I’m a born and raised American. I was born in The States to Mexican parents. This makes me Mexican by heritage. American by birth. I am an American citizen. However, recently I’ve decided to get my Mexican American Dual Citizenship. Lots of my family has it. Therefore, I thought, this should be easy. It turns out, getting your Mexican American Dual Citizenship is not easy. It’s easier than getting an American Citizenship, but it’s very complicated.

Just a disclosure, I’m a very skeptical person and I’m not sure if the lady I spoke to was new, if she didn’t know what she was talking about or if I was given bad advice? But here is how it went down.

Why Would Anyone Want to Get Mexican American Dual Citizenship You Ask?

As much as I love America and being an American, some things are way too complicated in the United States. Certain things are not really for the people, they’re for the people with money.

For one, you can retire in Mexico for way cheaper than most places in The States. You can even place your parents in a home (when they get old) for about $1200 per month. Not $12,000 per month like the places I found in California.

Even with things like Medical, it may only cover a few things.

Also, becoming a dual Mexican citizen will allow you to buy property easier. You can still buy property in other countries as an American, but you have to pay 100% upfront and put it in a trust, which means, even though you bought it, the bank still owns it. It’s a safe option as well, I’m not trying to scare anyone. But, I like the idea of my property, being my property.

Becoming a Mexican citizen allows you to get a mortgage, finance the property and put a percentage down. Therefore, buying a summer home or vacation house will be much easier.

Next, you have job opportunities in two countries. During the recession, many Mexican American dual citizens moved back to Mexico when they got laid off. Looking for a job was so hard in America. So, they went back to Mexico and got a job quickly. Even though labor standards may not be as great as in the US, it gives you another option.

Also, many Americans don’t know this, but Mexico is a pretty awesome place. It’s got some beautiful areas. Some places are better than Malibu, or the Hamptons. Let’s not get into the food. The food is so amazing, it needs its own blog post.

Yes, there’s a lot of poverty and a lot of crime in certain areas… I’m also from Los Angeles, where we have lots of crime and lots of poverty. There isn’t one day I don’t turn on the news to hear about how they found a dead baby in the trash! I mean, really? The States are safer? I don’t think so.

I also don’t like suburbia. That’s my definition of hell! I’m a big city kid and I like my cities throughout the world. Regardless of the crime, LA and Mexico City are equal in my eyes.

Mexico has some crazy/cool metropolitan cities. Mexico City, for example, is thee biggest city in North America. Yes, bigger than NYC. That says something. It’s rich in culture, has everything you need and it’s gorgeous.

Other cities in Mexico are the same. Some include amazing beach cities. You can find your paradise in many places for cheap.

Also, it’s nice to feel like that borders are erased when you get a Mexican American dual citizenship… At least, that’s how I think of it.

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Enough about that! What about this Mexican American Dual Citizenship thing?

Today, I went to a satellite Mexican consulate to start my dual citizenship process. I was told that proving you are born of Mexican parents is what you need to do to start the process.

In fact, a cousin of mine just did it, and according to him, it was a breeze. That’s what I expected. I’ve heard so many people say the same thing. I’m not sure where I went wrong. But it sure as hell wasn’t a breeze!

Lets start with the basics…

I went to the Mexican satellite consulate. I took my mothers Mexican birth certificate and a passport. The issue I knew I was going to have is that my mother’s passport is an American Passport, not a Mexican passport. Either way, at least I would get some kind of direction.

Here is What the Mexican Consulate Told Me:

It turns out, you can only make a Mexican American Dual Citizenship appointment at the main consulate, not at a satellite one.

Next, my mother is now an American citizen, which means my mother is not Mexican, and therefore I cannot get a dual Mexican citizenship, even though she is Mexican born and I have a birth certificate to prove it.

It’s funny how that happens. I’m not American to all the racist people out there. But I’m not Mexican in the eyes of the consulate. Maybe when they came up with the term “Alien” they actually meant, some gray area where you’re not from here nor there. You’re not human? Is that where the term comes from?

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So How Do You Get Mexican American Dual Citizenship?

The lady at the satellite Mexican consulate says to me:

First, make sure your mother does the dual citizenship process before me. She needs to be Mexican.

She needs to prove that she is born of Mexican parents. Her Mexican birth certificate is not enough. She needs both her mother and fathers birth certificate as well as hers.

This is the easy part.

Next, I need to prove that I’m of Mexican descent through my mother. Here’s the issue. My mother is Mexican my father is Central American, from El Salvador.

Therefore, I would need my mother’s passport, Mexican birth certificate and my father’s Salvadorian passport and/or birth certificate.

Next, if they were married before they had me, they need a marriage certificate showing that they married and that I was born in California using my birth certificate.

This presents another problem because first, me and my dad are not so close where I can just call him up and ask for these important documents. Next, my father is now a US Citizen, which means he probably doesn’t have a Salvadorian Passport (which they emphasized is more important than the birth certificate.)

Moving on to me, the Californian born American citizen of Mexican descent. I need to take a birth certificate. However, they made it clear that it cannot be an old birth certificate. It has to be a new one. This means the birth certificate I have is not valid. Gotta love bureaucracy.

What are next steps?

We need to locate my grandmothers birth certificate. My senile grandmother hides everything because she is afraid we are throwing her things away.

We’ve seen her birth certificate in the past. But we just can’t find it. Now for my grandfathers birth certificate. We might need to fly to Mexico to get that. Luckily, our family in Mexico might be able to help with that. In short, we need both my grandmothers and grandfathers birth certificates.

With my mothers birth certificate, she can go and become a dual citizen. Once my mother becomes a Mexican American dual citizen we can start my process.

My next step is to see if my father has Salvadorian documentation. If he doesn’t, I’m not sure where it will go from here.

Next, we need my parent’s marriage certificate, even though they’re divorced. Although, I read a divorce certificate might be enough, but they didn’t mention this at the Mexican consulate while I was there. Therefore, I’m not considering it.

What Now?

Well… With the world of the internet, I’m going to see how much I can do online.

Sounds complicated? I think so…

I will keep you updated on how things go once we start the actual process (in the event that some of these things I was told may not be correct.) In any case, I hope this all helps if you are trying to start the Mexican American dual citizenship process.

If you’ve done the process and your experience was different, I would love to know!

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Let Me Break It Down For You:

Getting Mexican American Dual Citizenship is a process.

First, make sure your parents are Mexican Citizens or dual citizens. If they are now American citizens and denounced their Mexican citizenship, they will need to become dual citizens first.

Next, that parent will need their parents (your grandparents) Mexican birth certificate. Make an appointment at the Mexican consulate in your city and go through the process.

Once your parent is a dual citizen (if your parent is a Mexican citizen or dual already, you can skip all of this) you can make your appointment.

You will need:

• Your birth certificate, a new one not an old one,
• your parents (mom and dads) birth certificates,
• your parents (mom and dad) Mexican passport,
• your parents marriage license (why a marriage license? Beats me!)

I hope this helps you out a bit. 

To make an appointment you’ll have to go to the Mexican consulate website. Here is the one for LA:

https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/losangeles . But, it depends on the city you are making the appointment in. Or you can download the app on your phone and do it there. Although, I tried and I found it confusing.

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