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Hello, I just returned from Mexico today after traveling to Juarez with my husband. He had an appointment with the U.S. Consulate there, and we paid thousands of dollars in legal fees in order to "do everything right." But to no avail. He was told that he has to stay in Mexico for 10 years, despite his American wife and son.
We decided that the first step for me is to look into getting Mexican residency. I know that there exists an FM-2 and an FM-3. I don't know which would be better or more attainable for me. I am interested in any information on the subject. (BTW, our son already has dual citizenship, something his father took care of when he was born so that there would never be a problem with his living there...so I don't need a visa for him). I understand that getting Mexican residency is no cakewalk.
Also, I read in these forums quite a lot about relocating to Mexico, but the cities which my husband thinks is are good choices for us were not mentioned. Those cities are Cuautla and Cuernavaca, Morelos. My husband says the weather there is beautiful and there is access to some American restaurants and even a Wal-Mart. Does anyone know about these cities or has lived there? I have returned to the States in order to sell everything we have here and let our son finish out his school year, and due to lack of funds (we're broke from paying immigration, what a total waste of money!) I won't be able to travel there again until it's time to move. I have no idea what kind of home we will be able to afford until I have sold what few assets we have here, and I know that life will be very different.
I wrote this to get information, by the way, not to be attacked by anti-illegal immigration posters. If you want to know why he was denied a visa, he was brought to the US illegally by his mother when he was a child. When he grew up, he returned to Mexico to visit his sick, elderly father (he's the youngest of eight) and then returned to the U.S. illegally to continue raising his son. (I said "our" son, but he is my stepson, born to my husband and a U.S. citizen girlfriend when my husband was seventeen years old and she was twenty-three. She abandoned her baby one year later and has shown no interest in caring for him since. No one knows where she is. He is now twelve years old, and my husband has raised him alone until he married me. So this proves that he did not marry me just to get a green card...the mother of his child was a citizen and they did not marry).
Of course now he deeply regrets having crossed the border illegally of his own volition (the first time was rather obviously not his fault) because it has cost us everything we have here in the U.S. At that time he was still very young and foolish, and simply followed the example of the rest of his family. That is not an excuse, but it is an explanation. So he was told that he does not qualify for a waiver and is subject to the 10-year bar. We were shocked because our lawyer said that since he was never arrested, deported or had any problems and even paid his taxes, he would qualify for the waiver. When he came out of the consulate and told me what happened, he was sobbing and kept begging my forgiveness, knowing that either we would be separated for a decade or I would be separated from my own family and country for that amount of time, possibly living in difficult conditions -- and that only if I was able to obtain permission to live in Mexico.
I am hoping against hope that that will not happen and that I can live with him there without starving or suffering, but any information on those cities and also on the visas would be welcome. Any opinions as to my husband's deserving the punishment he got are not welcome. It is my punishment as well, and our child's, and we have done nothing wrong.
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