6 westword.com WESTWORD JULY 24-30, 2025 | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Hasta la Visa, Baby THE MEXICAN CONSULATE IS SEEING MORE CITIZENSHIP AND VISA REQUESTS FROM DENVER... AS WELL AS SCAMS. BY BENNITO L. KELT Y The Mexican consulate in Denver has seen a massive spike in Americans seeking citi- zenship and visas in order to live south of the border, but many of them are getting scammed online. “It is great that they love our country, that they want to be there. It is cheaper, they have more opportunities to buy real property,” says Miguel Barradas, who handles legal af- fairs for the consulate. “They are more than welcome to apply for any kind of permit to stay in Mexico, but we want to make sure they know that the process is carried out here in the consulate. We don’t use intermediaries.” Over the last couple of months, dozens of online scams have targeted people seeking the Denver consulate’s assistance in securing a temporary or permanent Mexican resident visas. Scammers advertise on Facebook and other social media platforms with promises of quick visa appointments or streamlining the entire process. The false ads will offer a phone number or email; once people reach out, scam- mers will pose as consulate staff and give people instructions that end with transferring money. “We detected posts on social media of- fering these kinds of services,” Barradas says. “So nowadays we’re trying to make this process more secure.” This problem is unique to the Rocky Mountain region. There are over fi fty Mexican consulates in the U.S., but the Denver offi ce, which services Colorado and Wyoming, is the only one deal- ing with a high rate of visa scams, according to Barradas. Because of this, the Denver consulate has shut down its web page for making visa appointments, as websites are easier for scammers to mimic, and instead is asking people to set up an appointment using the email [email protected], which they can also use for general inquiries. “If you want an appointment, contact us, and you’re going to get an appointment at some point,” Barradas says. Visa appointments are free, with a $54 charge that comes only after the visa has been granted. Scammers have been asking upwards of $1,000 to make fake appointments with the Denver consulate, Barradas notes And over the last two months, people have shown up claiming they have “emergency appointments,” which the consulate doesn’t offer. “Many of these people, the vast majority of them, have been scammed by peo- ple who take advantage of the absence of knowledge about the process,” Barra- das says. “If anyone has any questions, if anyone encoun- ters someone offering help in exchange for money, they can contact us through our offi cial channels. They can visit us here. We normally provide information to people face-to-face.” These visa scams come as the Mexican consulates in the U.S. are dealing with increased workloads. After President Donald Trump returned to power in January, he ramped up immigration en- forcement, and the majority of immigrants in the U.S. and in Colorado come from Mexico. According to U.S. Census data, more than 200,000 Mexican immigrants are living in the state and many are now are seeking consul services to prepare in case they’re deported, according to Barradas. The number of U.S. citizens with Mexican parents coming to the Denver consulate to at- tain their Mexican citizenship has quadrupled so far this year compared with the same Janu- ary-July time span in previous years. But this situation isn’t unique to the Denver consulate. “We’ve seen a huge increase, at least 400 percent just this year, mainly because of the political situation,” he says. “At this point, we are completely full of requests. We even had to internally make changes to have more people helping in that area. That’s not just us. All 53 consulates are full of requests for dual citizenship.” Appointments for Mexican citizenship are now backed up at the Denver consulate until October, says Barradas, who notes that wait times for Mexicans at American consulates are much worse. According to Barradas, Mexi- can citizens have to wait as long as two years before getting an appointment for a U.S. visa. Mexican citizenship is in high demand among families with mixed immigration status, because many fear that if the head of their household is deported, the whole family will have to follow. Mexican parents with children born in the U.S. are seeking citizenship for their children to ensure a seamless transition into Mexican life, such as enrolling in school and getting work when they’re older, according to Barradas. In February, Pável Meléndez Cruz, the consul general of Mexico in Denver, said that the Mexican government is committed to protecting the rights of its citizens living in the United States, a message he relayed from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. At the time, Meléndez Cruz said that the consulate was seeing an “exponential increase” in Ameri- cans seeking Mexican citizenship that began in November as a result of Trump’s re-election. “People have more concerns, and they’re more worried,” Meléndez Cruz said. “Obvi- ously, fear is hard to measure, it’s not exactly tangible, but we do see the worry in their faces.” Attaining a Mexican resident visa is a simple process, according to Barradas, but applicants need to save up a hefty chunk of change to qualify. For a temporary resident visa, applicants must prove they’ve had at least $75,000 in the bank during the past twelve months. Mean- while, a permanent resident visa requires a bank account with more than $300,000 in the bank for the same amount of time. Mexican resident visas are mostly favored by retirees seeking warm climes and cheap prices to stretch their pensions and savings, Barradas says. “Many of them are retirees, elders, per- sons who already have investments here in the U.S. who just want to go to Mexico and live there,” he adds. “Many American citizens want to move abroad, especially to Mexico, because of our health-care options, cultural options, climate.” Last year, the consulate in Denver is- sued 673 resident visas. Through July 3 of this year, it has issued 381 resident visas, a 14 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Most of these requests, about 85 percent, are being made by U.S. citizens, but Canadians and Indians are also coming to the Denver consulate for a Mexican visa. Bar- radas says this kind of increase is consistent with what he’s seen during the past decade. “It’s normally a 10 percent, 15 percent increase each year,” Barradas says. “Many of them confess at their interview they want to live in Baja, they want to live in San Miguel de Allende, they want just to retire to a warmer place. The vast ma- jority come from this kind of background.” Unlike citizenship re- quests, the increase in visa requests isn’t necessarily driven by anger against Trump or deportation fears, according to what Barradas hears from American ap- plicants. “It might be, but they don’t express that kind of circumstance as the rea- son for their departure,” he says. “They’ll express their desire to go for economic reasons. A pension from here is more than enough to live very well in Mexico.” According to Barradas, visa scams have likely been going on for a while but didn’t become a major concern until the last two months, when people became “more vocal” about paying for appointments. Barradas estimates that half of the people who showed up at the Denver consulate for visa appointments recently said they’d paid — meaning they’d been scammed by imposters. “We don’t know who these persons are. We don’t know where this money is going,” he says. “It wasn’t a problem before, because we didn’t hear cases of American citizens being scammed for an appointment. We normally had that kind of issue with Mexican nationals who wanted an appointment for a passport.” U.S. citizens are allowed to travel to Mexico without a visa as long as their stay is shorter than 180 days, or about six months. Any longer stays require a visa, but once American citizens exit the country, they can re-enter without a visa. Temporary visas are good for up to a year and can be renewed a maximum of four times. Permanent visas don’t expire, and a legal resident can apply for Mexican citizenship after living in the country con- tinuously for fi ve years, a policy the U.S. has, too, although American visas are harder to attain. Mexican resident visas also give U.S. citizens the right to buy real estate in Mexico, according to Barradas, but they don’t allow them to work in Mexico. Like the Mexican citizenship applica- tions, visa appointments are backed up several months. Still, Barradas encourages Americans to apply. “We have a beautiful country. We love to show our country, and if they want to live there peacefully and be part of our culture, be part of our traditions, they’re more than wel- come,” he concludes. “Everyone is welcome in Mexico as long as you meet the criteria.” Email the author at [email protected] NEWS KEEP UP ON DENVER NEWS AT WESTWORD.COM/NEWS The Mexican consulate in Denver is reporting an increase in scams. BENNITO L. KELT Y
