Please bear in mind that I am not an attorney and I am not giving legal advice. I am merely passing on some stories I have heard. The best time to avoid a problem is before it bites you on the butt. Here are six things I wish someone had told me a long time ago about visas. My butt would have felt a lot better had I heard these things earlier.
As you probably know already, the usual required document is often first authenticated by the issuing office, then at a state or national level (such as the secretary state of the state of issuance), and then by the foreign country's consulate or embassy in the country of issuance. Finally, it is submitted in the foreign country to immigration. In some countries the foreign embassy may not have a consulate. In the absence of a consulate, the embassy performs consular duties.
(1) Just because a consulate/embassy accepts a document from you, do not jump to the conclusion that the immigration department in your foreign country of choice will also accept it. It is not over until the fat lady sings.
(2) The foreign country may want you to supply a document that has been notarized. In many countries a notary public in an attorney. In the USA, a notary public is usually either a formal and regstered witness to a signature or the copying of a document. It is a fallacy to believe that everyone who hands you a document would like nothing better than to have it notarized for you or let you notarize it in their presence.
Let us say, for example, that XYZ is the name of the organization in your home country that pays you a lifetime pension. For your visa, probably a notarized letter confirming the pension is required. And probably XYZ will gladly give you written confirmation of the pension. However, it may refuse to cooperate with its notarization, such as with a mobile notary public, or even to sign the document. A typical pension confirmation letter will invite the reader to telephone or communicate via email with the institution to confirm the contents, clarify details, etc. Do not count on anyone in your foreign country's immigration department to lift a telephone to confirm anything. It is all about seals, stamps, and coffee breaks. Nothing personal.
What do you do now? The foreign country wants something that you cannot get.
I have heard of two solutions:
(A) Some have the confirmation translated, and have the translator notarize the translation with the usual stamps and seals. Will the translation be accepted by immigration? That depends on the country, its laws and requirements, what the clerk had for breakfast, etc.
(B) I have been assured there is a better way. Some tell me to take the pension confirmation letter to a notary public and request a notarized copy of the document. (The notary is notarizing that a faithful copy has been made and is not notarizing the original of the confirmation letter.) Will the copy be accepted? It probably will. It has the right stamps and seals, and that is what immigration is looking for. Please note that nobody is trying to deceive anybody. Nobody is saying they have something they do not have. The identical information is being submitted to immigration in a different fashion.
(3) On the subject of translation, some countries will insist on a translation made in the foreign country, disallowing translations made in the applicant's home country. If you already have a translation made in your home country, you may be required to obtain a second translation done in the foreign country. Do not expect to read about this on a government sponsored webpage. It seems to be a tradition to save this tidbit until after the applicant's arrival in the foreign country.
If you are in this Catch 22 situation in which the foreign country where you want to live wants something that agencies in your home country refuse to provide, PLEASE discuss the above options with your immigration attorney or "tramitador" before proceeding. They should be able to tell you if you on the right path or not.
(4) Your full name should be consistent in all documents. If you are "John Edgar Smith" in your passport, you should not be "John E. Smith" in your criminal record check, "John Eddie Smith" in your pension confirmation letter, "Edgar John Smith" in something else, etc. Do not let a lazy, well meaning, or inattentive clerk make trouble for you down the line. Insist that the documents reflect your names correctly. An inconsistency in your names will attract attention, and who wants that? Sometimes it can be fixed with the right form, a fee, a delay, a little charm, etc. Do not call attention to your documents or yourself. Do you have a surname that can be confused with a first name? If it can, sooner or later it will. "Thomas" is my surname, and Latins often have a hard time accepting that it is also a first name in English. They sometimes take it upon themselves "to correct" the order of my names, putting Thomas as the first name and disregarding the information I have provided. This has caused me a lot of bureaucratic grief, time, and expense. Do you have a name with a unique or difficult spelling? In Peru I heard horror stories from Japanese families whose names were spelled incorrectly, causing legal problems that have passed from one generation to another. Naganuma is not spelled Naganoma, and Takahashi is not spelled Takajashi. Be alert.
(5) In many countries, a number is assigned to all incoming visa applications. Perhaps it is called "número de trámite", "protocolo", or something else. It is a file number, a way to find your application quickly in a maze of other files. Guess what? If you do not have a number, your application was probably not turned in. One group of expats estimated that 2/3 of the visa requests in their foreign country never left the law offices. One story was about a highly competent and respected attorney who represented one of the largest farms in the area. When it came to immigration matters, he was incompetent. Be alert and do not take it for granted that your request is in the works.
(6) An experienced immigration representative should be able to give you a list of your tasks (documents and how to get them) and a list of his or her tasks. If the representative cannot give you a contract detailing what he and you are going to do to get the visa, you may want to keep looking. If he or she needs to make a call to his friend in immigration to check on a detail, maybe he or she is not as experienced as you want him or her to be.
If I were a cynical person, I might say that the folks at immigration are not there to help you. They are there to clock in, put in their time, clock out, and go home. It is nothing personal, but their goal is make sure everything has attractive stamps and seals, and that all the boxes on the application are checked. Confirmation? Going the extra s step? Serving the client? Good grief. what are you talking about???
Guatemala
Living in Guatemala Guide
Guatemala Forum
Contribute
Best Places to Live in Guatemala
Healthcare in Guatemala
Moving to Guatemala Guide
Pros & Cons of Living in Guatemala
10 Tips for Living in Guatemala