#450 – Residency in Latin America: A Guide to Guatemalan Process and Legal Steps

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now that I wonder Hello there all you expat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Now I can't tell you how many emails and voicemails I get from people asking me about the Latin American Residency process, you know what it takes to get temporary or a permanent residency in Latin America Leading of course some years later to a full passport now

[00:49] One thing that you'll find is that in most Latin American countries the process is pretty similar Except that some of them require you to make a pretty big investment before they'll grant you a temporary or permanent residency Like for example Chile or Argentina. They want 50 to 100 to even $200,000 investment before you can even apply However, you can always get around that if you have some kind of a pension coming in every month or a trust fund paying out Every month or some kind of big bank account in Latin America And of course you have to provide some kind of a certified proof Now more than ever it's very important to try to get some kind of residency going Within the next half year or so I'd say because they're starting to close the door on these kind of residency programs

[01:34] Not that they're shutting them off completely, but they're making the hoops that you have to jump through harder and harder Now that said I want you to pay very close attention to this broadcast Because what I'm gonna do for you right here now is something that no one else is ever gonna do for you that is I'm gonna tell you exactly how to get residency in Guatemala and Note that it is pretty much the same throughout the countries that are off the gringo tourist trail That's about 15 of the 20 Latin countries. And why are we picking Guatemala? Well, that's because I'm having my expat wisdom seminar in July 2015 in Guatemala and a lot of people have Inquired about getting residency in Guatemala once they come down for the seminar In other words, some people have expressed the desire to come down to the seminar for the week

[02:21] And then stay on some extra days or weeks, whatever it takes to get the residency process going However, you should know this you just can't come down Passport and birth certificate in hand and expect to get it going. You have to bring some special documentation with you Nope, not just your passport your birth certificate. In fact, you don't even need a birth certificate. No matter what you've heard There's a lot of misinformation out there and I'm gonna set you straight right now And that's exactly what makes this temporary and permanent residency process So confusing some people think they have to bring their birth certificate passport bank statements Utility bills letters of reference honorable discharge papers sixth grade report card, whatever Believe me. I've heard it all just round file all those ideas for now because I'm gonna tell you

[03:09] Exactly how to go through this process step-by-step and believe me if you tried to figure this thing out yourself You'll be chasing your tail for months. That's why I'm saying this is a very important broadcast So let's get started and you'll want to take some notes. Believe me especially those of you planning to come to my July seminar because if you just stay on a couple extra weeks you can get that residency Going which then leads to a full passport and citizenship after about five years now before I go into the details in short I'll just say that you'll need a police report which shows a lack of criminal records from your local Sheriff's Department Now note here a lot of people think you have to get an FBI report In fact, I know people who've been told that by one of the consulates up in the States

[03:58] Well, that'll work you get an FBI report. That's just as good or even better than a sheriff's report However, that FBI report is not so easy to get first of all You have to download their specific fingerprint pages And then you have to put all ten of your little pinkies on that page correctly Now I know someone who did that because they thought they had to they had their fingerprints rejected three separate times by the FBI I mean, come on unless you've been in the slammer a couple times or had your mugshot taken or watched a lot of Cagney and Bogart movies How do you know what kind of ink what color and which way and how much pressure to put on the paper to get the proper? Imprints that said for now at least in most Latin countries

[04:45] You don't need an FBI report just a sheriff's report, which is infinitely simpler to get but note all through Latin America There are residency changes in the works The US is putting pressure on countries so that they will eventually all require an FBI report so that's yet another reason to get this temporary or permanent residency process going and Now because here's a little tip Oftentimes if you have a felony or a misdemeanor in one state It will not show up on the police records of another state I'll let you think about that one for a while. But if it's an FBI report, it's National you get it. Hmm. Nothing illegal here. I'm just telling you the facts Okay, so here we go. In short, you'll need that police report, which shows a lack of criminal records

[05:35] From your local sheriff department You just walk in and you give him your name and you say you'd like to have a police report or a criminal background Check and if they ask you why you just say well, I'm going down to Latin America on vacation I understand there are a lot of English teaching jobs down there for gringos But schools that hire want a police or good conduct report from the hometown. That's it. That's all you got to say Normally, they won't even ask why so are you telling them a lie? Well, who knows you might be applying for an English teaching job in a couple of months or maybe 600 years from now Who knows anything's possible right and of course along with your name You'll have to give your address because the sheriff will have to know that you live in the county Now if you're not in the country and you want to get a sheriff's report like that You could have a friend or member of your family go to the sheriff's department and request one in your name

[06:25] totally fine only sometimes they won't give you one unless you're a relative and Then what does the relative say if they ask why you're not there getting it personally? Well same story He or she is down in Costa Rica right now applying for an English teaching job and they're requesting a police report from the home country Easy as that and what's that cost? Well in some places. It's free in another place. It's it's ten bucks So then what well now that you've got that report in hand you have to have it authenticated by your state's Authentication department. It's called the Department of State sometimes called the Secretary of State in your own state or The State Department in your own state Confusing, huh? No, it's not the Federal Department of State. It's your own state's Department of States or

[07:17] State Department hmm, and I'll get into this in a bit more detail in a little while because it can be confusing That's why we're gonna go through this step by little step Then after that a few days later when they're done with your police report They'll send it back to you and you send it or bring it to the nearest Guatemalan consulate in this case Guatemala because we're talking about Guatemalan residency But it's true of all Latin residency programs Anyway, you bring that paper to the nearest Guatemalan consulate in the USA, of course for them to Authenticate it now the Guatemalan consulate will then put their official stamp on that document Then you get it back somehow by mail or you go down and get it yourself and you bring it down to your local

[08:02] Guatemalan lawyer in Guatemala or You could send it to him You know by curry or whatever the best way is you come down with it yourself and you spend about two weeks in Guatemala as Your lawyer will take your paperwork get it translated and line up the ducks to get the process started because you'll have to make a trip yourself in to the local immigration office in Guatemala generally in Guatemala City with your lawyer in Person and if all goes well You'll do that just once and all of that will happen while you're in the country that 15 days or less now During that 15 days all the paperwork you bring down the police report and everything will be translated into Spanish You'll be waiting for that It'll take a couple days and you can't use just any translator

[08:50] Even if he's the best translator in the country and he's head of the language department at the local university You have to go to a translator that's certified with the government You know, they got a lock on that crap to more than likely some scumbag politicians idiot brother-in-law You know the story that said there are those few steps to go through up in the states to get that police report Etc and that whole process can take anywhere from two weeks to a month And like I said for those of you who are coming down to Latin America Specifically Guatemala for my July expat wisdom seminar Those of you who've decided to stay for good and who are not going back to big brother land anytime soon listen very carefully because you'll need to know this and for those of you coming down to the seminar and plan on going back right away if

[09:39] You want to start your residency process? Just add two weeks on to your trip and I'll hook you up with the right people right away So you can start your residency process immediately after the seminar. Now remember I said there's Temporary and there's permanent residency in order to apply for the permanent Residency immediately you can get it as a pensioner and skip that temporary resident step That will save you two years on your way to getting permanent Citizenship and a passport and we'll go into a bit more detail on that in a little while Anyway to skip temporary residency and jump immediately to permanent residency to do that You'll need some proof of some minimal state-side monthly income as of now It's a thousand dollars a month minimum coming from the US or anywhere else, but not from Guatemala

[10:30] it can be social security a Pension or some kind of trust or you can make an investment in Guatemala And we'll talk about that in a second, too Now once you get a certified document from your pension plan or from your social security department or trusts Saying that you are getting a thousand dollars a month or more then it has to be certified by your state's Department of State once again, just like I mentioned before and then again, it has to go to the Guatemalan consulate Closest to where you live as I have mentioned before and by the way Once you've had that proof and you have applied for permanent residency, you'll never be asked to prove it again Hmm. So that means technically the money no longer has to come to Guatemala every month, doesn't it?

[11:18] But you have to decide those things for yourself. I can't tell you what to do I can only advise you as to the possibilities, but I digress as usual Anyway, so again as to this step-by-step residency process both temporary and permanent don't get confused I'm gonna tell you exactly how to do that in just a second now in Guatemala. You can also apply for Permanent residency now that means skipping temporary residency if you have an investment in the company and in Guatemala's case it's $50,000 or more in some kind of project some kind of a local investment a CD real estate SA corporation or business in Guatemala your lawyer down here will advise you when going that route Now remember there's a trick to that, too

[12:05] This is Latin America. So there always is now suppose you put $50,000 in a CD, you know a CD in a Latin bank Let's say for a 90-day term Well, if you simply put $50,000 in a US dollar CD in a Guatemalan bank Yep, they have them here all the big banks do and you can get three four five even six percent on your money Anyway, you bring the paperwork down to your lawyer and suddenly you're eligible for a permanent residency now after that three months and The CD matures and you have to roll it over or whatever Well, you do it you want with it because you see once you've applied for residency whether temporary you're permanent No one ever checks again

[12:51] What the status is of your pension or your investment for your incoming social security funds? And by the way throughout all Latin American countries except Cuba, but that'll be changing soon You can have direct deposits of your social security checks to one of the biggest banks in the country and your social security Administration website will tell you which bank that is So you need only to open the count up in that bank and you'll get your checks direct deposited However, as you probably know these days you cannot open a bank account in Latin America without having a lawyer help you do it Now if you can't prove a monthly pension or social security or trust over a thousand a month You will not be able to apply for permanent residency right away, but only temporary residency

[13:40] Which runs for two years and after one year of being a temporary resident You can apply directly for that permanent residency without the need or bother of proving a pension or anything like that The Guatemalan government will issue that permanent residency after that two-year Temporary residency is up simply because you've been a good upstanding Temporary resident and valued visitor. In other words If you're just simply a decent person and haven't committed any crimes, you'll just about automatically get permanent residency But you have to have your lawyer file the proper paperwork after one year now You might ask why would your lawyer file for permanent residency after you've had a year of temporary residency when it takes?

[14:28] Two years of temporary residency to get permanent residency. Well, I know it doesn't sound like it makes sense But this is Latin America just go with the flow on this one again You'll need a good honest local lawyer in Guatemala to process the paperwork once you have that police report We talked about the one you had authenticated up in the States, etc And then of course you've got your pension income or retirement stuff Authenticated if you're going for the permanent residency right away to your lawyer who speaks English Of course will walk through it all for you No need at all for you to know any Spanish and remember if you come down here to the expert wisdom seminar We hook you right up with these people. So there's no problem there In fact, the people that I work with have been doing this stuff for 18 years

[15:14] So they hand hold you through the process and nothing is left to chance. I repeat You don't have to know a word of Spanish now That's of course assuming you have an honest lawyer and usually those two words don't go in the same sense But do know I've been down here for over 25 years and I've had some very bad very mediocre and some very good lawyers and for the last 18 of the 25 years I've been down here I've Sorted those guys out pretty well. So now let me go into some more details on this Number one to get started you go down to your local sheriff department and get a police report on yourself I assume you'll pass with flying colors And if you don't there's some tricks around that which I go through in some detail at the seminar nothing illegal again But there are some tricks. So let's say you don't pass that police report with flying colors

[16:02] Suppose your ex-girlfriend or boyfriend had a restraining order against you. Well, that'll probably show up But again, it's not the end of the world You're not automatically disqualified and you'll find out the hows and the whys at the seminar Okay Next make sure that your police report your sheriff's report that is is the exact same name Exact same name as is on your passport Just one letter missing switched or misplaced and you'll have to go through that whole thing again now Unfortunately, I know of two cases personally where that's happened in each case that took a flight back to the states to get it straightened out So that was a couple days lost and five or six hundred bucks to for the flight Okay, next once you have that police report some call it a good conduct report or criminal background check

[16:51] Whatever you want to call it. You must then get it certified by your own state's Certification department now, I know that sounds confusing and this is what happens Pay attention now you go to your own state's website and find the link to that department You'll see that you can do it all by mail for about 25 bucks or less usually around 10 for example, and this is an exact case a Lady who came to one of my previous expat wisdom seminars told me all about it She lived in Wisconsin and here's what she did. She went to the website of the Wisconsin Secretary of State and you'll do that to whatever state you live in in her case. It was

[17:37] WWW dot SOS which stands for secretary of state dot state dot WI that us let me do that again WWW dot SOS dot state dot WI dot us and of course the wi part means, Wisconsin So you can do that with your state by filling in your state's initial Instead of the wi anyway, that'll bring you right to the Wisconsin Secretary of State website now follow along with this because you'll be doing this for your state You'll be doing this exactly. So once you're at the main website for your Wisconsin Secretary of State you click on the link called authentications and Apostellus that's

[18:25] authentications and apostellus that's a p o s t i l l e s Apostellus now according to the website, it says Authenticating a document may be also called verifying certifying or attaching a state seal and Apostell is a specific format of an authentication certificate required by certain countries That's why some say certify some say authenticate etc Anyway, you click on that link that says authentications and apostellus and then once on that page you click on Authentication and apostol Certificate order form so you'll get a free PDF download Document that tells you exactly how to apply to authenticate documents

[19:16] so you download that free PDF it's only one page long and follow the instructions to get your document authorized by mail and I'm looking at that form right now and Funny enough. It says if you want the standard service your document will be authorized in three to five business days for a total of Ten bucks or an expedited service Completed in one to two business days for thirty five bucks in this case. Anyway, it's a very simple easy to understand form So different from most government documents when they built this website They must have made a mistake and hired a guy with a brain. Well, sure. He doesn't work there anymore Okay, then in three to five days, whatever they send it back to you now once you've got it in your hot little hands You're not done

[20:03] Oh and by the way If you're wondering what you do with your passport if you have to go through all that crap for that too You don't of course you're traveling on your valid passport If you're coming down to Latin America, and if you're gonna go for temporary or permanent residency in Guatemala, for example You'll have it in your possession and then you'll have to go down to the US Embassy in Guatemala and get it Certified there and that'll cost you 50 bucks What a ripoff since if you want to get anything certified in Latin America, for example, Guatemala It'll only cost you about 10 bucks So I guess maybe that's about right considering everything up in the first world is about four or five times It's expensive then once you have that certified copy of your passport

[20:48] You give that to your lawyer and that all happens once you're down here. Anyway back to that sheriff's good conduct report When you get that police report back Authenticated from your Department of State now You must send it to the nearest Guatemalan consulate the one closest to your town to get it notarized and authenticated once again this time by them Now Guatemala and almost all Latin countries have consulates in big cities like in Los Angeles Chicago New York City, etc. You just go to their website It's in English and do it all by mail that'll cost about 25 bucks or less. I know you're lost, right? Well, let me give you a precise example

[21:34] Back to that lady from Wisconsin who's trying to do the same thing All right, she was living in Wisconsin and the nearest Guatemalan consulate is in Chicago. Now the website is Www.counselgwatechicago.org. That's www.counsel c-o-n-s-u-l-g-u-a-t-e Chicago.org now if you get lost or it doesn't work for some reason Just put Guatemalan council in your search box and it'll come right up for that matter when you're looking for your own state's Department of State or Secretary of State just put that in a search box and it'll come right up to that said Here's what it says in English, of course right on that Guatemalan consulate main page It says please note that at our Chicago office. You can obtain

[22:24] Legalization for documents that originate in the states of, Illinois Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio Wisconsin and North Dakota You see? Now continuing with this example from the lady from Wisconsin Once she was on that main page of the Guatemalan Chicago consulate. She clicked on the link that says Legalizations now after clicking on that you'll see there's a list of documents that can be legalized For example patents birth and death certificates veterinary certificates, etc. You'll click on other Legalizations, then you'll follow the instructions there and then note it says turnaround times on the bottom of the page

[23:12] Now if you want to get a real first-world belly laugh here, there's perfect evidence of that Latin manana Mentality lack of detail general sloppiness just blatant government stupidity. It's all over the place Let's put it this way your website is your face to the public and it's your first impression. So it better be good, right? Well, if you and I had employees like the people that put this one together We'd fire them in a second Then of course, they'd go and apply for a government job and they'd get it Oh well, and you think big brother might be coming to Latin America soon Well, here's what it says get this Documents may be dropped off in person Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. To 1 p.m Or send them by prepaid post office service only or regular mail

[24:00] We take two to three days to process the documentation but Get this now starting on July 1st two thousand and six We will no longer accept FedEx UPS or DHL envelopes Well, that's breaking news now, isn't it? They're announcing a policy change that happened a mere nine years ago Then it says in regards to that change Please take note of this to prevent delays on the return of your documents Then it says there is by the way no while you wait service So in regards to that newly changed policy that happened nine years ago That's nothing compared to what comes next the next line It says for any additional information, please call three one two five four. Oh, oh seven eight one

[24:51] Or send an email to Enrique Garcia at consul Guati Chicago org Okay, easy enough, right? Well, guess what this lady from Wisconsin sent an email Because even though it said your documents will be processed in what two to three days Well after two weeks She sent an email and waited a week and never got a response Then she dialed the phone number and it was not the phone number of the Guatemalan consulate in Chicago So after searching around on the web, she found they had another phone number and when she called through She found out by hook and crook the guy whose email was given on the website Enrique Garcia No longer worked there. In fact, he hadn't been working there for a couple of years

[25:39] Hmm and you think Big Brother is slowly creeping down to Latin America, right? Remember we're talking about the Guatemalan council in Chicago You know, that's supposed to be first world, right and the embassy council and its staff are supposed to be top-notch That's how they got sent on that mission up to Chicago. You know, that's a feather in anyone's head, right? Well, sorry That's just proof that the same lazy ass slugs that work in government down here in Latin America Even the so-called cream of the crop that get transferred up to a consulate in the States They're cut from the same shabby cloth. Why would it be otherwise? They're the sons daughters and relatives of the corrupt lazy ass politicians down here And I mean that in the nicest way, of course, but I digress as usual

[26:28] All right That said you can count on that little step taking a couple of weeks and maybe a few phone calls and emails but do check and see if it's the right email and the right phone and Really before you say the what a bunch of idiots you gotta love it because that's exactly one of the reasons Why you want to live down here in Latin America? The governments are just unbelievably lazy and inept Whoops, we're getting towards the end of the show now. So we'll have to finish this one off next week That said I will finish off by mentioning my July 2015 seminar in and around Guatemala Just go to expat wisdom comm click on the Latin seminar link for full details and pricing and don't forget to sign up before May 1st because that's when the price goes up five hundred dollars per person

[27:17] And remember if you're gonna come down and apply for a permanent or temporary residency You'll need an extra two weeks added on to your trip So if that is your plan being it looks like a lot of you are thinking that way We'll hook you up with a trusted lawyer immediately after the seminar south of the border You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border Email me the expat files at gmail.com and don't forget to check out expat wisdom calm to sign up for your free report On Latin America. See you next time. Nos vemos