What Happened with My Mexico Visa Interview (It Wasn’t Pretty)

Twenty days ago, I left the United States for my home country China. My U.S. travel visa has just expired, and I planned to get a Mexico visa in China. I wanted to travel to Mexico for a short period of time.

Looking back now , I should’ve never made that flight home.

It’s been six years since I left my home country. I’ve established a life in America and gotten used to everything there: I expect a customer service person to be friendly and helpful and a government official to be at least knowledgeable and does his job—the basic efficiency and kindness.

The Mexico Consulate in Shanghai hit me in the face.

The second day I landed home, I headed to the consulate. I had everything prepared, and I handed them to a Chinese woman who worked at the consulate window. She flipped through the papers, and immediately, she shouted to me, “Where are the stamps on your bank statement? There’re no stamps, go back home and get the stamps and then come back.”

“I apologize. I was a resident in the United States and just returned. The U.S. doesn’t really have a “stamping document” tradition.” I answered in a fearful tone. I didn’t know why my voice was suddenly weak.

“Let me ask an ambassador.” said the woman, she signaled me to take a seat. Half an hour later, she called my name. “The ambassador said they needed to see the stamps, otherwise they couldn’t know if you faked the document or not. So either get the stamps or have the bank send you an original copy!”

Ok, fair enough. I contacted Chase immediately for original copies of my bank statement. It’ll take 14 days to arrive. I still have time, I can wait.

On the Mexico consulate website, they listed that if you’re a frequent traveller—meaning you have three visas from countries not connected with China by land—you can also apply for a Mexico visa without bank statement. Just to get a double insurance, I decided also to get additional travel visas.

In that 14 days, I applied for and received an Austria visa and a Philippines visa; I was planning to go there anyway. I was certain I can get the visa situation all settled the second time around.

May 4th, I headed back to the Mexico consulate. This time, however, my experience got even crazier.

I arrived at the consulate office at 9 a.m., an hour earlier than my allotted time. I handed in my document and my phone, a male officer signaled me to take a seat.

An hour past, nothing happened. About 7 people walked in during the hour, all were just waiting. The visa checking and interviewing process was extremely slow: a Chinese officer calls your number when it’s your turn, and they check your full document then. They’ll shout at you or not depending on what document you bring and who you look like, and then you’ll either be granted an interview, or ask to return home and come back another time. I wasn’t even given a number, so I walked up to the window, “can I get a number?”

“You are an hour early, what are you rushing for? Go back and sit there. I’ll call your name when it’s your turn,” said the man. Fine, I returned to my seat.

They finally called my name. The Chinese male officer looked at my document and pointed out to an envelope—enclosed was the original copies of my bank statement. “What is this?” He asked.

“My original bank statement. I just received from my U.S. bank yesterday.” I answered.

“Open it. Do you expect me to read it through the envelope?” The officer said in a sarcastic tone.

“I just want to show you that they are the original copies. Last time I was here, I was told to bring original copies of my bank statement.” I answered.

I opened the envelope in front of him. He flipped through the statement. “There’re no stamps?” He asked. “This is not going to work.”

My heart dropped. I explained that last time I was given two options: original copies or print-outs with stamps. Knowing that the U.S. banks don’t have a stamping tradition, I asked my bank to give me the original copies. “I opened the envelope in front of you.” I persisted.

“You expect me to use an envelope to show the ambassador that this is an original copy?” The man’s voice was still sarcastic.

I was speechless. I didn’t know what to respond. I paused for a second, then continued, “I also have visas from three different countries.”

He flipped through my passport. “You have no entry stamps?” The man asked. I explained that they are the countries I’m about to go to, and the website didn’t explicitly say that the visas needed to be used.

“It doesn’t matter! You need either three brand-new visas, or three visas with entry stamps!” The man impatiently shouted.

What is he talking about? I was confused, but I know his patience was running low. “Is there any chance you could have the ambassador take a look at my bank statement? I also have my bank cards with me to show him they are really legit,” I pled.

“Let me ask, go sit back there. I’ll call your name when it’s your turn.” The man dismissed me. It was another hour of waiting.

During that hour, almost 50% of the people were sent home due to some forms of bank statement issues. The only people received interview opportunities were the ones with invitation letters from Mexico businesses. They all received the visas in the end, but every single person waited for at least three hours on average. However, only about 12 people actually walked in that morning.

I waited and waited, and finally, when there were only three people left, my name was called. The Chinese male officer said that the ambassador decided to grant me an interview opportunity, but I might face an “incomplete document” result and return for another time.

How could he possible know the result? I was confused.

The ambassador was a tall, skinny young male. He exhibited no facial expressions. He asked me a couple of questions in Spanish, a young Chinese man translated them to me. I answered the questions in English and Chinese. The Chinese translator translated my Chinese part. Then the ambassador asked me to head out and wait.

Another half an hour later, I was told that I needed to return a third time with stamps on my bank statement, “or, get an American visa. You had one before! Get that one and you won’t need to come here. I’m telling you, your chance of getting a visa is low!” The Chinese officer said, still in that sarcastic tone.

“Could you tell me what I could do? I really want to visit Mexico.” I asked. “I’ve booked the flight ticket! Maybe I can ask my Mexican friend to write me an invitation letter?”

“You can certainly try,” said the Chinese officer.

Later that day, I received a strange call from the Mexico consulate office. A Chinese man asked me a ton of questions, and ended with asking me for my personal QQ number (a Messenger-copycat in China). He said he might send me some document. I gave him my number in hesitation, but no document was sent. The next day, he added my mom on Chinese WeChat (another widely used social app in China) because I left my mom’s phone number in the application form, not mine. I haven’t got my Chinese phone yet.

I had no idea what all these meant. All these phone calls and adding me on their personal social media accounts were strange and extremely unprofessional, so I consulted with a friend who used to work at Argentina consulate office.

She learned my story and laughed. She said, “Shanshan, you really haven’t been back to China for a long time.”

She explained to me that this was them hinting you that your case still had hope, it hadn’t ended yet but could. It all depended on whether you were smart enough to get the hint and gave him some forms of bribery. If you don’t get the hint, you’re certainly not going to pass the third time.

Yikes, I didn’t get the hint nor responded in time. Immediately, I tried to amend by responding to his message, but there were no answers from that officer.

But why, Mexico? Why? I just wanted to travel…