u/Schwinn8

Just wanted to provide people here with a review and info about the experience at the DC consulate, as my wife and I just got our temporary resident visas there (actually, about 2 weeks ago). We read many such reports here on Reddit, so I wanted to share ours to continue the sharing for others.

Short story, we got approved the same day, and the entire visit took about 2.5 hours. Here are the details:

To begin with, we used a facilitator (https://gpexpatservices.com/) who came well recommended here and from the Mexico Relocation Guide (https://mexicorelocationguide.com/). Both are resources I can highly recommend both for those who are looking to make this move. u/Dry_Link_7156 Gaby Pellicer was VERY helpful and patient with us, and answered all of our questions and concerns! I also read a ton here on this subreddit, which helped quite a bit, too.

Our facilitator setup the appointment for us. She apparently has an inside-track to them, which was great. We are in CT, but she aimed to get us into Boston, Philadelphia, and DC as these were the best options for a same-day process. Boston, right now, is not providing many appointments (she said), so I was aiming for PHL and DC primarily. I thought we'd get PHL, but ended up at DC - she contacted us about a week before, but fortunately we have flexible schedules so we made it work even though it was relatively short notice.

The DC consulate is located at the address provided (by our facilitator, Google, Mexico website, etc), but it's not "in" the building. Just before you get to the front door, there are steps to the right side - the consulate is there.

There is parking in a lot directly across the street, so that was easy. We parked there ($17.99 for 4 hours, paid via phone online) and walked to the consulate easily.

We arrived very early at about 8:15am for our 9am appointment. We certainly didn't need to do that, but it's good in case there is an accident on the roads along the way (we were driving in from Baltimore). We had a decent amount of commuter traffic so it took us about 1.5 hours, but it wasn't too bad.

The security guard checked our bag with all our papers, and my wife's purse, and we had to remove phones, keys, etc before going through the metal detector. I remembered that I left my belt on, but we had no beep or issue. The guard was nice and asked what we were there for - we told him the temporary residence visa. He wasn't completely sure, but told us the visa office was down the hall on the left. Amy checked and saw that, as well as a waiting area there, with some ventanillas. At the ventanilla, I asked where we wait for the temporary residence visa, and they said it was that Visa door (correctly identified by the guard), but that it wouldn't open until 9. So, we waited... no problem. Bathrooms were right there, and a few other people were around... things weren't fully open yet.

We finally saw someone open the door to Visas at about 9:20. We asked if we should wait inside there, and he said sure... turns out, he was actually the person who was going to process us from behind the glass wall with two ventanillas (basically plexi or glass "wall" with two openings at the bottom). He was dressed very casually - had a pony tail and a shirt with a sugar skull decoration on it. He went around to the other side, got settled, and then asked us what we needed. There was no one else in this small room - just my wife and me. We told him we were married and hoping to get processed together for the temporary resident visa, and that we had an appointment. He said no problem and that one of us would be "primary". My wife suggested me, so I went first. He asked for passport, application, and documents. He asked if we were going to qualify by income or assets, and we told him assets... so he wanted those documents and asked for the 12-months statements.

I provided the passport and signed the application in front of him - our facilitator suggested this. He pointed out that I need to print my name and sign in the box on the application. Then I provided an affidavit of one-and-same since I don't always use my middle name, then verification letter, bank tabulated balances (our facilitator said we should have the bank provide a letter with a table of each month and balance of our accounts), and the bank cover letter +12 months statement summaries. I was concerned, at first, that our statement summaries were only the first few pages of each month - the remaining pages (often 25+ pages!) were transaction reports for the account. Fortunately, the consulate guy never asked, noticed, or cared about that. We also had wet-ink signatures and initials on each page, which he didn't care about either (as far as I could see). I saw he picked up a highlighter, and I think he highlighted the total balances on the papers himself.

I had read here that some consulates are picky about the signature matching what we have on our license or passport. Our facilitator said she never heard of this being a problem, so neither my wife nor I practiced... and we just signed as messily as we normally do. He didn't care.

Interesting twist, he asked if I had access to my bank accounts on my phone, and if I could show him the CURRENT balance there via screenshot. He said he needed this since it was near the end of the month (June 23, and our docs were through May), so he wanted to see that. I said yes, and went online to get this from our bank system. I took the screenshot and he had me email it to him via an email address from a sticker on the glass wall between us. After he received the screenshot, I saw that he printed this himself in the back somewhere and added it to the file.

He then had me sit back down and looked through everything for a little while. He asked me if I had a copy of my passport, and I said yes and gave that to him, then sat back down.

In the meantime, I assembled the documents he took from me, for when he called my wife up. He eventually called her up, and she handed all the same things over and signed the form and handed that and her passport to him as well. I noticed I didn't have a second copy of the bank table-summary page (it may have been in another folder), but he never asked for it, so I didn't dig any further for that.

Both my wife and I own sole-member LLCs (we each have one company) and we did not give any business info papers, even though we had copies ready to go. He never asked for them nor any info about our income. Our assets are mostly IRAs, although we also have a "liquid account" with that bank with more than the ~$80k required for this consulate. He also never asked for our drivers license or copies of the drivers licenses.

After some more time, he called us both up and we chatted right there, through the window to each other. He asked why we want to move to Mexico, and we told him we loved it, and wanted to retire there. He asked if we spoke Spanish - my wife answered first and said she wasn't that good at it, but that she was taking classes online and hoped to be fluent soon. She froze a little (she gets anxious sometimes) but he said she did fine. He asked about her job and also asked how she handled anxiety with her profession as a therapist. She said that when she's in "therapist mode" she doesn't have as much issue, as she is there "for the client" so she gets less anxious... plus she's been doing her job for 25+ years, so it's easier. They chatted a bit more about the work, and how she would continue to work remotely from Mexico. He reminded us that the temporary visa does not allow us to work WITHIN Mexico, but we can continue to remote-work. We agreed and understood, of course. He did say that he looked up her website and saw that she was not taking new clients on that page - she explained how this was because we are working to transition, so she didn't want to take new clients. He understood and accepted that explanation.

He asked if we knew where we wanted to be, and my wife said we were aiming for Ajijic. He said he knew of many others going there, or to SMA (San Miguel Allende), or PV (Puerto Vallarta)... and that they weren't the best places to learn Spanish. We explained that we knew that, but we always try to speak Spanish with locals, and to go outside of just the gringo areas. I guess he's from the SMA area, and found many people would just be lazy and keep speaking English... but it didn't sound like this was going to be a problem for our application.

Then he started asking me similar questions. He said my job sounds interesting, and asked more about it - I described how I do programming and automation for manufacturing, and that I can do this remotely since I am already doing that from my home in the USA, most of the time. He asked if I spoke Spanish and I answered in Spanish, just to show him I could speak somewhat well... then he kept talking in English anyway... so I guess he thought I was good enough!

He asked for the marriage certificate, and we showed him that, and pointed out that we did already have it apostilled (thank you again, Gaby!)... he said, this was great to see, otherwise we would have had to do that later. He asked if we used a facilitator and we said we did - he was impressed with how well prepared we were (I tend to be over-prepared whenever possible, haha).

The entire conversation was VERY friendly and not scary or imposing in any way. He was very nice and friendly. After these questions, we all continued chatting a bit. He noticed we got married in Las Vegas, and asked us about that, because he was going to get married soon as well. He was thinking about doing that as well, and so we chatted about how we liked that so much, and it was so nice and easy, and didn't cost as much time, money, or stress. He liked what he heard about that. He also thought that maybe he should be a facilitator, as they get paid more than he does at this job!

He had us pay for the visa and asked for a credit card - we gave him that and he processed it right there.

He then had us sit down again for a while, and he went back to the paperwork. After a while longer, he mentioned to us that we were all set, but he's just waiting for the security clearance to complete. A while later, he called my wife up as he had her passport ready with the sticker for the Visa. My wife had to review it and then sign a paper to confirm it's correct (note for EVERY consulate, be sure to check the name and info on the visa before signing it!) . He said my security clearance is coming momentarily. In the meantime, he asked if we knew the next steps (canje). We said we knew the basics, so he explained it anyway. Nothing new that our facilitator or many threads here hadn't already told us, so we were prepared! Amy mentioned how Chapala is now requiring us to stay for up to 30 days, and he said he didn't know that... but that there were many changes happening. He said it was about 1-3 weeks, from what he knew.

My paperwork came through, so he had me review mine and sign the paper to say I did that. We then continued chatting a bit more... again, casual stuff. He said how the last time he was at SMA, people would recognize him and say hello and thank him for how easy canje was, as he explained. He said he couldn't remember the people, but then realized it was from his work here... and how the world can be very small sometimes! He also said he may need to visit Ajijic at some point, and we said we'd love to see him there as well! Again, he was nice and friendly throughout!

After that, he said that's all he had for me, and wished us good luck on our move to Mexico... and we left. Very happy and very excited for our next steps!

In the end, we did over-prepare our documents, but we didn't need:

- Detailed financial account info (ie, we had copies of the complete 400+ pages of our bank statements including the transaction pages, just in case!) - Maybe, in the future, they will take electronic copies, as he accepted that with the screenshot!

- Drivers license or copies

- Business document (ownership) or income info

- Wet ink or signatures or initials - He didn't seem to look for or notice them, from what I could see.

- Probably didn't need the bank table-summary info either

During the entire visit, no one else came into this room with us (except a cleaner who came through to wipe a few things and chat with the consulate guy for a minute)... even she said hola to us, and we said buenos dias... everyone was so friendly and nice! One of the many reasons we want to be in Mexico!

Let me know if anyone has any questions... I'm happy to provide more detail if I can remember it! Overall, it was a great experience, with a same-day approval for us. Can't beat that!