American working in Mexico

From Tom O’Malley, who was a Director with S. W. BELL in Mexico City :

“I spent five years working in Mexico . I worked under a tourist Visa for three months and could legally renew it for three more months.

After that you were working illegally. I was technically illegal for three weeks waiting on the FM3 approval.

“During that six months our Mexican and U. S. attorneys were working to secure a permanent work visa called a ‘FM3’.

It was in addition to my U. S. passport that I had to show each time I entered and left the country. Barbara’s was the same, except hers did not permit her to work.

“To apply for the FM3, I needed to submit the following notarized originals (not copies):

1. Birth certificate for Barbara and me.
2. Marriage certificate.
3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation.
4. College transcripts for every college I attended and proof of graduation.
5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I had worked for at least one year.
6. A letter from the St. Louis Chief of Police indicating that I had no arrest record in the U. S. and no outstanding warrants and was “a citizen in good standing”.
7. “Finally, I had to write a letter about myself that clearly stated why there was no Mexican citizen with my skills and why my skills were important to Mexico . We called it our ‘I am the greatest person on Earth’ letter. It was fun to write.”

“All of the above were in English that had to be translated into Spanish and be certified as legal translations, and our signatures notarized. It produced a folder about 1.5 inches thick with English on the left side & Spanish on the right.”

“Once they were completed Barbara and I spent about five hours, accompanied by a Mexican attorney, touring Mexican government office locations and being photographed and fingerprinted at least three times at each location, and we remember at least four locations where we were instructed on Mexican tax, labor, housing, and Continue reading “Working in Mexico…” →