DCF Mexico

[Marisol73 0]

Ps- So no one else received that "2-3 month wait" letter from CDJ? ;-(

I haven't received that letter. But by phone they told me to wait 6 to 8 weeks after they receive packet 3 to find out appoinment date.

I dont think it takes too long.. maybe they just dont want us to bother with calls and mails inquiries..but I think its normal to be so anxious about it!.. and knowing that mexican mail is not reliable I will call again on the fist days of September.. I sent my packet 3 in August 3rd (it was received August 4th), so I hope to receive appoinment date in my next call.

PS.. Welcome Sarah... I agree with Arianak.. I dont think you need a lawyer to file out the papers. I think All process in expensive itself so I would avoid extra expenses (I imagine lawyers are expensive). But anyway is your choice. We all be happy to help you

[Jilly and Danny 0]

I also agree with Marisol and Arianak that a lawyer is not necessary. I have a cousin who is an immigration lawyer who was "helping" us, but he was so busy it was hard to actually get him to respond to us. And after I found this website I gave up trying to ask him questions at all. People here have first hand experience with the exact offices you will have experiences with and answer a lot faster.

Also I remember reading on another website comments about how someone's lawyer told them one thing and the people on the website said another thing and more often than not the lawyer was wrong. Unless you have a complicated case, don't bother with the lawyer!!

[LaGringa 0]

Hi, Sarah, welcome to the boards!

I also think there is no need for a lawyer, unless your case is complicated or something!

[EsperanzaXMyS 0]

Thanks everyone for your response!!

I totally agree, we were going to pay $10,000 for a lawyer and now I really don't see why that's necessary!

I will take the advice and turn in the packet in person, hopefully I have as much luck as to get an appt in 4 weeks! That would be great!! I lived in Mexico City right next to the embajada and its only about a 2 hour drive from Guanajuato so sounds like its well worth it. I know how communication can be here in Mexico and its not always the most efficient!!!!

Well thanks already for the great tips!!

[pnewton 0]

Hi again, everyone--

Welcome, Sarah! I'm not sure how much advice I can provide at this moment, as we're just at the beginning of the proces like you guys, but we can compare time frames and such.

As for my mini-absence from the forum boards, whoa, I've been so, so busy these past few days trying to get everything together for our civil union that looks like will be happening this weekend--yay! The one little thing I'd like to vent about right now is how our local civil registry seemed to keep pulling more and more tricks out of the bag at the last minute! I had first called them earlier in the summer to get informed about the process and we were told about getting an apostille for my birth certificate, having it translated and a few other things like the permiso from Migration, but that was it. I made some follow-up to ask more questions later on and then scheduled our wedding for mid- Sept. Anyway, this past week, when I had everything in hand and wanted to change the date to a sooner time, they mentioned for the first time the "examenes prenupciales", which you're supposed to do 15 days before your wedding date! Por dios..! Haha, well, we scrambled to get those and got past the 15 day wait period. Meanwhile I'm crossing my fingers that nothing comes up this weekend when we have the ceremony--I could just imagine them finding some little detail to fuss over on the application! But other than just the stress of pulling everything together, we're excited about going through the whole process!

And thank you to everyone regarding my questions about showing proof of residence and of the relationship. I'm going to have to figure out something regarding our lease, or rather, lack there of! As we're renting our house from my fiance's grandma, we just pay her each month in cash and that's been it! Gulp. We've been here in the house over a year now and before that, lived with his family. I wonder if there's any way for his grandma to write something up officially?

Also, I emailed the visa office in the consulate here in Mty with a few of my questions and hope to receive an answer soon! I'm wondering how many other couples have tried to go through this process so quickly...A little fear nagging at me is if it will look somewhat suspicious to the consulate in Juarez that we got married and then applied for the visa right away? With 5 years under our belt as a couple and plenty of pictures along the way, I hope that makes up for it! I liked the idea of an album with captions, and I think I'll get started on that soon! It'l be fun to put together, anyway. We weren't intending on things being so rushed, but with the way things are changing security-wise here in Monterrey, we put everything on the fast track to head back the U.S. and get settled into our new lives back there!

Well, I think that's it for tonight! Have a good night, everyone!

[Marisol73 0]

Hello again pnewton !

Congrats on your civil union

About looking somewhat suspicious to the consulate in Juarez because you will be married and then applied for the visa right away, I dont think thats a problem if you have proof of bonafide relationship..so dont worry.

The only thing is that if you apply when your marriage is for less than 2 years (and of course yours and mine will be), your husband will get "conditional residence", and the "conditional" part has to be removed when you are in USA..Im not sure but I think is after your second wedding anniversary (maybe someone could explain this better).

Have a nice day

[czmjacq 1]

Lets review at what point of the process are we Mexico DCFs who has been posting here:

Lia792 -- already approved !

Claireg -- already approved!

Jaremedios --- I-130 approved but in hold right?

La Gringa -- Almost ready to send packet 3 to CDJ

Me (Marisol) --- Already sent packet 3..waiting for Interview Date

ArianaK--- ??

Czmjacq --- Waiting for letter of new appoinment

Jilly&Danny--- Interview August 31

Are we all??

Hi Everyone - been off-line so busy lately with first week of school in US (me as teacher and daugher as 1st year high school student) but I survived (barely). Just to update -- I received the new appt. letter here in the US but my hubby hasn't received it in Cozumel yet. His new appt. date is Sept 13 --Monday- worst day of the week -- but we are going to try and make the best of it by meeting up in El Paso on Friday night through Sunday afternoon. So he will fly there on Thursday, do his medical on Friday and then go to El Paso after he gets the results and then go back on Sunday to be there for Monday interview. I emailed Victor Garcia (he does tranportation) and he said he could pick my hubby up Friday and take him to El Paso and back on Sunday. He didn't think it would be a problem since he has a tourist VISA and they don't take that from him until his interview on Monday.

Jilly & Danny == just a few more days until your appt. Let us know how it goes and PLEASE let me know

1. What time was medical ready to pick up (from which clinic)

2. What time was VISA ready to pick up

I'm trying to figure out what time to have Victor pick up my husband on Friday and also if anyone gets their VISA's before 1-2pm the day following their interviews

[Jilly and Danny 0]

Hi Everyone - been off-line so busy lately with first week of school in US (me as teacher and daugher as 1st year high school student) but I survived (barely). Just to update -- I received the new appt. letter here in the US but my hubby hasn't received it in Cozumel yet. His new appt. date is Sept 13 --Monday- worst day of the week -- but we are going to try and make the best of it by meeting up in El Paso on Friday night through Sunday afternoon. So he will fly there on Thursday, do his medical on Friday and then go to El Paso after he gets the results and then go back on Sunday to be there for Monday interview. I emailed Victor Garcia (he does tranportation) and he said he could pick my hubby up Friday and take him to El Paso and back on Sunday. He didn't think it would be a problem since he has a tourist VISA and they don't take that from him until his interview on Monday.

Jilly & Danny == just a few more days until your appt. Let us know how it goes and PLEASE let me know

1. What time was medical ready to pick up (from which clinic)

2. What time was VISA ready to pick up

I'm trying to figure out what time to have Victor pick up my husband on Friday and also if anyone gets their VISA's before 1-2pm the day following their interviews

I'll let everyone know as soon as we can after. I tried to find contact info for Victor Garcia but I couldn't find anything anywhere. The link I found to his website didn't work...we plan on just taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel and then using the hotel shuttle while we are there. We arrive Sunday night and will be going early Monday morning for the medical exam. I'm hoping everything goes smoothly because we don't have an extra day for extra medical testing/delays before the interview.

[czmjacq 1]

Jilly & Danny

If my husband wasn't leaving CJ I wouldn't have contacted Victor - just taxi and shuttles like you are doing.

If anyone needs his services - we emailed him at rejoinjesus@cs.com and his phone number (El Paso- US) 915-726-0957

Let me know how the shuttles work for you - my husband is staying at La Quinta too - and I told him he might be able to use the shuttle to get to the medical clinic but not sure how it works if you want to use the shuttle to come back -- probably taxi the easiest but then I heard about some taxis not being safe... Of course we are just chickens...living on an island (Cozumel) we are weary even being in Cancun after dark!! But you are probably the same since the Yucatan was determined to be the safest place in Mexico recently.

[jaremedios 1]

Good luck, Jilly and Danny and czmjacq, on your interviews!! Hope all goes well with medicals, interview, and stay in CDJ. Take care.

[arianak 0]

Hi Pnewton...I actually came on here to see if you had posted about things in Monterrey, I saw the news about the US telling diplomats to get their kids out, and I thought about you guys. I'm wondering if the security concerns aren't groudn enough for having this process sped along. Anyway, hope you are OK, and even more excited to get married and get this ball rolling! Btw,we just got a contrato de arrendamiento en qualquier papeleria. We wrote it up and my husbands uncle signed it...I thought it looked great, but they didnt even want to see it. But you could get one if you want, they cost like 5 pesos. all the best!

Hi again, everyone--

Welcome, Sarah! I'm not sure how much advice I can provide at this moment, as we're just at the beginning of the proces like you guys, but we can compare time frames and such.

As for my mini-absence from the forum boards, whoa, I've been so, so busy these past few days trying to get everything together for our civil union that looks like will be happening this weekend--yay! The one little thing I'd like to vent about right now is how our local civil registry seemed to keep pulling more and more tricks out of the bag at the last minute! I had first called them earlier in the summer to get informed about the process and we were told about getting an apostille for my birth certificate, having it translated and a few other things like the permiso from Migration, but that was it. I made some follow-up to ask more questions later on and then scheduled our wedding for mid- Sept. Anyway, this past week, when I had everything in hand and wanted to change the date to a sooner time, they mentioned for the first time the "examenes prenupciales", which you're supposed to do 15 days before your wedding date! Por dios..! Haha, well, we scrambled to get those and got past the 15 day wait period. Meanwhile I'm crossing my fingers that nothing comes up this weekend when we have the ceremony--I could just imagine them finding some little detail to fuss over on the application! But other than just the stress of pulling everything together, we're excited about going through the whole process!

And thank you to everyone regarding my questions about showing proof of residence and of the relationship. I'm going to have to figure out something regarding our lease, or rather, lack there of! As we're renting our house from my fiance's grandma, we just pay her each month in cash and that's been it! Gulp. We've been here in the house over a year now and before that, lived with his family. I wonder if there's any way for his grandma to write something up officially?

Also, I emailed the visa office in the consulate here in Mty with a few of my questions and hope to receive an answer soon! I'm wondering how many other couples have tried to go through this process so quickly...A little fear nagging at me is if it will look somewhat suspicious to the consulate in Juarez that we got married and then applied for the visa right away? With 5 years under our belt as a couple and plenty of pictures along the way, I hope that makes up for it! I liked the idea of an album with captions, and I think I'll get started on that soon! It'l be fun to put together, anyway. We weren't intending on things being so rushed, but with the way things are changing security-wise here in Monterrey, we put everything on the fast track to head back the U.S. and get settled into our new lives back there!

Well, I think that's it for tonight! Have a good night, everyone!

[pnewton 0]

Hi Arianak...Yes, things here have definitely been heating up, and the Consulate's decision for all children of the consular workers to leave is a big deal. It's strange, because you hear about the big events on the news, but what's really worrisome are all of the things you hear by word of mouth that aren't showing up in the media. It also makes me sad, as when my fiance and I met 5 years ago, we traipsed around the city at all hours and loved exploring it, but now things have changed a lot.

I'm going to try to get in contact with the Consulate tomorrow and see what they recommend for our situation. I'm crossing my fingers that things will go as smoothly as possible. I'm nervous that maybe they'll be extra swamped with work, but hopefully we'll be able to talk with someone. It must be hard for the consulates in cities going through major security issues to keep up with the influx of work, but so far, I've been impressed with my interactions with them.

And thanks for the tip about the rent thing! I'll look into getting that done for us...And horray, today is the big day! We're excited!

[czmjacq 1]

Hi Pnewton...I actually came on here to see if you had posted about things in Monterrey, I saw the news about the US telling diplomats to get their kids out, and I thought about you guys. I'm wondering if the security concerns aren't groudn enough for having this process sped along. Anyway, hope you are OK, and even more excited to get married and get this ball rolling! Btw,we just got a contrato de arrendamiento en qualquier papeleria. We wrote it up and my husbands uncle signed it...I thought it looked great, but they didnt even want to see it. But you could get one if you want, they cost like 5 pesos. all the best!

Hi arianak--

I noticed your pkg 3 approval date was Aug 3 -- did you find that out via email or did you receive a letter in the mail? Are you one of the ones that received a letter saying 2-3 month wait on interviews?? The reason I ask is that I called the $12 peso\min line to cancel and ask to reschedule my husband's original appt on Aug 5 and I received a letter (here in the US) about a week ago with a new appt date of Sept 13 already... I am just wondering if maybe you have an appt but just haven't received the notification letter yet in Mexico because my husband hasn't received the new appt letter in MX yet.... Anyway, just thought if you haven't already emailed or called them, maybe you should.

[czmjacq 1]

I'll let everyone know as soon as we can after. I tried to find contact info for Victor Garcia but I couldn't find anything anywhere. The link I found to his website didn't work...we plan on just taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel and then using the hotel shuttle while we are there. We arrive Sunday night and will be going early Monday morning for the medical exam. I'm hoping everything goes smoothly because we don't have an extra day for extra medical testing/delays before the interview.

Hi,

Forgot to ask you to let us know what time the medical exam people were told you to come pick up the results and how long it took to get them once you went back for them (just so I know about what time to schedule Victor to pick up my husband after his exam)

Thanks and good luck!!

Good luck, Jilly and Danny and czmjacq, on your interviews!! Hope all goes well with medicals, interview, and stay in CDJ. Take care.

THANKS!!

[Jilly and Danny 0]

Hi Everybody!

We got into the hotel last night pretty late. This morning my husband got up early and headed off to his medical exam. When we got in, we asked about the shuttle (we're at La Quinta) and they said you it starts at 6:00 am and all you have to do is reserve it ahead of time. They told us that when we finish to call the hotel and they then send the shuttle there to pick him up. However, the receptionist suggested we take a taxi to the medical clinic early because people start lining up around 4am. They told us to have them call us a reliable taxi about 10 minutes before we wanted to leave and would cost about 50 pesos (he said it was about a 5 minute trip away). My husband left at 4:40 to call the taxi and at 5:30 he sent me a text saying he was already inside the clinic, even though they don't open until 6.

The taxi from the airport costs 245 pesos and its about a 10 minute trip to this area from the airport. You pay inside the airport and its safe.

Other than that, the hotel is very comfortable. I'll post more info when he gets back from the exam.

czmjacq - This whole thing has been so stressful. We also are not used to feeling so unsafe! But it helps that the people at the hotel seem to really know what's going on. By the way, we went to Cozumel to snorkel on our honeymoon last weekend and just loved it!! I thought about you when we decided to go.