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I am a *gringa* and lived in Mexico for 4 years. I loved it there! People are really sweet and accepting, especially if they see you are sincerely interested in integrating into the culture rather than stubbornly retain your own. I lived in Mexico City and visited Cuernavaca many times. The locals refer to Cuernavaca as the playground for the rich people of Mexico City, who often own gorgeous holiday/weekend homes in Cuernavaca. The style and architecture is distinctly Spanish so aesthetically it's a very pretty city. It is also very much smaller than it's neighbouring city of Mexico City which can be an overwhelming place indeed, but I loved it there too.
I know some foreign missionaries who actually live in Cuernavaca and should you decide that is where you will be I could try to get you in touch, if for nothing else than to be able to get more info about the place.
Man, some of you people totally hijacked this thread! If you need to discuss your thoughts on anything other than what Sanchezfrank has asked, then you should start your own thread!!
hello , I have been here in Mexico city for 6 weeks now, i am an american married to a mexican. we have also paid thousands of dollars through an immigration center in order for my husband to receive a green card. we are currntly awaitng the appointment. the lawyer told us 4 more months. We moved all of our things here and it cost us 8 thousand. some of our stuff was stolen ,some broken. we moved to cuernavaca, found a house, paid rent and we had to break the contract, it was so hot there and no ac. In a nice place like that impossible to find decent paying work. we are now living with his mother in her house. we are in mexico city. The housing in mexico is small and expensive, you can find a house for 3 or 4 hundred but it is going to be small and without a fridge and stove. please write me back and let me know what lawyer you used and if there is anything else i can help u with. The thing in Mexico is you have have to a long work record to get even a small paying job. Most companys want you to work free for three months before they start paying you even three hundred dollars a week. Work here is long hours and no pay. I believe that is why so many people go to america for work. Look into going to Cananda, no visa needed. School runs me 150 dllrs per child, not including books or uniforms. We had a successful company in florida so we have money in the bank to afford school, but are still looking for a good paying job.Life here is hard, but we are slowly adapting
Last edited by MissingPCB; 07-18-2008 at 06:39 PM..
Hi I know it has been awhile since you posted this but I am a US citizen married to a Jamaican and being controlled by the US govt "until the decide" What I did was finally after going back and forth to see my husband was move to a border town in Mexico and I work in the US and cross the border to work 3 days a week. I make good money, I get what I need in the states, it is easy for family and friends to visit me. I love it here! If you need any info in the Tijuana area (sounds much worse than it is-we live large!!!) email me at sherrijames3at yahoo
THere is life and freedom despite the power and control the US govt needlessly puts on us!!!
Just to clarify, illegal is illegal. So if you broke the law you will be denied LEGAL entry for 10 years. Just as I would tell a convicted bank robber who robbed a bank to feed his family, you should have thought of that BEFORE you did the crime.... See ya in maybe 10 years...
Hi I know it has been awhile since you posted this but I am a US citizen married to a Jamaican and being controlled by the US govt "until the decide" What I did was finally after going back and forth to see my husband was move to a border town in Mexico and I work in the US and cross the border to work 3 days a week. I make good money, I get what I need in the states, it is easy for family and friends to visit me. I love it here! If you need any info in the Tijuana area (sounds much worse than it is-we live large!!!) email me at sherrijames3at yahoo
THere is life and freedom despite the power and control the US govt needlessly puts on us!!!
I have a question -- if you believe the USA "controls you" so needlessly why on earth would you want to come back? Why not enjoy your freedom from the USA and stay where you are? Money isn't everything after all.
Hello, I was just reading your story and it is almost a mirror image to my own. However I have lived in Mexico for 2 years now. I would love to get in touch with you. Please respond.
viki
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanchezfrank
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.
Difficult under any circumstances, no matter which way you are passing.. into the US from Mexico, or to Mexico from the US. We adopted three orphan boys who were not legal, but they were living here in the US. It was a very difficult deal, and expensive. When the last one was to be immigrated, after guardianship and adoption, a few days before the court appearance, I had to have emergency open heart surgery and could not go to court. That third child turned 16 in the meantime and the whole process had to begin over again, and it was only at the mercy of the court that he was not deported. Others I have read about were not so fortunate, and since then ( that was in 1996 ) judges no longer have discretionary powers... the law is the law, without exception. Someone mentioned in their comment that they had not been arrested, or in trouble, so they were surprised about the outcome of their application for immigration. In the early 80's I caught an illegal piling stuff (our belongings ) up on our living room furniture. He was robbing us. He was arrested and sent to a California work camp. The social worker said at the time, "Oh well, that is good for him. Now that he is "in the system" it will be much easier for him to get assistance and to be immigrated!" Go figure.
I hope that things work out for you sanchezfrank. Actually, I am in the process of building a house and moving to Guanajuato. I can do with much less and a little more peace in my life!
I thought the spouse of an American ctizien was granted a visa...
They can be sponsored by the spouse but there's a legal process to follow. It doesn't help someone who is already under deportation orders to run out and get married. The fiance is supposed to apply to immigrate from his/her home country and come in legally, and if they are already here legally on another status, they can apply to have that changed, but if they're here illegally and want to change that by marrying then it's not quite as simple.
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immigration problems
