Our Experience with Mexico vs. U.S./Arizona Immigration Law

Those of you taking a stance against Arizona implementing the U.S. Immigration Law, we are offering the information below as food for thought and to educate those who might not know the requirements of Mexico, which we can share from experience.  As U.S. residents who wish to reside part of their year legally in Mexico beyond ninety days a year, this is what was required of us:

1.  We were required to provide original birth certificates with official State Seal; 
2.  Current driver's licenses;
3.  Color copy of passports;
4.  Original marriage certificate with official State Seal;
5.  Original power bill, notarized, that shows legal residence of current state of Arizona;
6.  Three consecutive months' worth of original financial bank statements, notarized by the State of Arizona,  starting with current month and going back three months, proving viable income so as not to become a financial burden on Mexico.

To stay in Mexico longer than ninety days the above requirements had to be met for us to receive our FM3's (equivalent of a U.S. Visa) and these have to be renewed annually. With seven years of providing current identification/financial information you can petition to become a naturalized citizen, but if you run past their annual deadlines at any point during those seven years you have to start over.

We are expected to carry our FM3's and passports with us at all times, which is a major contention we have with people criticizing Arizona for wanting to require the same, per U.S. Immigration Rules and Regs.  Mexico law enforcement has the right, upon stopping us for any reason, to demand to see these documents.  FYI:  in the decades we've been visiting Mexico we've never heard of their enforcement agencies pulling over tourists and racially profiling them merely because we don't look like Mexican Citizens.  If you're stopped by a police officer in Mexico, you did something wrong.  The same holds true in Arizona. 

You as a visitor, beyond a stay of five days are expected to procure an FMT (tourist visa) and have that on you, which allows you to be in Mexico for up to ninety days.  You're also required to get an FMT if you go beyond their designated "no hassle zone". In that case, you also have to get an additional visa for your vehicle.  Even with our FM3's, if we go beyond the Guaymas/San Carlos border of "no hassle zone" we also have to get an additional visa to cover our vehicle, one for each state.  And they have serious federal checkpoints along the way . . . you HAVE to have papers.  And, with rare exceptions, mandatory insurance policies for your vehicles don't cross state lines.  You must get specific insurance to cover each specific state.

Also, other information you might not know:  When John was nearly stabbed to death in Rocky Point, before he was allowed to be discharged from their hospital we had to pay the entire hospital bill on the spot. (The majority of money owed had to be paid in cash, for the rest a credit card was acceptable.)  We weren't afforded any financial assistance from the State of Sonora, Mexico, to cover our large medical expenses.


If we were caught working in Mexico without proper documentation we'd be arrested.  Period.

According to Jonelle, her husband Brendan, who has his green card and yes, they had to jump through hoops to get it, has to check in with immigration in two years, then once a year until he gets legal residency.  He was told he only has a three year wait to become a U.S. Citizen. 

A Mexican Tourist Visa (FMT) is only good for a maximum of ninety days, as I said.  We know many people in Rocky Point who spend a large portion of their time in Arizona by merely showing up at the State's office with a valid Mexico driver's license and proof of insurance and they receive a Tourist Visa that's good for six month's stay in Arizona.  Renewing this every six months while going through the legal path to citizenship would be one potential solution to allow Mexican Nationals to stay here legally and provide them the documentation they should have, based on U.S. Immigration Law.  No, a Tourist Visa is not a Work Visa, which is another set of hoops Brendan went through to get his, and is a whole other issue; but it IS legal documentation for a Mexican citizen to be here residing in Arizona. 

Residing in Mexico part of the year has been a privilege and a cultural enrichment that has added so much to our lives: fifty years' worth of visits and memories that even the one horrific experience couldn't dissuade us from continuing to treasure.  And respecting the rules and regulations Mexico required of us to do so, we fulfilled them to the letter.  All Arizona is asking for is to be shown that same consideration.