Immigration in Guadalajara

Yesterday we received our Inmigrado Status. Woohoo! No more renewals ever. And a big thank you to Intercasa and his team for making the experience painless.
I thought I would provide some tips for anyone who has to go to Immigration in Guadalajara...something that is required for a new FM3 or any change of status.
1) The steps in front of the building are numerous and steep. If you go past those steps and make a right at the next street, you can enter on the side at a lower level without the stairs.
2)From that level, the public washrooms are one level DOWN. Take the opportunity to go to the washroom while it's convenient. I walked down 5 flights of stairs and back up 5 flights of stairs...darn near had a heart attack. There are elevators but the line ups are long...longer than for the washroom.
3)Take a good book, a bottle of water and a granola bar (or something). If you need to take a pill while waiting, you'll be all set.
4) Have patience

Congratulations ferret!

Thanks for the information about the stairs. Congratulations!

Congratulations, Ferret:

We got our inmigrado cards last October after ten years of FM-3 then FM-2 status and a couple of months of hassles over insignificant errors in our applications (showing my birthday, which was February 7, 1942 as 2/07/1942 instead of 07/02/1942 on the application when all other documentation was correct as to my birthday,for chickensh*t example). The Guadalajara INM folks had just received authority from Mexico City to do this without forwarding docs to the city and they were nitpicking for fear of appearing to be El Rancho Grande hicks to the DF bureaucrats. The wait then was interminable and the room unbelievably crowded and airless.

For those of you still debating the efficacy of going inmigrado and NEVER, EVER having to darken the door of INM again, get over it and get that inmigrado card ASAP. Use a facilitator if you feel the need to do so but we didn´t then or in the ten years of INM visits in Chapala prior to that and things worked out fine plus English is adequately spoken at INM in Guadalajara so one can get by without paying a helper and you can´t get out of going to that dreadful Federal Building there no matter whether you use a helper or not.

It was a real pleasure arriving in Guadalajara on a U.S. Airways flight from Phoenix recently and scooting through immigration like greased lightening with that inmigrado card. Praise De Lawd & Pass the Tortillas.

By the way, we got the green light and had no problems with customs in Guadalajara but discovered that my wife´s checked suitcase, which she had made the mistake of locking, had been crowbarred open by TSA in Phoenix and destroyed, taped back up with TSA tape and accompanied by a note that basically said that it was too bad they had destroyed the($300USD) suitcase but they were not responsible and could not be approached for any compensatory damages. Tough, but an example of our taxpayer dollars at work for our benefit. My wife told me she locked the bag because on her last flight from Dallas, she had had valuable items stolen from an unlocked bag. When you, the reader fly up to the U.S., I guess you need to make a decision as to whether your bag is worth more than items enclosed therein. I will say, I did learn how to say "f*ck the United States and the horse it rode in on" very eloquently in my wife´s native French. ¡Whew! No more trips to that hellhole, thank God. You take Phoenix, we´ll take Paris. To each his own.

For you Inmigrado folks who are so happy to be rid of the INM in your lives, it just may not be true that you will never darken their doorstep again. When the new law goes into effect this fall, Inmigrado becomes Residente Permanente, I'll bet you will have to go back to the dreaded hell hole to get a new kind of card.

2 of our inmigrado clients were fined for not darkening immigration´s door, they didn´t notify them of a change of address which is still required like changes of marital status or activity. They also track all your entries and exits and all the forms have a place for your address so lying and getting caught is easy if you say you moved last month but used a different address for the past 2 years.

[quote="Rolly"]For you Inmigrado folks who are so happy to be rid of the INM in your lives, it just may not be true that you will never darken their doorstep again. When the new law goes into effect this fall, Inmigrado becomes Residente Permanente, I'll bet you will have to go back to the dreaded hell hole to get a new kind of card.[/quote]

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

Maybe we can go to INM in Tuxtla Gutierrez where everyone else will be Central American.

Better still, perhaps citizenship is the next move so a visit to SRE in Chiapas may be in order. Thanks for the warning.

We will keep Intercasa´s warning in mind and, if we change our principal residence to San Cristóbal de Las Casas, which is a distinct possibility, we will remember that INM must be notified.

It´s not over until they bury you and I am concerned even then.

hound dog wrote: It´s not over until they bury you and I am concerned even then.

Don't worry Mr. Dawg. when that happens I'll advise them of your new address......Jaja.

Well, there ya go...I just about got all my questions answered.

1) I'm surprised that I would still have to inform INM of an address change...thanks for the heads up

2) I guess you (well somebody!)do have to inform INM if you croak.



Ours took about 7 weeks...probably freaked them out that we've lived three places in Mexico and all different states. It all worked out in the end.

We did our own FM3's for the nine years we lived in San Miguel de Allende but used a facilitator once we got to the coast. Mostly because there was full story of stairs into a hot airless room at INM in Vallarta. The new Nayarit office in Bucerias is on the first floor and is air conditioned...would have been a piece of cake but I'm sure they get done faster with a facilitator. IMHO