Mexico’s National Migration Institute published its Manual of Criteria and Migration Procedures. The Manual will be enforced as of 5/1/10 throughout the 32 delegations of the National Migration Institute in Mexico. Courtesy of AILA member Enrique Arellano.
The intention of the National Migration Institute is to clarify, streamline and simplify
processing requirements for each immigration category. Applications currently being
processed and those filed before May 1, 2010 will be analyzed and processed based on
current policies, practices and procedures.
Some of the most relevant aspects of the Manual are the following:
• All migratory forms for tourists, business visitors and technical visitors with
lucrative activities, who intend to stay in Mexico for up to 180 days, will be
replaced by a single “FMM” form (“Forma Migratoria Múltiple”).
The FMM willserve as evidence of the foreign national’s immigration status while in Mexico;
• The business visitor criteria are clearly defined; This new FMM form has an option
for choosing the purpose of the visit as business (negocios), which once the foreign
national enters Mexico, the immigration officer will grant a 180 days stay.
• There are 3 different options that the immigration officer might mark and that will
grant the foreign national 180 days: a) Business (Visitante Persona de Negocios), b)
Visitor with Lucrative Activities (Visitante con Actividades Lucrativas) and c)
Visitor with Non Lucrative Activities (Visitante con Actividades No Lucrativas).
Any of the previous allow the foreign national to visit Mexico for business, either
for working purposes or only for meetings
• In case the purpose of the business visit extends more than 180 days, the foreign
national will have to file for a change of Immigration status to obtain the
correspondent FM3.
• The ABTC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation business travel card) criteria are
clearly defined;
• In the following weeks, the National Migration Institute will publish the formats of
the new migration cards that will replace the FM2 and FM3 booklets. Changes of
activity, domicile, marital status, etc. will no longer have to be annotated on the
migratory document, thereby allowing the foreign national the ability to travel in
and out of the country while a change of status/conditions application is in process
without having to request an exit and re-entry permit;
• Consular Posts will no longer issue FM2 or FM3 booklets. Instead, the Consular
Post will place a visa sticker on the foreign national’s passport, upon receipt of the
petition’s approval from the National Migration institute. The sticker will allow
entry into Mexico within 365 days of issuance. Upon entry, the foreign national
must obtain the new FM2 or FM3 migration card within 30 days.