Marrying a Mexican in Mexico

[AdePuebla]

We have been putting off getting married because all the things we've been reading about the rules on getting married just seemed like a big hassle. I just wanted to share, so if anyone else was thinking about getting married, it isn't as scary as it seemed.

you have to have permission to marry a mexican. I was so scared about this. but all we did was go to INM, they gave me the form and the list of things we needed which was really basic, birth cert, passport, fmt, then a letter stating exactly what it says in the list, and the payment at the bank. We got it back 2 days later. so all we needed was that, our blood analasys, a picture of each of us, and they didn't even need my birth cert to be translated. So not very scary but it was expensive. almost 5000p!

next up...fm2. but this time i'm not as scared. the people at inm are really nice and actually want to help you get approved.

[RVGRINGO]

Congratulations!

[melizondo123]

i'm married in the united states to an illegal immigrant and i was only wondering if u thought it would be better to return to mexico to apply for his papers? we are affraid that he might get into some trouble for being here already anybody with any thoughts?

[AdePuebla]

I dont know your situation but if your spouse has been in the US for longer than 1 year they probably can't get papers. it's a lot more complicated than that but i dont want to get into all the rules cause there's a lot.
and regarding the previous post, yes you guys are married. i know MANY MANY MANY people who have been married in the US, one citizen one illegal, and it has counted and they have even gotten legal and there have been no problems. there is a forum especially for your situation but i dont know how to send you a private message to send it to you.
again, i dont know your situation, but if you are like most, i will just tell you that if your spouse comes back to Mexico, be prepared to follow cause they probably wont be able to go back!

and thanks RVGRINGO!

[arturo_b]

I don't know what information I gave that was so misleading as to be expunged. Let's see if I can't do better this time.

While doing my wife's green card about ten years ago, I came across a variant of the main INS form that required a huge filing fee, a thousand dollars or more. I asked an immigration attorney about it. She said, "Don't worry, that's just for people who get married without the fiancée visa. It's sort of a fine instead of having to leave the country for six months, like they used to require."

As I helped our friends with their INS paperwork, I came across it some more. It's easy for someone along the border to pop over as a three-day tourist and wind up getting married. Turns out it's fairly common for people with student visas to get married as well. The INS (now BICE) doesn't like that.

Getting married without a fiancée visa doesn't mean you're not married ... but it does mean that your immigration status is clouded. Just like Ade discovered in Mexico, the same is true in the U.S.: the foreigner must ask the immigration authority permission to marry a national. As that immigration attorney told me, the INS used to kick the foreigner out of the country and make him or her apply for the fiancée visa from scratch even though he or she was already married. Kinda silly.

One of our friends used this thousand-dollar variance rather than return to Colombia; her student visa had been expired for about five years at that time. If your husband came across in the trunk of a car, however, I'd expect the BICE to be pretty unhappy with him. At least Mireya, our Colombian friend, was able to show that she entered the U.S. legally.

We have friends who did come into the U.S. without any visa and later bore children in San Diego. They were able to get green cards because of their children's citizenship but it took them many years and it was pretty expensive. I don't know how they did it because I wasn't involved with their paperwork, they had to use a real attorney.

If I were you, I wouldn't believe any of us on the ex-pat boards when it comes to the BICE. We have only our personal anecdotes and prejudices to draw from and there's no way we can reasonably understand your situation. Go see an immigration attorney.

At one time, I found a couple of immigration attorneys working pro bono for Catholic Charities. They held workshops periodically in a church in Vista and they tried to help all comers for free. You might as well visit your local Catholic church and ask if that sort of help is available where you live. That's the cheapest source of professional help that I've found.

[RVGRINGO]

Good post; much clearer and very informative.

[MichaelC.]

Originally Posted by melizondo123

i'm married in the united states to an illegal immigrant and i was only wondering if u thought it would be better to return to mexico to apply for his papers? we are affraid that he might get into some trouble for being here already anybody with any thoughts?

No, stay here, papers will cost about 2,500 usa dollars so you might need both incomes too help pay. You can go on line and see what papers you will need too start filling out papers for your husband, You will need help but be very careful many people will try and charge you 2 or 3 times as much as cost of all papers. Get on line Governement documents and you can see all fees. I live in Memphis and with local offices here offering help price was about 2500 too 6500.

[RVGRINGO]

Welcome & thanks for the useful information. I've removed the specific commercial reference and trust that folks in a similar situation will contact you by 'Visitors Message System' or PM.