Good post. Brings back lots of memories, as we went through about 90% of that to emigrate to Chile (with a family of four). None of the bribe issues existed at all there, but the rest is very familiar. We got a one year temporary visa, after which we had to apply for permanent status. They were still working on the response to that application 24 months later when we moved on. We had had to renew the 90 day extension 7 or 8 times by then. The process included guarantee letters, original birth and wedding certificates (no copies), RCMP police checks, medical tests including the two kids under 10, lots of fingerprinting, etc. We couldn't get paid in country except by cheque until we had the permanent identify cards, and without the cards you can't open a bank account. 4 months with no paycheque.

Quite a different scenario to that which is being described in the US today. Just wanted to point out that it isn't just Mexico, that is how most countries review applications to immigrate.

A contrast is provided by the UK, at least in our case. We moved to the UK next, and when we went to enquire on the process, during the course of the interview they discovered I had a parent born in the UK. Once I brought in the original papers, it took 48 hours to get a UK passport. Family visas took another 48 hours after that. It was a real eye-opener after the previous move.