Congrats on setting the wedding date. I know it was a difficult decision to make for you. I am glad you got it worked out.

I hope you have a beautiful wedding.

Thanks ladies! It is certainly exciting to have a date set.

I need some info now....I've started thinking it would be a good idea to get the civil (legal) ceremony done while I go visit in July. My questions are...can we do that somewhere other than where he lives (I want to spend the time in CDJ to select a venue) and do we need witnesses? I know we have to do blood tests and all that...isn't there something I need to file with Mexican immigration? Hopefully someone will know...thanks!

Yay!! I am happy for you, I too plan on being wed in July, I don't know where yet but I am getting ready for it. In case we are denied I will marry him there and file I-130 but I hope everything goes well for us and we don't have to wait any longer.

MissLiss, where is your fiance from? Sorry, I know you told me but I've got ADD, remember? Anyways get your birth certificate Apostille done now. You send it to your State office and I think it is like $10, or $15 dollars and you send your original BC. They will get the apostille done and send it back to you with your bc. I got mine done last month just in case we marry in Mexico. You can look up the information of what is needed as far as the requirements, for what state in Mexico you are getting married in or search under Mexican Embassy, there is some information there.

I haven't talked to my Alberto all week, I've got so much news to tell him! I wish I could call him whenever I feel like hearing his voice but it is impossible. I have to wait till he calls me. Hearing his voice right now would really make my day!

Bonnie, thanks for reminding me...my birth certificate got ripped in half-the original one! Can I get a replacement-will that work?

PS...Bonnie, is it ok if I give you a call tonight? I have a lot of stuff to tell you/ask you...

I know I have previously been asked not to post here, but just thought I would add some input.
Missliss, TO get married in Mexico you have to have permission from the Mexican Government. You have to file for permission to marry a mexican. All in all it takes about 3 weeks. With the application you have to turn in your proof of address in mexico, a copy of your passport and visa, write a letter to the immigration office stating your intent to marry, fill out the forms, pay the fee ( I think it was around 250), and maybe a few things more, that is all i remember. For the actual registro civil you have to have proof of address, your birth certificate with apostille, and also a new BC for Javier. When we went we took my husbands original, the one they gave when he was born and they said it was too old. You also have to take the papaer from the imigration office beforew they will give you a date.

oh yeah, one more thing. I think that we had wibtnesses but they were the people that wirked in the office. His family went but I dont rememvber them signing anything

Tabta, thanks for the info! However, I don't and won't have a Mexican address. Is there any way around that, that you know of?

Well when I took the info I brought proof of my address in the US, because none of our bills there were in my name

Looks like my main problem's going to be filing this form thingy...since it takes 3 weeks. I'm not going to be there for 3 weeks, just one week. Can I fax or Fed-Ex them the stuff?

Melissa: CONGRATULATIONS on setting the date. I know you will get it all figured out in time. You can order a certified copy of your birth certificate from the vital records department of the state in which you were born. They are the ones that do the apostile, so do both at the same time. Here is the link if you were born in Maryland. Maryland Vital Statistics Make sure that you get the apostile translated into spanish. Do you already have a passport? You will need to obtain permission from the "Secretaria de Gobernacion - Oficina de Migracion" where for a fee of around US$200 you'll need to acquire a permit to marry a Mexican national. The document is known as "Permiso para contraer matrimonio con un nacional". I have attached a link to help you. This is what Alex & I were going to do, but he had not been in Mexico for so long that he did not have any valid Mexican ID's.
GOOD LUCK.

Getting Married in Mexico


Here is a new photo of Emily.

I htink you have to do it in person,. maybe you could do it at the consulate if you live close to one


I found this online

Quiero casarme con un extranjero, ¿qué trámites debo hacer?

Para casarse con un mexicano, el extranjero debe obtener una autorización del Instituto Nacional de Migración.

Para obtener esta autorización, es necesario que el extranjero esté en México, sin importar su calidad migratoria, y conocer la fecha el lugar y el número de oficialía o juzgado del registro civil en donde se llevará a cabo la boda. Por su parte, el contrayente mexicano debe acreditar su nacionalidad.

Consulta la sección de requisitos o acude a cualquiera de las delegaciones que el Instituto Nacional de Migración tiene en toda la República, para que te informen de los requisitos exactos para este trámite.



sorry this is so long, but I found the whole instruction set


Autorización para que el Extranjero pueda contraer matrimonio con mexicano
CONSIDERACIONES GENERALES PARA TODOS LOS TRAMITES MIGRATORIOS

Los servicios migratorios pueden gestionarse en las 32 delegaciones regionales del Instituto Nacional de Migración y en sus respectivas subdelegaciones regionales y locales.

Para la gestión, el extranjero o su representante legal deberá utilizar el formato "Solicitud de Trámite Migratorio" y cumplir con los requisitos señalados para cada caso.

Todos los requisitos deberán ser presentados en original y copia para cotejo de la autoridad migratoria. Los originales serán devueltos al solicitante, con excepción de las cartas y escritos dirigidos al Instituto Nacional de Migración.

Los documentos emitidos en el exterior (con excepción del pasaporte o los documentos de identidad y viaje), deberán ser apostillados por la autoridad gubernamental del país emisor, o bien, legalizados por el consulado mexicano correspondiente y en su caso, traducido al español por perito oficial.

En caso de que el interesado realice el trámite a través de un apoderado o de un representante legal, éste deberá acreditar tal carácter con carta poder a su favor otorgado por el extranjero, y copia de una identificación oficial vigente que contenga fotografía y firma del apoderado o representante legal, según corresponda y del que otorga el poder.

El Instituto Nacional de Migración emitirá sus resoluciones ejerciendo, en su caso, la facultad discrecional que la Ley General de Población, su Reglamento y demás disposiciones legales aplicables le confieren; y será ejercida por los funcionarios públicos del Instituto, de conformidad a los diversos acuerdos delegatorios en vigor. La presentación de la solicitud y los requisitos, le garantiza al promovente una respuesta en los plazos legales (35 días calendario), pero no necesariamente será ésta en sentido afirmativo o conveniente a sus intereses.

En el ejercicio de esta facultad discrecional se observarán los plazos para señalar previsiones al promovente, en términos del artículo 17-A, de la Ley Federal de Procedimiento Administrativo.

Cuando se presenten cartas o escritos dirigidos al Instituto Nacional de Migración, deberá entregarse una identificación oficial vigente con fotografía y firma de la persona que suscribe la carta, y si se trata de un extranjero, presentar su documento migratorio.


Documentos específicos que se deben adjuntar al trámite:

1. Formato oficial de "Solicitud de Trámite Migratorio".
2. Documento migratorio vigente del extranjero.
3. En caso de que el extranjero esté en México como turista, pasaporte vigente.
4. Comprobante de pago de derechos.
5. Carta firmada por ambos contrayentes, dirigida al Instituto Nacional de Migración, en la que declaren bajo protesta de decir verdad que ni uno ni otro tienen impedimento legal alguno para contraer matrimonio, indicando:
a) Número de la oficialía o del juzgado del registro civil
La ciudad y la entidad federativa donde se ubica el mismo, y
c) Fecha en la que se llevará a cabo la ceremonia del matrimonio
6. En caso de contrayentes menores de edad, original del permiso de los padres, tutores o documento de emancipación, debidamente legalizados, y
7. Documento que acredite la nacionalidad del contrayente mexicano. (Pasaporte o acta denacimiento)
8. Identificación oficial vigente del contrayente mexicano. (Pasaporte o credencial de elector)

Tabta, your information is AMAZING. Seems like everyone's got their thinking caps on today, except me...LOL

What in the world would I do without you guys???

Melissa: Well I don't seem to be helping matters much. I'm so sorry. If you need anything please let me know. I would love to help you out as best I can.

Benita: That picture is absolutely the most adorable thing I have ever seen. I can only hope my kids will be as beautiful as Emily.

Benita-I just now saw your post! Looks like I need to get hopping if I want to marry in July. Ok let me see here...

I need:

The birth certificate, plus translated with the Apostille (whatever that is, lol)
The permission from the migracion (this is going to be the tricky part-I have no idea yet how we're going to apply for it)
My passport (check!)

That's about it right?

Also, Benita-that picture of Emily is GORGEOUS!!!

Ok I guess I need to know if there is an expiration for the Permiso. If I can apply for it in July, will it still be usable in February?

Alright I give up. There's literally no way this is going to work. I simply don't have a month to spend in Mexico just for a civil ceremony. Looks like we are either going to have to stick with K-1 or go back to the giving up idea.

First Melissa congratulations on your wedding! I'm so glad you're finallly able to make some steps forward in what I know has been an extremely frustrating slow process.

Unfortunately you cannot apply for the permiso until you are in the country, and once you are in the country, you can't leave until it's granted and you're married or it will be invalid. The reason is your permiso is linked to your FMT (and I am fairly certain I even had to submit my FMT when I submitted the paperwork for the permiso) IF you leave the country and invalidate your FMT, since it's linked to the permiso, you invalidate the permiso as well.

We faced this problem when we were trying to get married civilly in Mexico too, and this is what Mexican immigration and a Mexican immigration lawyer told us. It sucks, but it's the way it is. I had to use a week's vacation and take an unpaid 2-week leave from work in order for us to get married. Maybe if you explain the extreme circumstances at your work, they would understand? Mine did thankfully, although it took a lot of convincing on my part, and me basically telling them I would have to quit my job if they didn't grant it since it was the only way I could get married. I had worked there for almost 4 years, so they didn't want me to quit (even though I did 10 months later when I moved to Mexico.... heheh)

InLove, I've only been at this job a month. They're not going to give me all that time. It's just not going to work. Thanks for the info.

Melissa: DO NOT GIVE UP. I am almost positive that the permission from the Sec. de Gob only takes about 2-3 days to grant. Yes - you have to physically be there. They were ready to do everything, but then Alex did not have an ID. Your Birth certificate and apostile should only take about a week, then get them translated should be a piece of cake. Have Javier check on the permiso and find out exactly what is needed and the time frame.


Thanks everyone, I know she is cute. I just can't help but share her photos.
Here are all the photos of Emily together.

Benita, are you SURE it's only 2-3 days??

HOLY CUTE KID BENITA!!! Wow, such a beauty little Emily is. And pretty sure she’ll have a cute little brother or sister. How excited you must be!!!! I like the serious photo of her on the upper right. Serious photos are just as precious as the ones when the kids are super smiley!!

Melissa…good luck on all of that. I have no idea about any of that but it seems a lot more complicated than getting married here in the US. Believe in yourself and each other and you’ll be able to get it done.

Melissa, Have you checked into the FMLA act? Employers have to give time off for that, but I don't know if your situation would fall under what the act was set to do..... it's worth checking though

I dont think iut would be possible to get it in that amount of time. When I applied for mine I applied on a tuesday for my marriage to be the wednesday of the following week. Well needless to say I had to reschedule at the registro civil. Also I would advise that you have a lawyer write your intent to marry letter (in spanish of course) our first one was wrong (they told us after about 1.5 weeks) and i was crying at the imigration officce and this nice old lawyer wrote my letter for free. It is very wording specific. In the letter you have to include time, date and place where you plan to get married also. If you would like (it might takme me a few weeks to find) I can go through our papers and email you the text of our letter and maybe you could revise it to suit you all.

That would be AWESOME. We might be working something out...I might be able to go for 3 weeks in August. Pushes the wedding date back, but may be worth it. Yes please DO send the wording...it will really help!

I think it is at my grandparents house (4 hours away) But I will at least be there by June 1st, so i will get it to you asap

Some of the requirements are same but the time frame and local requirements may vary from state to state in Mexico. It may be shorter where you are trying to marry, they told me it would take about 1.5-2 wks to get everything done.

Melissa, I found this:

Marrying A Mexican National
So far, the above requirements have assumed that a foreigner is marrying a foreigner in Mexico. If you plan to marry a Mexican National in Mexico, you'll need to fulfil some additional requirements:

In addition to all of the above documentation, you will need to obtain permission from the "Secretaria de Gobernacion - Oficina de Migracion" where for a fee of around US$200 you'll need to acquire a permit to marry a Mexican national. The document is known as "Permiso para contraer matrimonio con un nacional".

The office issuing this permit must be the same office that has jurisdiction over the area where the marriage is to take place - so check beforehand!

This process can take from two days to two weeks, depending on the State and the people at the local government office: be prepared to be patient if you have to!

Here is the website:
http://www.mexperience.com/guide/weddings/...ing_married.htm

miss liss, i was married in mexico and we did it in 3 days. but, make sure you have everything prepared and ready. i was married in july of 2005. my husband had all the proper paper work and i made sure i had everything (my birth cert trans in spanish, copy of passport, copy of mexican passport). i might be forgetting some things. sorry, i'm trying to remember exactly what we did . i know my husband did the research and talked with a lady at the immigation office (who incidently processed our paperwork) it's actually easier than it sounds, as long as you have everything in order (to me, gathering the paperwork was the hardest and pain in butt.) i'll ask my husband if he remembers and what exactly he did. i only took off for a week. oh yeah, do your bloodwork a day before you go to immigration. we did bloodwork wednesday, paperwork, paid fee, and running around on thursday. we were wed on friday morning.

i have read that it could take up to 30 days for immigration to issue a permit. it only took them 1 day to issue ours. i hope this helps. don't get discouraged! hang in there!

miss liss, i found my thread at visapro when i was inquiring about marrying in mexico. hope this helps too!


https://www.visapro.com/Message-Board/showthread.php?t=15493

Well....I guess all that remains to be asked is....

How the HECK are you supposed to tell them what date, time, judge, etc. you're going to get married if you don't know how long it's going to take them to approve it!!!

Maybe since it's Michoacan, there won't be a huge backup...ideally, we will do this in one week. If not possible, I will have to shift around schedules and that's ugly....

I will look for the letter we filed for the permiso this weekend. I think I probably have it somewhere with my work visa papers- I tend to keep all of that stuff.

I don't remember it saying the time,date, etc we would get married because we didn't know when either when we filed. We had a lawyer prepare ours too.

I think a lot is going to depend on the local immigration office and how willing they are to work with you. A lot of them have good relationships with local lawyers because they see them all the time, but I had good luck with my work visa doing it on my own too.

THey told us one of the necessary things would be to have the date , time, place, etc. of the actual marriage. Is what you have to do is go to the registro civil, turn in all your papers, then you selest a date. After that you go to immigration and turn in your stuff there. they will give you the permiso, and you take that back to the registro civil in order for them to perform the ceremony

Stephanie: I just noticed on another thread. You are platinum now. That means you can change your title under your name. Alright girl, come up with something really great. We want to be impressed.

Oh, wow. I didn't even notice that. How do I do that?

That's what I was afraid of. Looks like we're going to be making a few looooonnnngggg trips to Morelia. I was hoping to fly into Morelia, get the immigration stuff started, then go to La Piedad and wait...now we have to drive from Morelia to La Piedad, back to Morelia, back to La Piedad, and again to pick up the Permiso. Unless we can figure out how to do the ceremony in Morelia...now there's an idea!

Here's the official Migracion website link: http://www.inami.gob.mx/paginas/tramitesre...itos/222320.htm Check it out because there's lots of information on it. I specifically copied this part because its the list of requirements - #5 talks about the letter and what it needs to say
Documentos específicos que se deben adjuntar al trámite:
1. Formato oficial de "Solicitud de Trámite Migratorio".
2. Documento migratorio vigente del extranjero.
3. En caso de que el extranjero esté en México como turista, pasaporte vigente.
4. Comprobante de pago de derechos.
5. Carta firmada por ambos contrayentes, dirigida al Instituto Nacional de Migración, en la que declaren bajo protesta de decir verdad que ni uno ni otro tienen impedimento legal alguno para contraer matrimonio, indicando:
a) Número de la oficialía o del juzgado del registro civil
La ciudad y la entidad federativa donde se ubica el mismo, y
c) Fecha en la que se llevará a cabo la ceremonia del matrimonio
6. En caso de contrayentes menores de edad, original del permiso de los padres, tutores o documento de emancipación, debidamente legalizados, y
7. Documento que acredite la nacionalidad del contrayente mexicano. (Pasaporte o acta denacimiento)
8. Identificación oficial vigente del contrayente mexicano. (Pasaporte o credencial de elector)


Also this girl who wrote this article about getting married in Mexico lives in Morelia Michoacan so maybe she'd be a good contact to ask specifics about Michoacan: http://www.mexconnect.com/MEX/jrose/jrmarriage.html

This is for Monterrey but it's in English at least
http://www.usembassy-mexico.gov/monterrey/meacs_marrlist.htm

Someone mentioned something about not needing witnesses: we were required to have 2 witnesses each, and we had to have them sign papers ahead of time for the registro civil and provide copies of their credencial de elector to the registro civil too. They also had to be present at the wedding and sign our marriage license. And they can't be late (a big worry of mine at the time!!) or the registro can cancel the wedding. Just make sure your witnesses drive with you in your car to the ceremony and you'll be fine

This chick actually lives there now....I might need to get in touch with her...thanks InLove, for that link!!!!

Oh no!!!! I typed out this long e-mail to her and it was bounced back to me undeliverable.....

That's alright, I've got more than enough help right here! You all are the bestest amigas EVER!!!

Stephanie: You go under My Controls at the top of the page. Then click on edit profile information on the left hand side of the screen. It is the Custom Member Title. You can type in whatever you like there.

Hey Charity....guess what?????????????????????





It's FRIDAY!!!!!

I know. I am so happy. I was so disappointed when my alarm went off this morning. I so wanted it to be Saturday.

Alright time to get down to business, step by step....starting with the thing that freaks me out the most...this LETTER. So what is this thing? Does it need to be written in Spanish or can I write it in English and translate to Spanish. Unfortunately, we don't know of any lawyers so I think we're going to be stuck writing it ourselves. Does it need to be notarized? If I understand correctly it needs to cover the following bases:

1. We are both legally free and able to marry.
2. We are choosing to marry, and not being forced.
3. We desire to marry on such and such date, place, time?
4. Which person at the Registro Civil will be doing the wedding
5. I would guess they need our names and ages.

Is that about it? Surely we can come up with something with all that information, or does it need to be worded a certain way?

You need to make sure you dont say that you desire or plan to marry on a certain date. that is why they denied our first letter. it showed doubt. so you have to say we will marry on this date

Tabta, thanks for pointing that out. Great point!

I know some of you said you had the text of your letter. I would love to see one if at all possible!

Charity....I just added something quick. It is my favorite saying by one of my favorite people....Zapata.

**********
Es mejor morir de pie, que continuar viviendo de rodillas.

It is better to die standing than continue living on your knees.

***********

Stephanie: That is great. I really like it. I'm glad you got it changed. Now on to your first heart.

the pressure is mounting.

hope you guys are having a good day. i am super tired. i think the 44 degrees and cloudy isn't helping either. isn't it may?? urgh.

hope everyone has a good cinco de mayo and a great weekend.

I know I'm jumping ahead of myself here, but when you make a copy of the passport, does it need to be just the first page or does it need to include any stamps?

And ok what in the world is an Apostille??

Stephanie: It's lousy weather here too. Not too cold but rainy and nasty. I am super tired too. I don't think I ever caught up on my sleep I lost from last weekend. Thank goodness we should be able to sleep tomorrow. Yes, the pressure is mounting. We want to see that first heart soon. Have a good cinco de mayo also and a great weekend.

Elvia: I see you down there. How you been girl? We've missed you around here.

Melissa: I'll have to call you later. We are busy here again. Darn kids still haven't gone home.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, girls time to party!!!