Becoming a Mexican Citizen

You can vote, but not run for political office. Driver's licenses are cheaper. No annual fees for FM3/2 type visas.

Good luck. They are really tough on the requirements. I will never have sympathy for Mexicans abroad again.

what about leaving the country ....back and forth ...Mexico to the USA...like my girlfriend her father is Mexican and they told her just bring his birth certificate and other paperwork and she will automatically be a Mexican ...she does not have to live or step foot in Mexico...she can come and go if she pleases( no time limits)..but I have to do 5 years(live in Mexico) and take a test...or marry a Mexican live in Mexico for 2 yrs and then take the test...they told me that once I'm a Mexican ..I can come and go as I please...because i'm Dual citizen now

my understanding is the reason they change the laws a few years back was to encourage the Mexican who left to American for job opportunity ...to feel they can come back ...since the Mexican government saw how much the money they were sending back to there family was helping Mexico

The thing is, that except for voting, your FMIII status is pretty much a magic carpet.  There is the annual nuisance of renewal.   Once you do it for five years, then you can move to an FMII status, and file for Mexican Citizenship.  Once again, about the only thing you can do that is not allowed under the FMIII and the FMII is vote in the various elections.
Normally, it takes the five year process.   If you do something important or have a history of being a "demonstrated friend of Mexico" and intend to live much of your time in Mexico, there are occasional requests from Senators or the Presidency to the Congress to enact a congressional resolution which bestows official Mexican citizenship....Brigette Bardot comes to mind.  She worked for years in extension health services in rural areas in Vera Cruz State.   I believe she still has a relatively humble little villa between Gutierrez Zamora and Tecolutla between Tuxpan and Vera Cruz City.   It is quite near a very nice beach, and close to the El Tajin archeological complex.

privatouring

Glad you replied ...I hear of all ways of becoming a Mexican citizen..takes about 5yrs....My girlfriend is American ..but her dad is Mexican ...she found out that she can automatically become Mexican ..without even stepping a foot in Mexico which i thought was amazing (jealous)just has to prove and do some paperwork here in America at the Mexican consulate.. but I did more research and found out that if i marry her ..it shortens the 5 yrs to 2 yrs...we plan on buying a home in or around Cancun so I also read that if your doing 5yrs or the 2 yrs..you can only leave Mexico for a short time (like a probationary period)...but after your a Mexican citizen ..you can come and go as you please...so 2yrs wow would be amazing

Another reason that comes to mind for becoming a Mexican Citizen is the ability to own Ejido property........some of which is on the beach......correct me anyone if I am wrong.

Actually, this is a somewhat cumbersome and somewhat simple thing, like a lot of matters in Mexico.  The requirement concerning the 50 kilometre from mean high tide at the coast, is still an extant Constitutional condition.  Foreigners are not allowed to own property within that margin.  It must be solved by negotiating a 99 year lease, and submitting the title then to a fidecomiso (a lease-holding in trust by a Mexican Banking institution certified for such services).  There are several banks with good records in this service.  The leases are normally made for 99 years, are automatically renewable, and they can be passed to heirs and assigns....or sold to a qualitfied buyer.   Once again the right to the lease can be sold at a price agreeable to the buyer and seller.  The buyer has to go to the bank (actually his notario publico does it),and redo the lease.  The bank will generally pay the taxes and then charge you at the end of the payment month...usually January or February.   

     The ejido land has substantially been privatised everywhere. Probably 98% of the land qualified has had titles issued to the last holders of the warrant assignment.  That land, at least all pertinent surface rights, has become for all practical and legal intents and purposes...private land.  However, I believe that if it lies within 100 kilometres of a terrestrial national boundary (Rio Grande, for indstance) one would still need to do the "permanent lease" arrangement.
     There are still areas, like in the United States, where ownership of land is prohibited, even to Mexicans.  There are two Indian Reserves (one for the Ruramuri - aka the Tarahumara, and the other for the Kickapoo).   There are also Terrenos Communitarios, especially in the south of Mexico of lands that are assigned by indigenous traditions, and fairly large swaths are set aside for those peoples...the Zapotecs, certain Mayas, certain Mixtecs, groups of Nahua, and also the Upper Huastecs, and the Guicholes...among others.

    We own a old ejido tract and we built our adobe house, complete with the old-fashioned split, red tiles.  We have frontage on an incredible cypress-line, spring-fed river, and it has been a real pleasure.  We operate a little bed and breakfast, pay our taxes, and life a very comfortable life, with a clear title, etc.   Always use a notario publico.   One that is recommended by friends or people with previous experience.

Oh thank you so very much for taking time to share soooooo much information...........My head has just never wrapped around business matters and so this is a tough one.......
I live on what is called the Barra de Coyuca....Gro. north of Acapulco.........Actually it is a sand bar with ocean in front and lagoon in the back........There are also vistas of the southern sierra Madre mountains......... This is a one road in and out area, a little fishing village....I am, as far as I know the only gringa in the whole Coyuca de Benitez area.  My Spanish is very limited and this really does make it even more difficult.  My husband was Naturalized Mexican and totally fluent in Spanish.  He was a translator extraordinar........but unfortunately he died about 2 and half years ago ...so here I am.  we have built a lovely home and I too have 2 rooms for guests for a B&B......this is not a big tourist area but we do have a few guests at Christmas, Easter and puentes.....I love living here but am a bit lonely ..mostly due to language.  Also, can afford to live here and even help other people in the barrio.....but still I need to get this property in my name and privitized so that I can sell it when the time comes.......One suggestion is to talk to our local Ejido Commisario and I will do that soon.
Once again, thank you privatouring for your help.  Jeannie

Hi,
I applied for fm3 because my husband is mexican and we live in Ssltillo. We started with all process in january and its still not finish. Every time we came to immigracion they asked for different documents. Finally we all (5 people in immigration and us) agreed on same documents and they told us it will take another 2 weeks..so im in process of something for 3 months when it takes just 2 weeks plus i had to pay my fees twice...so much troubles with this.

privatetouring, if you can, perhaps you could do a little write up on the conversion of an ejido piece of land to a private property piece of land. Here in Merida, this is a constant ongoing question and even after living here for years I can't see to get a clear answer.

[justify]privatouring, if you can, perhaps you could do a little write up on the conversion of an ejido piece of land to a private property piece of land. Here in Merida, this is a constant ongoing question and even after living here for years I can't see to get a clear answer.

      To begin, El Gringo Viejo, your humble servant, is terribly verbose, and even more boring.  Secondly, I am not an attorney, nor am I a notario publico.  My family and I have, since the 1880s, lived and worked and owned and leased property, and operated businesses and generally suffered and enjoyed the place with round corners (Mexico)....with a million laws and a hundred capricious enforcements.  It is America, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and a Navajo Indian Reservation forged, by a marxist intellectual group and a neo fascist-aristocratic upper class and old middle class, into a nation.

     Mexico is, as you know by now, the elephant being described by five blind men to a sixth blind man.

     Here is what my thoughts are about your situation.

(1)   Do not listen to anyone who says "Just make an on-the-side contractual agreement.  After a while, even the family forgets about the place and you can take occupancy and ownership on a de facto basis".   

(2)   You are in a peculiar area.  There are ejidos in the Yucatan, but there are also private parcelas, and there are a few (if they haven't all been bought up by rich folks looking to set up a ten-star bed and breakfast - honeymoon/wedding centre) Old Haciendas.
      There is also a considerable extent of terreno comunitario idigeno....obviously Indigenous Communitary Lands....and this is a problem for you. It is also a problem for a Mexican national or anyone who is not a member of the various segments of the Maya (nation)(tribes)(race)(sub-racial ethnic group).  These lands cannot be traded or offerred to the public for lease or sale.

      I have not been to the Yucatan Peninsula in the past three years.  So there is some rust and tarnish on the old computer between my ears. Unless things have really radically and legally changed, those Community Lands probably still exist and are probably still immune and removed from private development or ownership.  Even another Mayan would have trouble trying to set up something.... except a little place like a beer deposito right on the highway right-of-way.

     As we recall, there are certain districts, even within the City of Merida, and the City of Campeche, and perhaps even Valladolid, that have certain really old, near downtown, "colonias municipales" (neighbourhoods) that were ceded way, way back...even into the colonial period and others in the post-revolutionary period from 1920 through 1940.

(3)  And then, as you know there are active archeological sites and known sites that have not been openned or trenched as of yet.
Said extensions are bigger than they look, and none of the dedicated terrain can be owned privately, except in the case of a site that was found with the owner already in place.  He can stay, but his land's usefulness and use alternatives will be quite limited.

(4)  Finally, in the "NO!" zone is any maritime boundary, marked by mean high tide, and back to the interior of the Tierra Firma Mexicana for 50 kilometres.   This would include the city of Merida, and of course Progresso, Campeche, etc.   All the Caribbean mega developments are on 99 year leases with permanent option for multiple automatic renewal.  The small operators are doing the same thing with a bank holding the title to the coastal or beach side place below Tulum and Carmen, etc. or they are extending a previous place bit by bit (under the radar) and accommodating people or running a pleasant little saloon and restaurant without becoming ostentatious.

(5)  So, now, if you want to buy a place..a home for instance, in Merida, you would be best advised to go to your favourite saloon or coffee-shop hideaway, and talk to the bartender or owner of the place.   Perhaps your table mates are as much in a fog as anyone else.  The Bartender and/or the owner of small to medium sized, RESPECTABLE saloon or restaurant that you frequent will know of a Notario Publico who will be able to adapt your wish to buy or (long-term) lease.   Also, try to encounter someone who has had adequate service from a Notario Publico, and go there for information.   Make certain that the first consultation is at no charge,and always make certain of the ultimate charges.
     We are arriving at the station, so we can start looking for our luggage.   The American Embassy/Consul/ State Department is useless.  They will refer you to Notarios and attorneys who have places that they represent for a commission, and who will drag their feet.  You can really do this on your own, and you will be glad that you did.   Find place(s) you want or would consider. Make certain the seller is the actual owner; the notario publico does this officially, but he will want to have some reasonable expectation that there are not 6 generations of heirs and assigns waiting to join in the claim of title due to a lack of testamentary assignments upon death or sale of said property since 1845.

     It is a good sign if the person trying to sell the property has something that looks like a plat and something that might look like a metes and bounds description, and a couple of formulaic pages about the descendency of ownership ending with the person with whom you are engaged in the transaction.   You should take a copy of that documentia to your notario publico.   It is a good sign if your seller is either reluctant to let you take the papers and require or chooses that he  accompany you to the Benavides Farmacia to have the copies made.

     The last point is that any transfer of real estate, in order to be consummated, must be done by a notario publico. They are like "super attorneys" in matters of transfer of title, and one must be involved in the actual transfer and registry of ownership and entry of the land upon the registry of catastrophe, as they call it.

[/justify]