How to obtain Dual Citizenship for U.S. and Mexico

by Jose Perez

If you, or one of your parents, were born in Mexico, you are eligible for becoming a Mexican national without affecting your status as a U.S. citizen. Until 1998 “dual citizenship” was not possible. You were forced to relinquish one for the other. However, the Mexican congress in 1998, at the urging of a Mexican lawyer in Tijuana, granted Mexican nationals and the sons and daughters of Mexican born to obtain Mexican “nationality” so as not to contradict U.S. laws prohibiting dual citizenship.

The Tijuana lawyer was serving as the president of the largest Mexican party – The P.R.I. (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) in the United States. His mandate was to encourage Mexican citizens, residing in the U.S., to cast absentee ballots for his party’s candidates in Mexico. He soon realized that many Mexicans were reluctant to apply for U.S. citizenship for fear of losing their Mexican heritage and benefits. He felt that these Mexican citizens could be an important power base if they could vote in both U.S. and Mexican elections.

The Tijuana attorney researched legal alternatives. He discovered that in the 1920’s Germany and France motivated their citizens, living abroad, to create a political force internationally by becoming citizens of their adopted countries without losing “National” status as a German or Frenchman. Thus the concept of legally being a “Mexican National” and a U.S. citizen.

If you qualify for Mexican national status, one of your parents born in Mexico, I advise taking advantage of the opportunity. You will be able to legally work in Mexico, establish a tax id number to do business and buy property fee simple in the “forbidden zone” (100 km from the border or 50 km from the coastlines). You simply take the original of your parent’s birth certificate and your birth certificate to the nearest Mexican consulate and they will begin the process.

It is only a couple hundred dollars to obtain a document that could save you tens of thousands of dollars. Example: a friend of mine gained his Mexican national status and not long thereafter, his daughter decided she wanted to become a medical doctor. He could not afford the cost of medical school in the United States. However, as the daughter of a Mexican national, she attended one of the most prestigious medical schools in the world, The University of Guadalajara, tuition free.

So run, don’t walk, to your nearest Mexican consulate and apply for national status.