When you start living in Mexico, the Spanish word cita will be in your vocabulary. It means «meeting», but in the sense we need — appointment or appointment. The time of long queues in Mexico is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Wherever appointments are by appointment, in any government, medical or private commercial institution, you must have a “situ” on hand.
(The Mexican Migration Service has resumed electronic registration — read thispublication)
Previously, it was difficult to visit the migration service — National Institute of Migration (INM) — There is an opportunity to purchase it online. Of course it was convenient. But many began to receive a situ “just in case”, without sufficient reasons to visit the migration service, or did not come to the appointment. And then the length of the queue at almost all migration service offices began to grow enormously. And then the electronic recording system either broke down or was stopped. And now, in order to obtain a visa to carry out the migration procedure, you need to personally contact the selected migration service office. In this case, you first need to stand in line in order to have a chance to contact an office employee who will check the basis and issue a sieve for the migration stage.
All INM offices in Mexico, based on the principle of receiving sieves, are divided into 2 types.
The first type — «first come — first served». This means that if this office has the capacity to serve, say, 40 people a day, the Sith will give the first 40 to come. The rest will be asked to come the next day, when 40 people will again be selected from among them. In other words, you must try to get there today; there are no appointments for tomorrow or a specific date in the future. There are — such offices in Mexico majority. They adhere to the principle declared by the leadership of the National Institute of Migration — «All in one day».
The second type — everyone who is not among the first 40 lucky ones today signs up for the general queue and receives a seat for the first available date in this queue. In particular, in a week or a month — Each office has its own queue length. There are a minority of such offices in Mexico, and the longest queue is — in Cancun and Playa del Carmen, sometimes it reaches 2 months.
One way or another, come to the migration service office before it opens, as early as possible. Sometimes it's 6 or 7 am, but often much earlier. Most likely, there will already be people like you there. At some offices of the migration service, in particular in Mexico City, there are several queues at once, on various issues. Then check with those in line to see if you are in the right line. In addition, in Playa del Carmen certain issues are only served on certain days. In Merida, sieves are issued every day, but strictly from 12:00 to 14:00, for this reason it has become impossible to submit documentation in Merida on the same day.
All migration service offices open at 9:00. But at 8:30 an employee is able to leave to begin distributing the queue. He will ask you to present the original passport or resident card of everyone who will purchase the sieve. If all family members need the Sith, they do not all have to come to the migration service. Sita has the opportunity to be issued by one of the family by presenting the original documents of other relatives. In the same way, you have the right to ask someone you know to get a sieve for you by giving him the original of your identity card. In this case, you need to act with caution, since in some migration service offices they are not able to ask for a power of attorney from relatives.
In addition, you should have a document explaining the basis for receiving the sieve. Let's say you want to get a resident card because your spouse just got one. This means you need a copy (or original) of your spouse's resident card and marriage certificate. To your scheduled visit, you will only bring the original document.
Sometimes sieves — This is a document on INM letterhead that contains your first and last name, the name of the procedure, the date and time you should appear for it, as well as instructions. But more often sieves — This is a small piece of paper on which your first and last name and the date and time assigned to you are written by hand. In those offices where records are kept only for today, there may not be a paper confirmation of the sieve at all. You will simply be added to the internal list, given instructions on what documents to provide and how to pay state fees, and they will tell you what time to come to carry out the procedure.
If you need to carry out several procedures, you will need to arrange a separate sieve for each procedure. In particular, you first notify the migration service about the change of place of work, then request an extension of the resident card for a new period. Or first you notify the migration service about the change of home address, then your spouse requests a resident card based on your relationship. In the latter case, you need to purchase 2 sieves for 2 people.
A separate sieve is issued for each family member, since each application is considered individually. If the family is large, it is possible that some family members will receive their sieves the next day.
If you receive a resident card, the cards are usually issued on the same day that you apply. But all card transactions are completed before 15:00. And if a particular office on a particular day does not have an option or does not have time to issue you a card (approval for issuing a card has not been received, there are no plastic card blanks, the printer is broken, etc.), you will be asked to come another day. You should not purchase a strainer for repeat visits. A notification about when you can come again will be sent to your personal account on the website of the National Institute of Migration or by email that you specified when filling out the application for the migration procedure.