Disclaimer: the thoughts and opinions in this post and website our mine, not those of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program or Institute of International Education.

Anytime you are in Mexico for more than 6 months you need a visa, or you must leave and re-enter the country. The Fulbright-Garcia Robles requires grantees to have a student visa. This post will go over my experience with the visa process for my trip in Mexico, this is a crucial part of your preparation for an extended research trip in Mexico.

I was notified that my visa pre-authorization had been sent to the Mexican Consulate in Tucson in June (about three months after I was notified of my principal status). I called the consulate to verify that my documentation had been received and I scheduled an appointment. I would recommend that you ask about what documents you need to bring.

The documentation that I provided:

• My passport
• My Fulbright contract
• A letter from the host institution (I used the letter that I originally applied with)
• A letter from my home university in the US (the University of Arizona).
• A passport size picture of me

You will also need passports and passport sized images for all of your dependents.

After my wife and I filled out an application form, and had our pictures taken, we were informed that our visas would be ready later that day or the next (they were in fact ready the same day). The process was painless and I am sure that is mostly due to the fact that COMEXUS (the Fulbright commission in Mexico) sent a pre-authorization packet ahead of time.