Third Country National Policy Changes in Mexico

See http://www.usvisa-mexico.com/mex/conteudo.do?seqConteudo=5855

 

On December 10, 2008, “Mission Mexico” [US consular services in Mexico] announced several important changes to its policies regarding nonimmigrant visa issuance to third country nationals (TCNs—that is, foreign nationals who are not citizens or residents of Mexico) at ten posts in Mexico, with an eye to making those policies more uniform throughout the country. Highlights of the policy are:

1)   All ten posts in Mexico, including for the first time the interior posts of Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Monterrey, Merida, and Mexico City will now accept nonimmigrant visa applications from third country nationals. This change is welcome as it will relieve appointment backlogs and security concerns encountered at some of the border posts.

2)   No persons will be accepted for change of visa category, for example, tourist to student, student to temporary worker (H1B), etc.

3)   Only TCNs renewing the same visa type for which they received the first visa EITHER in the “home” country (that of residence or citizenship) or at a border post in Canada or Mexico. For example, an Indian national who got his first J-1 visa stamp in Mumbai could get a renewal in Mexico. Likewise a British citizen who got his first J-1 visa in Ottawa, Canada (a border post), could renew it at any post in Mexico. But a Japanese national who received her first H visa in Paris while on a business trip there could NOT renew in Mexico. Likewise ANY individual who has never had a visa stamped in his or her passport in a particular category cannot get their first visa stamp that category in Mexico.

There is a new website for making appointments in Mexico, www.usvisa-mexico.com.

Unfortunately, persons ineligible to process a visa in Mexico will still receive an appointment via the automated system, but will be denied upon arriving at that appointment. These changes point up the importance of always checking the consular web page for particular visa issuance requirements before proceeding to a visa appointment at travel.state.gov.

Visa Application Forms

Nonimmigrant Visa Applications:  http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/forms/forms_1342.html

DS-160 (NEW): Coming Soon. The new DS-160 Online, Nonimmigrant Visa Electronic Application, will eventually replace current nonimmigrant application forms DS-156, 157, 158. The roll-out of the new DS-160 will be gradual. Therefore, not all U.S. Embassies and Consulates will be required to use the form at the same time.
US Embassies and Consulates currently using the new form DS-160 are:
     -    CANADA: Vancouver and Montreal only,
     -    MEXICO: Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Juarez, Matamoros and Monterrey only,
     -    Hong Kong S.A.R. and Dublin, Ireland. 

Nonimmigrant visa applicants will need to review U.S. Embassy website how-to-apply instructions for more details, as well as these Frequently Asked Questions for using DS-160 Online. Learn More about the form DS-160. Check back later for implementation update announcements.