Any reason NOT to get married in Mexico?

[Peter Thompson 0]

Hi everyone! Here's some context and a question that I think will be straightforward for those with experience to answer:

 

• Background: I'm an American living in Mexico. My fiancé is Mexican.
• Fiancé just got her 10 year US tourist visa renewed
• We do not want to live in the US or begin the green card application process anytime in the near future. But we want to leave that door open.

 

My question is, is there anything we need to be aware of when we tie the knot here in Mexico? We may be decide at some point in the future to pursue a US green card for her, but that is not currently part of the plan.

Is there anything that I need to be aware of before we marry in Mexico? We travel to the US a few times a year for vacation and to visit family, and that's the extent of our US presence.

 

Thank you for any insight!

[HRQX 4,145]

34 minutes ago, Peter Thompson said:

is there anything we need to be aware of when we tie the knot here in Mexico?

Marriage in MX is pretty straightforward. There is also the blood test requirement.

34 minutes ago, Peter Thompson said:

Fiancé just got her 10 year US tourist visa renewed

Now, worldwide the most hassle-free places to get married are: Las Vegas, NV and Reno, NV. Their county Marriage Bureaus are open every single day of the year!

Edited December 3, 2020 by HRQX

[databit 328]

18 hours ago, Peter Thompson said:

We may be decide at some point in the future to pursue a US green card for her

For the future: As long as you continue to file your annual US taxes, and then start filing as married, and have all the usual shared financials, life insurance, wills, shared names on everything, etc. the green card process will be so much easier. Especially after two years of marriage.

[Peter Thompson 0]

On 12/3/2020 at 12:21 PM, databit said:

For the future: As long as you continue to file your annual US taxes, and then start filing as married, and have all the usual shared financials, life insurance, wills, shared names on everything, etc. the green card process will be so much easier. Especially after two years of marriage.

Thank you. Can you elaborate on the tax filing portion of your comment? Two questions there:

• In what way would this make the green card process easier? I guess because they can see that we are an actual married couple and by filing taxes together, it reduces the likelihood that we are a fraudulent couple.
• We have no intention currently to emigrate to the US, so it would seem premature (and expensive!) to subject her income to US taxes. Is this something that people commonly do?

[HRQX 4,145]

2 minutes ago, Peter Thompson said:

We have no intention currently to emigrate to the US, so it would seem premature (and expensive!) to subject her income to US taxes. Is this something that people commonly do?

Since you would be married, you can't file as "Single." But since you don't want to subject her to US taxes, you can file "Married Filing Separately."

[Peter Thompson 0]

Just now, HRQX said:

Since you would be married, you can't file as "Single." But since you don't want to subject her to US taxes, you can file "Married Filing Separately."

Brilliant, thank you!