I am an American but I lived in Mexico for the past three years. I met and married a woman there who is a Mexican national. We got married and applied for her a visa so she could come and meet my family. We didn't know there were different types of visas at the time, she got a tourist visa. I needed to renew my drivers license so we drove to the border. They asked the nature of our visit and I told them about the license and that she would now meet my family. They took her aside to question her privately to make sure I wasn't in the human trafficking business, then gave her 6 months to visit.
We built a house that cost a lot more than we anticipated and money was running low. I got a great job offer so we loaded up the truck and again drove to the border. We crossed in Matamoros the traffic was terrible on the bridge, a lot of Mexicans were walking across with work visas. We went inside and there were 12 people ahead of us. First, they played "good cop." The good cop came out and said that there was only one officer working, t would be 3 hours or more, if we wanted to leave and come back or go to another bridge that we should. No one moved.
Then the bad cop came out. He started shouting names of the Mexicans and in a very loud, rude voice told them to go back to Mexico, even though they had the proper papers. It was obvious that he was just clearing the room. He called my wife's name and began to shout at us that we could not move to Texas with that visa, that we needed an immigrant visa. I tried to explain that she was my wife and did have the right to visit for 6 months while I applied for this new visa. He refused, he told us we could cross, spend the night but that we had better come back. There is an additional crossing point inside of Texas above Brownsville.
We got a room and discussed what to do, legally, she did have the right to cross for up to six months, we did not know that she could not live there with that visa. So we decided to obey the law, to go back and then have her cross again as a "tourist". This would give us up to six months to apply for the correct visa. The traffic was again terrible in Matamoros so we drove to another bridge to bring her into Texas as my wife and a tourist. The same officer was there. Again he began to shout at us, "I'm taking her visa! I am a supervisor here!
I explained that we were in fact trying to obey the law and the more that I spoke, the more he believed me. He came out away from his employees and said that he believed that we were trying to obey the law and do the right thing. Still, he had made a stand in front of his subordinates and now could not lose face, he took her visa.
So my loving wife is stuck in Mexico and it will take many months to get her new visa. I will wait and be faithful, but this is typical of the bureaucracy of this country. Children of illegals are welcome, my wife has to wait.
We built a house that cost a lot more than we anticipated and money was running low. I got a great job offer so we loaded up the truck and again drove to the border. We crossed in Matamoros the traffic was terrible on the bridge, a lot of Mexicans were walking across with work visas. We went inside and there were 12 people ahead of us. First, they played "good cop." The good cop came out and said that there was only one officer working, t would be 3 hours or more, if we wanted to leave and come back or go to another bridge that we should. No one moved.
Then the bad cop came out. He started shouting names of the Mexicans and in a very loud, rude voice told them to go back to Mexico, even though they had the proper papers. It was obvious that he was just clearing the room. He called my wife's name and began to shout at us that we could not move to Texas with that visa, that we needed an immigrant visa. I tried to explain that she was my wife and did have the right to visit for 6 months while I applied for this new visa. He refused, he told us we could cross, spend the night but that we had better come back. There is an additional crossing point inside of Texas above Brownsville.
We got a room and discussed what to do, legally, she did have the right to cross for up to six months, we did not know that she could not live there with that visa. So we decided to obey the law, to go back and then have her cross again as a "tourist". This would give us up to six months to apply for the correct visa. The traffic was again terrible in Matamoros so we drove to another bridge to bring her into Texas as my wife and a tourist. The same officer was there. Again he began to shout at us, "I'm taking her visa! I am a supervisor here!
I explained that we were in fact trying to obey the law and the more that I spoke, the more he believed me. He came out away from his employees and said that he believed that we were trying to obey the law and do the right thing. Still, he had made a stand in front of his subordinates and now could not lose face, he took her visa.
So my loving wife is stuck in Mexico and it will take many months to get her new visa. I will wait and be faithful, but this is typical of the bureaucracy of this country. Children of illegals are welcome, my wife has to wait.
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