After entering Mexico, the asylum seeker must submit an application to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) within 30 working days. This is stated in Article 18 of the Mexican Refugee Law (Ley sobre Refugiados, Protección Complementaria y Asilo Político): “The application for recognition of refugee status must be submitted within 30 working days from the date of entry of the applicant into the national territory or, if appropriate, on the day on which it actually became possible to submit it, in the manner prescribed by the regulations.” In this case, the applicant must justify the failure to submit the application within the established period, otherwise the application will not be accepted.
COMAR is based on the general principle “No one should be deprived of the right to asylum because of formal deadlines if he could not objectively comply with them,” which he has been obliged to follow by numerous court decisions. Consequently, he will accept the application for recognition of refugee status even after 30 days, but at the same time issue the applicant a «prevención» (warning) with the requirement to justify in writing within 5 working days the impossibility of filing an application on time. If justification is not provided within 5 days, the application will be refused. But neither the Law nor the regulations to it say exactly how to confirm the circumstances that prevented the filing of an application on time.
There is an opinion that it is enough to write a simple explanatory note (I was sick, did not know, did not have money to get to the COMAR office, etc.), and the application submitted 30 working days after entry will be accepted finally. This is wrong! You will submit an application, but the effect will be zero. COMAR rejects justifications that are not supported by official documents or will accept them only by court decision.
COMAR does have flexibility and may take into account a wide range of «circumstances that may prevent an application from being submitted on time». In practice, such circumstances can be:
- illness or injury making submission in person or in writing prohibited,
- detention and detention in a migration station (estación migratoria),
- presence of threats while moving to the COMAR office, in particular road violence,
- force majeure: natural disasters, lack of transport links, border conflict, etc.,
- lack of information and ignorance of the rules of the stages of obtaining refugee status, especially for persons who arrived suddenly or without consultation,
- language barrier — inability to communicate in Spanish without the support of an interpreter.
Exceptional circumstances are always supported by documents (medical certificates, certificates, arrest documents, police statements, etc.). Although COMAR opens the right to «beneficio de la duda» — assumes the applicant's good faith when there is insufficient evidence, but still conducts an interview to understand the context. Each request is considered individually, and written evidence is indispensable.
Language barrier and lack of information — these are the two most common reasons why refugees were unable to file a refugee claim within 30 business days of entering Mexico. The records of the SCJN (Supreme Court of Mexico) on migrant cases indicate that a language barrier may be a sufficient reason for missing a procedural deadline, since the right to asylum should not depend on knowledge of the language of the receiving state. In Amparo indirecto decisions, Mexican courts have repeatedly overturned COMAR's refusal to accept an application if it is shown that the non-resident did not have reasonable access to translation or information in a language he understood.
Likewise, many foreign citizens are unaware of the existence of COMAR and the 30-day period. At borders and at migration stations, the INM migration service often does not fully explain rights. Mexican courts have also recognized that the lack of adequate information from government authorities is a valid reason. There are decisions where, even several months after entry, the court ordered COMAR to accept the application because the state did not fulfill its obligation to inform. It seems that, as a justification, the applicant can say: “I did not know about the existence of the stages and only found out when volunteers / lawyers / acquaintances explained to me.”
But whenever the applicant justifies the violation of the deadlines for filing an application for refugee status by ignorance of the language or procedure, COMAR refuses. Then everything has the opportunity to accept this explanation, but ONLY by court decision. A simple administrative appeal does not work. The applicant should find a lawyer, within 15 days submit to the Juzgado de Distrito (federal court) amparo indirecto against COMAR's decision to refuse, and wait for the court's decision. For the court there is really enough evidence of «objective impossibility» — there should not be strict confirmation, rather logical, plausible circumstances, and the court has the right to oblige COMAR to register the application and continue the procedure. If everything goes quickly, the court can make a decision within 30-40 business days after accepting the case. In practice, taking into account the workload of the courts, the procedure can take 2-3 months, sometimes up to 6 months.
COMAR's final acceptance of a court-ordered refugee status application does not mean that such status will be granted. Quite the contrary. When it comes time to review the application and interview, COMAR will take special care to review the facts provided that the applicant raises as a basis for defense. As we have written in other publications, the likelihood of approval of refugee status in Mexico for citizens of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus on the basis of persecution for political beliefs in their states tends to zero. Applying for refugee status under a court decision makes this likelihood even less likely.
If you have not filed your refugee claim with COMAR within 30 business days of entry, leave Mexico and receive a fresh entry stamp when you re-enter. This is the most reliable option, and you will have 30 days after entry to submit your application to COMAR.
Do you have the right to draw a new entry stamp? Here everything is worse and fraught with serious consequences. COMAR will accept the application and issue a decision on granting visitor status. But then, to register your migration status, you will go to the migration service, which will definitely check the stamp in your passport and compare it with the entry in the migration database. And there will be no entry record in the database. The immigration office will refuse to grant you visitor status, you will also be refused by COMAR, and moreover, you will be issued an order to leave Mexico.
According to our observation, those who entered Mexico through the land border with Guatemala without entry registration are in a better position. They do not have an entry stamp and there is no way to check how long ago they entered the country. The absence of a stamp or entry document does not deprive the right to file an application for refugee status and automatically constitutes an objective reason for the failure to comply with the deadline for filing such an application. At the same time, the application should explain the circumstances: crossing the border through a difficult-to-reach area, the inability to contact the migration authorities at the border, the danger of return. It is advisable to obtain written explanations from migrant support organizations that can confirm the actual stay.