How difficult is it for the average Mexican to get a tourist visa to visit the United States?
Even before Sept. 11, 2001, it was much more difficult for a Mexican to get a tourist visa than, say, a student visa. It is now even more difficult. The Mexican needs to give all kinds of documentation to the nearest U.S. consulate (I think there are about ten throughout Mexico), especially things like a big bank account statement and anything which shows permanent ties to Mexico, like owning a house. Then, the Mexican must go through an interview at the consulate, at which point he/she is often rejected on the spot. (Visas, when granted, were typically for ten years before 2001; now, I believe they are more commonly granted for one year at most.) Even then, the visa can be revoked at any time, such as upon arriving in the U.S., where the Mexican will be asked questions again.
As the deranged interpreter said in Woody Allen’s “Bananas”, “Welcome to…Joonited stay!”
All it takes for a tourist visa is showing that you can afford your stay (bank statement) and that you have reasons to want to return to your country (proof of employment). Other than that, it doesn’t take much.
The first time you ask, you are likely to get a one-entry visa good for a few days. With each successive application, you get longer term visas. The current maximum is 10 years, I think (it’s been a while since I last applied for a visa of any kind) but you still can’t stay for more than six months at a time.
While my answer agrees factually with Sapo’s, our difference in tone (his optimism, my pessimism) may perhaps derive from his having more experience with well-to-do Mexicans who applied for tourist visas, while my experience is more with less financially privileged Mexicans who, nevertheless, intended only to visit the U.S. as tourists, but were prevented from doing so because the DHS assumes that “not rich”=“wants to work illegally in the U.S.” While this assumption may be based on some kind of real group statistics, it is still sad that such an individual is not trusted. Sapo’s “as easy as showing a bank statement” is, alas, not so easy for most Mexicans. Since I was born in the U.S., I used to take it for granted that anyone could go anywhere (barring a few places like Bhutan or North Korea). Not so.
I got a smile out of comparing our simulposts and also noticing that our facts were basically the same while our intended message was just the opposite.
My experience was as a venezuelan and my first steps happened long before 9-11. Indeed, I had one of those mythical “unlimited” visas that never expired (and didn’t even have a picture!). That one got downgraded to a 10-year visa which I never needed to renew since I got my residency.
It is a fact that it is getting harder every day to get a visa. I hear my fair share of horror stories about visa interviews gone all kinds of wrong. That said, many of my friends (and believe, no well-to-doness here) have managed to get tourist visas even for their retired parents. It can be done.
Thanks for your story - muy interesante. We are both lucky. You are very right that anything is possible, even after 9-11 – which is precisely what makes it maddening to me, the arbitrariness of it all. (It seems that one important factor might be the particular mood of the particular DHS official the day he/she happens to review your application.) I sympathize with those officials – they’re doing their job, making judgments as best they can (I suppose), but it seems to me there must be a better way. Oh, well, that’s the stuff of a different thread.
Question: Is it tougher for
(a) a Mexican to get a US tourist visa, or
(b) a Dominican to get a Mexican tourist visa
Hint: (b).
Dealing with the visa people is always unpleasant. They ask about how much money you have, where you work and so on. It is their job, but it is not a lot of fun. My ex maintained a fist full of real estate in Philadelphia (that did rather well, by the way) just to ensure she could get an investor’s visa. (Which is called something else. Still it was just simplier that way.)
Cite
Again, Sapo, you are way off. First, the payment of a nonrefundable application fee of around 100usd. In Guadalajara there is usually a wait of over 2 months just to be interviewed and then what JKellyMAp says.
I cannot speak for Bricker, nor can I give his cite, but I can attest that the Mexican authorities, by and large, treat many Central American visitors (and presumably Caribbean ones, too) much as the U.S. authorities treat Mexicans. Now we’re getting away from the OP’s question, though.
(Which leads me to wonder: the the Americans kick the Mexicans around, and the Mexicans kick the Guatemalans around, and the Guatemalans kick the Salvadorans around, whom do the Salvadorans get to kick around? Their dogs?)
Oh well, yes, of course there are other hoops to jump. You need pictures, pay whatever the fee is, make the appointment, have a valid passport for at least 6 months, originals and copies of a list of documents longer than your arm and all that. But none of those is too much of an issue for someone who intends to go as a tourist. If you can afford to go see Mickey, you can afford to have pictures taken and make photocopies. At least that’s the assumption the US government seems to be making. I don’t see how anyone could reasonably object to that without looking suspicious.
My cite:
My wife’s experience as a Dominican citizen and former consulate worker, a position that led her to become familiar with visa procedures for both the US and Mexico, which I represent to you has been truthfully and accurately conveyed by my posts in this thread.
So Dominican and Mexican tourist visa aplications to the US are of similar difficulty?
From Mrs. Bricker: Yes, that’s a fair statement. As mentioned above for Mexicans, it’s very difficult for a Dominican to gain a US tourist visa, especially if he or she is among the less wealthy. A Dominican with a steady well-paid job and a home has a fair chance; a Dominican who lacks these things is very unlikely to get a visa. This is true also when Dominicans seek to visit Mexico. The one thing I have noticed is that US officials tend to be very polite, even as they’re being inflexible in denying a visa. Mexican officials tend to be quite rude and dismissive as they are being inflexible and denying a visa.
But. On a vice versa on the OP, it’s way easier to get a tourist permit for a US citizen entering Mexico than a Mexican citizen getting a tourist visa to enter the US. Unless the laws have changed recently, I only need $20 for the fee, my driver’s license, and I get 180 days to visit any place in Mexico.
As far as rudeness, both sides have their individual problems.
I think Mexicans object because for a US citizen to visit Mexico is not as fee heavy and not many hoops.
If so, that’s an objection that ignores the reality that the vast majority of illegal immigration is from south to north. We may cavil over how technically unfair that is, and what would happen if, as Ricardo Arjona musically speculates, Si El Norte Fuera El Sur, but the reality is that it’s not.
And as he’s a Guatamalan, I suspect Arjona has no love for Mexican immigration policies, either. 
That’s a complaint they need to take to THEIR goverment. It is the Mexican government who decides the requirements for entry to their country. They could easily reciprocate the US requirements. It might not be to their advantage, of course.