Friend sent this to me this morning.

The following was written by Tom O'Malley, a US citizen 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 sk**ls and why my sk**ls 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 t***slated into Spanish and be certified as legal t***slations, 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 were required to obey their laws or face the consequences.

We could not protest any of the government's actions or we would be committing a felony. We paid out four thousand dollars in fees and bribes to complete the process. When this was done we could legally bring in our household goods that were held by U.S. Customs in Laredo, Texas.
This meant we had rented furniture in Mexico while awaiting our goods. There were extensive fees involved here that the company paid.”

"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 instructions on the rules of the road. Our only instruction was to never give a policeman your license, if stopped and asked. We were instructed to hold it against the inside window away from his grasp. If he got his hands on it you, would have to pay ransom to get it back.”

"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 r**t 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. Any issue might precipitate a protest, such as proposed law changes in California or Texas
which affect Mexican nationals living there.”

Please feel free to share this with everyone who thinks we are being hard on the i******s…
http://careerminer.infomine. com/foreigners-considering- working-in-mexico-what-you- need-to-know/


My thought: We treat our i******s pretty good......pretty good.

This was interesting. So I had to talk with a friend of mine that just moved down there last yr. He's a former Marine and neighbor that got tired of the HOA BS in our area. So he and his wife decided to move to the Mexico mountains about a 100 mi east of Mexico City. Any way I'm going to include his comment to my question "was it as bad as described in this piece above"? Here is his response:

"The first thing that popped into my head reading this guy's story is that he is bitter and a lot of exaggeration like a few expats who live here and complain about everything. Reminds me of some of the village i***ts in HO. (HO is our community that he left)

Sounds like SW Bell dumped this guy in Mexico and he doesn't care much for it. There are not a lot of expats that care to live or visit Mexico City. It is a lot more expensive and way too many people.

True there is some red tape involved and the the process is frustrating but to the extent and expense this guy is describing, especially the bribery. Mexico is proud of their country and we have found that they welcome expats with open arms because we help the economy. We spend money, we buy or build houses, buy cars, appliances, foods and more importantly, we hire housekeepers, gardeners and anyone else we can find to help us.

Their process is cumbersome and repititive but sooner or later you figure it out with lots of help from expats and their forums as well a Mexican citizens who have consulting services to help you through the red tape, especially for those that do not speak Spanish. If his article were to be posted to one or more of the expat forums, he would pretty much be crucified.

We got our FM2, non working visa and am now working on dual citizenship. Do what they ask you to do and you're ok. Of course they're going to ask for t***slated documents, we're in Mexico for Christ sakes. They not dumb like the US that provides everything in other languages. There are inefficiencies here in Mexico much like other countries and if you are going to live here then you adjust. I am Mexican but very much American. I have no patience for being late to anything nor of people that are not their when they need to be. It's like they live with sun dials here. It's their culture and you accept it or you don't.

I can't begin to tell you how happy we are being here and building a new home. Everything is an adventure every day something new. Do not miss Georgetown much less HO. We do though miss all the good people we met and hope that they you can visit us someday."

This was interesting. So I had to talk with a friend of mine that just moved down there last yr. He's a former Marine and neighbor that got tired of the HOA BS in our area. So he and his wife decided to move to the Mexico mountains about a 100 mi east of Mexico City. Any way I'm going to include his comment to my question "was it as bad as described in this piece above"? Here is his response:

"The first thing that popped into my head reading this guy's story is that he is bitter and a lot of exaggeration like a few expats who live here and complain about everything. Reminds me of some of the village i***ts in HO. (HO is our community that he left)

Sounds like SW Bell dumped this guy in Mexico and he doesn't care much for it. There are not a lot of expats that care to live or visit Mexico City. It is a lot more expensive and way too many people.

True there is some red tape involved and the the process is frustrating but to the extent and expense this guy is describing, especially the bribery. Mexico is proud of their country and we have found that they welcome expats with open arms because we help the economy. We spend money, we buy or build houses, buy cars, appliances, foods and more importantly, we hire housekeepers, gardeners and anyone else we can find to help us.

Their process is cumbersome and repititive but sooner or later you figure it out with lots of help from expats and their forums as well a Mexican citizens who have consulting services to help you through the red tape, especially for those that do not speak Spanish. If his article were to be posted to one or more of the expat forums, he would pretty much be crucified.

We got our FM2, non working visa and am now working on dual citizenship. Do what they ask you to do and you're ok. Of course they're going to ask for t***slated documents, we're in Mexico for Christ sakes. They not dumb like the US that provides everything in other languages. There are inefficiencies here in Mexico much like other countries and if you are going to live here then you adjust. I am Mexican but very much American. I have no patience for being late to anything nor of people that are not their when they need to be. It's like they live with sun dials here. It's their culture and you accept it or you don't.

I can't begin to tell you how happy we are being here and building a new home. Everything is an adventure every day something new. Do not miss Georgetown much less HO. We do though miss all the good people we met and hope that they you can visit us someday."

This was interesting. So I had to talk with a friend of mine that just moved down there last yr. He's a former Marine and neighbor that got tired of the HOA BS in our area. So he and his wife decided to move to the Mexico mountains about a 100 mi east of Mexico City. Any way I'm going to include his comment to my question "was it as bad as described in this piece above"? Here is his response:

"The first thing that popped into my head reading this guy's story is that he is bitter and a lot of exaggeration like a few expats who live here and complain about everything. Reminds me of some of the village i***ts in HO. (HO is our community that he left)

Sounds like SW Bell dumped this guy in Mexico and he doesn't care much for it. There are not a lot of expats that care to live or visit Mexico City. It is a lot more expensive and way too many people.

True there is some red tape involved and the the process is frustrating but to the extent and expense this guy is describing, especially the bribery. Mexico is proud of their country and we have found that they welcome expats with open arms because we help the economy. We spend money, we buy or build houses, buy cars, appliances, foods and more importantly, we hire housekeepers, gardeners and anyone else we can find to help us.

Their process is cumbersome and repititive but sooner or later you figure it out with lots of help from expats and their forums as well a Mexican citizens who have consulting services to help you through the red tape, especially for those that do not speak Spanish. If his article were to be posted to one or more of the expat forums, he would pretty much be crucified.

We got our FM2, non working visa and am now working on dual citizenship. Do what they ask you to do and you're ok. Of course they're going to ask for t***slated documents, we're in Mexico for Christ sakes. They not dumb like the US that provides everything in other languages. There are inefficiencies here in Mexico much like other countries and if you are going to live here then you adjust. I am Mexican but very much American. I have no patience for being late to anything nor of people that are not their when they need to be. It's like they live with sun dials here. It's their culture and you accept it or you don't.

I can't begin to tell you how happy we are being here and building a new home. Everything is an adventure every day something new. Do not miss Georgetown much less HO. We do though miss all the good people we met and hope that they you can visit us someday."