Before any more ‘outrage’ at the Arizona law, read what it’s like from the other side of the fence… Received the following from Tom O’Malley, who was a Director with SouthwesternBell 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 criminal law and that we “We could not buy a home and were required to rent at very high rates and under contract and compliance with Mexican law.” “We were required to get a Mexican driver’s license. This was an amazing process. The company arranged for the licensing agency to come to our headquarters location with their photography and fingerprint equipment and the laminating machine. We showed our U.S. license, were photographed and fingerprinted again and issued the license instantly after paying out a six dollar fee. We did not take a written or driving test and never received “We then had to pay and file Mexican income tax annually using the number of our FM3 as our ID number. The company’s Mexican accountants did this for us and we just signed what they prepared. It was about twenty legal size pages annually.” “The FM3 was good for three years and renewable for two more after paying more fees.” “Leaving the country meant turning in the FM3 and certifying we were leaving no debts behind and no outstanding legal affairs (warrants, tickets or liens) before our household goods were released to customs.” “It was a real adventure and if any of our Senators or Congressmen went through it once they would have a different attitude toward Mexico.” “The Mexican government uses its vast military and police forces to keep its citizens intimidated and compliant. They never protest at their capitol or government offices, but do protest daily in front of the United States Embassy. The U.S. Embassy looks like a strongly reinforced fortress and during most protests the Mexican military surrounds the block with their men standing shoulder to shoulder in full riot gear to protect the Embassy. These protests are never shown on U.S. or Mexican TV. There is a large public park across the street where they do their protesting. Anything can cause a protest such as proposed law changes in California or Texas.” Think he’s blowing smoke??? Go HERE and check it out… Please feel free to share this with everyone who thinks we are being hard on the illegals… I can’t help but think a mirror law just ‘might’ be appropriate… Just sayin… |
Oh man, we need to copy their laws! I posted this on my blog, with a link back to you.
I will post with a link back to you also.I will put on facebook also.
You know, I have to hand it to the Mexicans – they have a very good immigration policy.
Now the US? What a sloppy bunch of goofballs and misfits we have running our outfit.
How dare you expose the laws of another country.
That just HAS to be racist.
I don’t think that was strong enough.
Cripes, I’ll never be a “good” liberal.
Skul
You know, you can find San Francisco criminal attorney here
What an appropiatly named post. The Mexican government is full of it. This country has some of the strictist immigration in the Western Hemisphere, yet critize the US for even trying to do the same – which is our right to do.
Linda/Fuzzy- feel free!
LL- Good point…sigh…
Skul- What can I say? 🙂
CS- Agreed!
Just build the damn fence already!
Scott- Concur!
Compared to Mexico, we’re pushovers.
New immigration policy for the USA: People crossing into the USA from Mexico illegally will be shot on sight. Survivers will be shot again.
When will our candy ass government learn?
See Ya.
Mrs. C- Agreed!
DiMw- Well, they did cap that one kid for rock throwing in El Paso. I agree, lets put enough NG down there to actually MAKE a difference, put the Predators/Reapers up, and open up the ROE so that if they are fired on, they can fire back.
Any troops we put on the border will be have empty weapons and will be taking orders from Homeland Security gutless wonders. All show, no substance.
I’m SO posting this on my own blog, with credit to you!
It’s embarrassing to see someone post these kinds of misrepresentations and have no one bother to check the facts. If you are from the U.S the Mexican government WANTS you to come here and they make it very easy. First off, they give you an automatic 180 days (i.e 6 months) at the border. And if you leave the country for 24 hours they will renew it automatically when you come back.
And the FM-3 requires very little paperwork. I recieved mine in less than 10 business days and only needed to show bank statements for the last 3 months and my passport. They do not require a birth certificate, marriage certificate or anything else.
It’s slightly more complex if you need to or want to work, but not by much.
– Ryan
(And for the record, I live in Merida and I see protests in front of the governor’s offices every few months.)