snarl at one another last night as we had to submit two passport type photos with the application. As we are standing in One hour photo, after they have taken my picture he tells me the "rules" say no hair down or on your face! This was the day the east coast hit 96 and I did have my hair back and up in a clip. So my flip answer was "it is!" No he says, what about your bangs? AWWW come on now Harry, I am not cutting off my bangs and I didn't have anything along with me to pin them back with, assuming they would even pin back. So I told him they could deal with it and he said something like well they may just return your stuff rejected... I'll let you know! Previous: We have not started on this adventure as yet. I believe according to Harry you have to register it in Mexico 45 day after obtaining it. So we won't do the paperwork too far in advance of the actual, as yet unspecified exact move date. Since we live about an hour from NYC we expect to do the paperwork there. If something goes wrong we can always fall back on our many Spanish speaking teacher friends and hopefully it will work out OK. Kathy Strom from the moving company did share that many people have been all but reduced to tears or murder by the woman who handles this work there at the Mexican consulate. That means Harry will either leave me home or muzzle me! Requirements: Please understand that fees change and other paperwork may be required depending on the consulate near you. How much and what seems to vary a great deal! 1. VALID PASSPORT AND ONE PHOTOCOPY. 2. LETTER FROM THE BANK THAT PROVES A MINIMUM MONTHLY DEPOSIT OF ONE THOUSAND
($1,000) DOLLARS PER DEPENDENT 3. TWO (2) PASSPORT FRONT VIEW PHOTOS 4. COMPLETED APPLICATION FORM 5. FEES : NO RENEWALS ARE DONE AT THE MEXICAN CONSULATE. NOTE This was a post from Georgia on this subject back in September 2001 " "That said, for those folks planning to temporarily import their worldly effects, the permit can only be obtained at the Mexican Consulate, and for those folks, getting the FM-3 from the Consulate makes a lot more sense than getting it within Mexico. Many people just plain feel more comfortable having that FM-3 in hand before crossing the border. The same huarache does not fit everyone.. NYC consulate only required photos, application, proof of income, payment, and standing in a long line. We didn't even get the fabled Menaje de Casa. We simply provided a list, in Spanish, of the household goods we were shipping to our moving company, plus a copy of our FM-3 and they took care of the rest." I concur with her, I want that piece of paper in my hand as I am crossing the border.
On another but similar note here is a link to the American Embassy/Consulate in Mexico
The web site lists address, hours etc. It has a long list of the things that they are
supposed to do. Of course from what I have heard you don't get too much in the way of
service there and what you do you pay for!! I never thought much about it but I suppose
dying in a foreign country does cause major paperwork pile-ups. Same thing if a relative
comes to visit here in Mexico, and runs a foul the law. I guess it will be another topic
we will explore for you all, once we get there! "What are the purposes of the Consulate ? I always thought it was in place to protect the interests of American citizens and facilitate their lives in a foreign country. Has anyone had occasion to use the Consulate services to notarize a document ? I understand it's $55 per document. Imagine having to witness a large number of documents at $55 each !! At least in Massachusetts, it costs $10 or less per document and is often done at no charge. Outrageous !!! Is the Consulate not in place to help us ????" "I haven't read the article, however, one of the tasks of
American consular services is to arrange for the return of the human remains of American
citizens who die abroad and to secure their possessions out of country. This
"arranging" of returns normally involved notifying a family by telegram of the
death and indicating the fee to be paid for the return of the remains. In my experience,
they don't even do that well. I have had two immediate family members (my children,
separate incidents) die abroad and the performance of the American consulate in each case
(Ecuador and Great Britain) was abysmal." "I haven't used many of the services offered by the Consulate, however I have used some. When we lived in Ajijic we had a son, and had to go through the Consulate to obtain his Certificate of Birth Abroad as well as his US Passport. The Certificate cost $40USD but I cannot remember the cost of the passport -- it was, however, the same as anywhere else and they used the same forms. That was the financial cost. It took about 6 months to get the document and have it corrected to ensure the proper names were in the proper places, but we did get it. Their Social Security reps, however, were of little help as they were unable to provide him with a Social Security number because, as they told me, they don't deal with "that" aspect of social security, they only deal with the retirement end through this office. All in all it was a tolerable experience. Not much different than dealing with any government office in the US, complete with the blank stares, long waits, looks of incredulity as you ask the most basic questions, etc. When preparing for the visit remember a couple of things: If you are going into Guad, CHECK THE HOURS!! And be prepared for a wait. If you are going to the LCS visit, make sure they are coming, they don't always, and ask to speak to the representative alone (I had a few "helpful" people chime in on several occasions as to their opinions of our choosing to have our child in Mexico. It's none of their business and dealings with the Consulate are private issues.) "
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