Your employer has already issued a work visa for you from the migration service. Now you have to choose one of the Mexican consulates where you can obtain this visa. Selecting a consulate — a very important point, since it is the consul who decides whether to give you a visa. Here we will indicate several criteria and give some tips for choosing a consulate when obtaining a Mexico work visa.
What is a Mexico work visa and what opportunities does it provide, you can find out from thispublications.
Check out the consulate website. The websites of some consulates describe the standards for applicants for a work visa. If not described, contact the diplomatic mission and find out about them in personal correspondence.
1. Select a country
Of course, the easiest way to get a work visa is in your country of citizenship. Thus, the diplomatic mission of Mexico in Moscow is very good at issuing visas to Russians.
But you have the right to be outside the country of your passport, say, in Mexico, and do not want to go home for a visa. And you want to purchase a visa in some neighboring country.
Work visas are easily opened by the Mexican consulate in such «prosperous» states like the USA, Canada, Great Britain, EU states, Israel and many more. If it's right to get there, go there.
Although Mexican immigration legislation does not limit the issuance of a work visa to specific countries, in fact, a number of consulates accept documents from a foreigner only if he is a resident of that country. This is what some Mexican consulates do in EU countries, Argentina, Panama, Japan, etc.
Always check with your specific consulate to see if you can purchase a work visa there as a non-resident (guest of the country).
An important point: you must be in the country where you purchased the visa legally. In other words, if you entered there as a tourist, and then your permitted period of stay has expired, the diplomatic mission will check this and refuse a visa. You will leave, come back again, and then you can apply for a visa.
2. Time — money
The choice of consulate can be influenced by the cost of travel to a particular country and the time frame before submitting papers. Visa authorization is valid for only 30 days, during which time you should get to the consulate. The queue to visit most consulates does not exceed 2-3 weeks, and in some there is no queue at all. You need to buy an air ticket. The closer the chosen power, the cheaper the ticket can be. The closer the departure date, the more expensive the ticket can be. If your budget is limited, this will also influence your choice of consulate.
In any circumstances, first obtain visa authorization from your employer, and only then find out the available dates for submitting documentation to specific consulates and buy a ticket.
3. Additional documentation
In most cases, it is enough to provide the consul only with a visa authorization document. This document contains the NUT process number, which you can use to register at the consular department. Data about your employer and your vacancy are already in the system. However, the consul has the right to request any confirmation from you: employer documentation, proof of your skills, especially a diploma. Some consuls like to discuss his skills with the applicant, even if they do not understand them. For this reason, just in case, take everything you have to the consular section. Most often, even a photocopy will do, and you have the right to say that the original remained with the employer in Mexico.
But if the consulate’s website says that you need a diploma with an apostille, but you don’t have an apostille on your diploma, don’t risk it, choose another consulate.
4. Consulates without language requirements
Almost all Mexican consulates require that the applicant speak Spanish OR English. Level of language proficiency is simple — «I understand the question, I can answer». Consulates allow the involvement of a translator, but this is more likely your disadvantage than real assistance in obtaining a visa.
At the same time, sometimes the consul is able to turn a blind eye to the fact that the applicant does not know languages. An interview for a visa in Russian is possible only in Moscow. In Costa Rica, you can hire an interpreter at the consulate. But if you choose a consular office in other Latin American, Spanish-speaking countries, where everyone speaks Spanish, be prepared for the fact that your level of Spanish or English must be quite high.
Sometimes we hear that the consular department in Nicaragua, because of the «great friendship» this power with Russia gives visas to Russians without knowledge of foreign languages. Now, that's not true. Some people are just lucky. In addition, it is believed that if you involve a «recommended» The consular department has the right to obtain a visa. Our opinion is the same — depending on your luck.
5. «Harmful» consuls
All consuls are harmful, because that’s what their job is. And they are all people, which means they have the opportunity to find fault. But it cannot be said that some consul refuses everyone. You cannot call any consul a Russophobe. When former journalist Isabel Arvide was Mexico's consul in Istanbul, everyone complained about her meticulousness. However, she was fine opening work visas. But the interviews with her were not just a formality.
Much depends on what impression you make on the consul — the human factor and affection work. It is impossible to know in advance what mood the consul will be in. The consul can turn a blind eye to ignorance of languages, to the lack of any confirmation. The consul may put a no-show instead of a refusal, and then you have the right to apply for a visa at another diplomatic mission. But this is all very individual and not predictable in advance.
Those who make it easier to obtain Mexican work visas usually exchange information, and one gets the impression that at some consulates it is easier to obtain a visa, while at others there are more refusals. But we cannot know exactly how the interview went and what exactly the consul did not like about the applicant. After a couple of months, that diplomatic mission, which was considered unsuccessful, is able, on the contrary, to begin to issue visas well. For this reason, universal advice: you won’t find a good consul, prepare carefully for the interview, and you will definitely get your work visa.