Mexico's Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE) is negotiating alternatives for approximately 400 contracted employees at its U.S. consulates, whose A-2 visas expire at the end of 2026. El País México reported on August 6 the case of a worker at the Los Angeles consulate who, after decades of service, now faces the loss of both her job and her immigration status.
Mexico's consular network in the United States is the country's largest abroad: 53 consulates handle passport applications, birth certificates, and identification credentials for more than 38 million Mexicans and people of Mexican origin. The day-to-day functioning of that network depends on contracted staff. The problem has been building for years: Mexico has negotiated extensions since the previous administration, the foreign ministry confirmed, and those extensions have allowed workers to remain in U.S. territory for more than eight years. With the deadline now in sight, service continuity is at stake.
A-2 visas are issued to foreign-government employees performing official functions in the United States; A-1 visas go to ambassadors and career diplomats. The roughly 400 affected workers are independent professional service providers who have been working under contract in the consular network for years. They do not belong to Mexico's Foreign Service; their immigration status is tied to those visas. Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco explained at Palacio Nacional: "The last extension we were granted concludes at the end of this year. We are, of course, in conversations to see how this situation can be addressed." The ministry is exploring diplomatic and administrative options on a case-by-case basis, and if some staff must return to Mexico, it is seeking to offer them alternatives within the ministry itself.
The clock is running: the last extension expires at year's end, and the outcome will determine how many employees return to Mexico and how many remain. For the Mexican community in the United States, the result will shape the speed of consular services in 2027 and the continuity of a network that supports millions.
This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.