Have any of you US citizens obtained Mexican citizenship? (live in, price, authority)
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Okay, so I flew in my mother to Houston and today we went to the Mexican Consulate office. I had called Thursday to see how long the wait was, I was told only one person showed up to claim citizenship. Great... or so I thought. Today we got there at 08:30 and did not leave until 12:30!
So for anyone thinking of doing this, be prepared to wait, and be prepared. Nothing ticked us off more than all the people who went there without the right documents, or copies. Clearly all these prerequisities should be done before even showing up. I've listed them already above.
So, now that I am done with my rant... here is what happened. My mother needed her original, or state certified birth certificate from Mexico. She had both. She needed her naturalization papers from when she became a US Citizen, she had that. She then needed a copy of her marriage license; had that too.
The birth certificate is used to prove she was a Mexican citizen of course. Then she needed to prove that she denounced her Mexican citizenship upon becoming a US citizen. The US required denounciation prior to sometime in the late 80s, the US now recognized dual citizenship. Then they needed the marriage license to indicate her name change from her maiden name. They also needed two photos of her, passport type photos.
Fine, so she presented all these documents, paid a $15.00 dollar fee for the cost of the documents to reclaim citizenship. The paper work was verified, and a certificate issued and signed by the consulate that had my moms picture affixed to it. My mom gets a copy of it. My mom became a Mexican citizen again after 50 years!
This now paves the way for me, and my siblings to claim our citizenship. I ordered my state certified copies of my birth certificate back in June, but they did not arrive in time, so I could not complete my paper work today. I was an undocumented American. HA!
So now that my mom has her certificate of citizenship, I then need to schedule another time to visit the consulate and present the following:
A Mexican certified copy of my mother's certificate of citizenship and two photo copies of it.
A state certified copy of my US birth certificate which will be filed in Mexico, therefore, not returned, plus two photo copies of it.
Two photo copies of my current valid id, which can be a driver license, or US passport.
Two passport photos.
Pay a $15.00 fee.
Once those are processed, unlike my mother, I will need to take an oath, then I too will receive a document of citizenship just like my mothers. I will then become a Mexican Citizen!
Following that, I need to present my document and pay another fee for a Mexican passport. Then I am all done.
I will update this thread again when I have completed the process.
Comments so far.... very simple to do, only time is required to visit the consulate. It could be that there is no wait, or it could be like today where we waited four hours, mostly because people did not have all their documents in order.
Any questions? If so, please post them.
Regards
Last edited by HookTheBrotherUp; 07-11-2008 at 10:10 PM..
Well, I have never remotely considered the idea that I would ever work, or live with my family in Mexico, although retiring may be an option.
My purpose was to claim a right which has been extended to me by the Mexican government, very generous one at that, to be able to obtain citizenship so easily.
The secondary reason is for investment purposes; I plan on purchasing some propertis in at least one of the resort beaches in Mexico. Non-citizens are prohibited from owning property outright on beaches, or borders of Mexico.
Since my mother is still alive (father deceased), I figured I should take this window of opportunity. Other people have to live there for a certain amount of time, even take tests, but since my mother is/was/is Mexican, I am granted ciizenship almost automatically. Why not take advange?
There are ports in Mexico, I have been to, that I would consider retiring too. I would have to get a dual citizenship since Americans cant own land or property in Mexico.
Actually if your mother has her birth certificate from Mexico (Acta de Nacimiento), it would be very easy for you to get the Mexican citizenship.
I was living at El Paso for 2 years for work, I'm Mexican, and my son was born there. He has already both citizenships, eventhough I came back to Mexico.
It could sounds not nice to everyone, but for some countries around the world, it is much easier to be Mexican than America (just ask your wife about Europe).
So, just ask your mother and go to the closest Mexican Consulate or Embassy and do your paperwork, it is very easy.
There are ports in Mexico, I have been to, that I would consider retiring too. I would have to get a dual citizenship since Americans cant own land or property in Mexico.
Muhnay, just to clarify, foreigners to Mexico can own property in Mexico, but there are caveats.
Foreigners to Mexico can purchase property in the interior clear and free, however, foreigners cannot outright (100%) own property within 100KM (~60 miles) from an international border, or 50KM (~30 miles) from a coastline.
However, a foreigner can purchase a property via a bank trust on the beach, or border. This means the bank will own the property, but in the name of the foreigner.
This is the reason you see lots of retirement communities in the interior of Mexico, and not on the coast lines where you'd expect to see some. I've been to some of the most famous beaches as in Asia, Australia, South America, Europe and US including Hawaii, and I must say in regards to beaches, bang for the buck, Mexico cannot be beat. The proximity to the US, cheap and quick flights, we truly have paradise in our own back yard.
I think its a good option for your family to have. I understand that non citizens can own property but through a trust so some feel they don't actually own the property.
In your case you can own it outright as a citizen. NOW that the US allows dual citizen ship, thats awesome. Less harassment as you move between the two countries.
As for US diplomatic aid during trouble in Mexico, from what I understand, it was never very helpful to begin with so not much lost there.
I learned today that since my father is deceased, I now need to provide a state certified copy of his death certificate! Even though he was never a Mexican citizen.
So, to add to the list of documents, if one of the parents is deceased, you must provide a state certified copy that will not be returned.
Or you can just omit the parent from the application.
Not that many would have this problem, but I learned today that because my birth certificate had the Latin version of my name (o at the end), but my driver license, passport, etc. had the English version (no o), I had to provide an ID with the spelling that matched the birth certificate.
It is impossible to change my US documents, I'm too old, have my own children, investments and on and on. So, I now have to go to the DPS office an request a state ID and will put my name on the application as it is on my birth certificate. This will suffice for Mexico, though I will most likely never use it in the US.
The process is over; on July 23, 2008, I was granted Mexican citizenship by the Mexican Consulate in Houston, TX!
I had to submit a thumb print, sign a document verifying my identity, that of my parents, as well as their birth dates.
I was given an abstract of a record of birth (not a birth certificate) which verfies that my birth was registered with the government of Mexico. It notes that I was born as a Mexican citizen abroad. Weird. It also has my parents, even my grandparents names. I was also given (well, I actually paid for them) two copies of my official certificates of Mexican citizenship.
Another interesting twist, my name on my Mexican citizenship appended my mother's maiden name to mine. I used to poke fun of people with all their parents maiden names, and now mine is (at least in Mexico).
The woman who assisted me at the consulate's office went out of her way to help me, I did not have to wait in lines and had direct access to her phone. I did feel guilty about this because there were always very long lines, and people waiting. I would often get the evil eye, even people posturing to keep me from getting to the front of the line.
I was told by the woman, and other officials at the consulate that the wait for an appointment to obtain a passport was long, and the current appointment dates were in September! However, the woman I worked with personally obtained the paperwork, filled it out, and entered it into the system for me. I just have to show up with a photo at my convenience at any time and get it done.
She was very helpful and I am going to give her an American Express gift certificate to show my appreciation.
Well, that's the end of the process, hope it was helpful to you.
Regards
Last edited by HookTheBrotherUp; 07-25-2008 at 08:19 AM..
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