New Process for Visas to Mexico
Posted Sep 28, 2001

Many readers of the MurthyBulletin choose to apply for nonimmigrant visas (NIVs) in Canada or Mexico in certain situations when they do not have time to travel to their home countries. Most Indian citizens and applicants from other countries need tourist visas to visit Canada or Mexico, so we are taking the opportunity to alert our readers to a change in Mexican tourist visa processing. Generally, most visa applicants tend to obtain visas to these two countries fairly easily if they are able to establish that they have been in legal status in the U.S.

Contiguous Territory Rule

The reason that one of the neighboring countries, Canada or Mexico, may be preferred over the home country consulate, is that, under the contiguous territory rule, if for any reason the NIV is refused in the neighboring country, the visa applicant could still reenter the U.S., as long as the person has maintained valid nonimmigrant status (as shown by an un-expired I-94 card) and the trip to the neighboring country is less than 30 days.

Nonimmigrant Visa Clearance Procedures in Mexico

Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the Mexican government announced that, for persons of some nationalities, there will be an additional check by the Mexican immigration authorities. We do not have details as to what this check would entail but apparently it can delay processing of the visa application by at least 30 days. So far we have just a partial list of the nationalities affected. They are as follows, in alphabetical order: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. When we obtain any further information or an expanded list of countries, we will post an update at MurthyDotCom.

Persons applying for visas at U.S. consulates in Mexico should check with the Mexican consulate in the U.S. regarding visiting visa clearance procedures. We are told that the policy is temporary. Apparently this new process affects even U.S. permanent residents of the above nationalities who wish to visit Mexico.

Changes in IV Procedures from October 2001 at Ciudad Juarez

In a development that is completely unrelated to the September 11th incidents, please note that the U.S. Consulate at Ciudad Juarez, Mexico announced that it will no longer be processing immigrant visa cases for non-Mexicans who have filed the I-485 and now wish to consular process. In articles in issues of the MurthyBulletin from last year (2000), we mentioned that Ciudad Juarez was agreeing to help applicants waiting for decisions on their I-485 Adjustment of Status applications with INS. Because of the lengthy delays in adjudicating the I-485, Juarez instituted a procedure for transferring the cases to their consulate, even for non-Mexican applicants.

When the new "V" NIV was instituted, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) indicated that the majority of the V visa applicants would be processed in Mexico. (For more information on the V visa, kindly refer to the V Visa FAQs  and other items in the Family section of at MurthyDotCom.) We therefore anticipated that there might be an effect on immigrant visa (IV) processing, since V visas are processed at the IV section, rather than the NIV section at the consulate.

In announcing its intent to stop handling the cases for non-Mexican I-485 applicants, the consulate did indeed mention the V visa caseload as well as the Mexican IV caseload as reasons for its decision.