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I am a Pakistani national working in Finland on a residence permit (Type A), and want to travel to Mexico for holidays.

Do I need a Mexican visa, or am I exempted from that requirement because of my Finnish work permit?

I checked Timatic and it says that passengers with a valid visa issued by Canada, Japan, USA, United Kingdom or a Schengen Member State are exempted from Mexican visa for a maximum stay of 180 days.

So does my residence permit count as a valid visa? Kindly please answer.

Update I asked the Mexican embassy in Finland about it and they said that I need a visa as my work permit is not a valid visa.

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  • Have you asked the Mexican consulate or embassy?
    – phoog
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 13:58
  • I haven't asked the embassy yet, but I checked from Timatic and it says this in the following link.emirates.com/english/plan_book/find_visa_requirements/…
    – Szrana
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 14:13
  • So your question seems to be whether a residence permit counts as a visa for this purpose. Perhaps you should edit it to make this clear.
    – phoog
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 14:22
  • I have edited the question, as you said.
    – Szrana
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 14:47
  • Thanks. Is your residence permit a separate card, or is it a sticker in your passport?
    – phoog
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 15:42

1 Answer 1

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As stated by Timatic, which you checked yourself:

Visa required, except for Passengers with a valid visa issued by Canada, Japan, USA, United Kingdom or a Schengen Member State for a maximum stay of 180 days.

and

Visa required, except for Passengers with a permanent residence permit issued by Finland for a maximum stay of 180 days.

Your residence permit is not permanent, and when moving to Finland, you do not get a visa (unlike in many other Schengen countries), only a residence permit card.

So, unfortunately, you do need a Mexican visa.

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    While this conclusion follows from a strict reading of the rules, it doesn't make sense that someone with a lesser Finnish benefit (a short-stay visa) and someone with a greater benefit (permanent residence) would both be exempted while someone with a temporary residence permit would not. I suspect that this answer is in fact incorrect, and that the rules are poorly stated.
    – phoog
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 15:41
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    @phoog Where Schengen residents are visa-exempt for a country, Timatic states "except for passengers with a residence permit". Here it says "except for passengers with a permanent residence permit", which it also says on the websites of several Mexican consulates (which isn't even where Timatic gets their info from). Absolutely no reason to express it like unless it is the case, and it's similar in Macedonia btw - short-stay Schengen visas and permanent residence pemits exempt you from a visa, while long-stay visas and temporary residence permits do not
    – Crazydre
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 15:46
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    @phoog Also even if Timatic's government contact did express it poorly, it doesn't matter, since no one's gonna board OP without the proper documents as stated by Timatic
    – Crazydre
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 16:14
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    @Crazydre Timatic also says that I need a Finnish permanent residence permit to get e-visa for Turkey, but I have already visited Turkey with an e-visa on my Finnish work permit. emirates.com/english/plan_book/find_visa_requirements/…
    – Szrana
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 21:00
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    @Szrana Alright, fair enough. Like I said I asked the Timatic team to investigate this, and will also call immigration at Mexico City airport
    – Crazydre
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 21:23

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