Consulate of Mexico

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2. 2 Matrícula Consular de Alta Seguridad (or MCAS, for it’s initials in Spanish) means High Security Consular Registration Document. As such, it is the official record for Mexican Individuals living abroad The registration of nationals trough the consular offices is a practice recognized by the Vienna Convention on consular Relations. Mexican Consulates have issued these certificates since 1871 The purpose of consular registration I to enable consular officers to provide protection and access to consular services, as well as to help relatives and authorities or the sending state to locate their nationals overseas. Consular posts of every country around the world exercise this service

3. 3 The Matrícula Consular is an individual, personal identification card, issued by the Mexican Consulate to a person who can prove his/her Mexican nationality by presenting supporting documents: Birth Certificate Official photo ID card (government-issued) Other documents that prove Mexican nationality Proof of Address (Bills, etc.) Applications must be submitted personally

4. 4 Procedure followed when issuing a Matricula Consular: Information booth: the applicant receives the information regarding requirements. If requirements are fulfilled, the applicant is interviewed and the submitted documentation is verified. Call window: a consular staff member calls the person, reviews the application and have a second interview to verify the application again. Once it has been completed the documents are processed along with the fee (26 U$D). The applicant should wait while the information is typed in the Matricula System. Data entered: A Consular Staff member introduces the applicants’ information into the Matricula System. The system shows if a matricula has been already issued to that person, if so, the previously captured photograph will appear, which avoids duplicity. The Matricula System has the capacity to keep a record of documents issued to each individual.

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6. 6 Most common uses of the Matrícula Consular: To identify oneself with law enforcement authorities (police, sheriff, INS, etc.) To identify individuals in case of injuries or fatalities To apply for public utilities (telephone, gas, water, electric, etc.) To identify oneself at educational institutions and public libraries as a parent or user.

7. 7 The Matrícula Consular provides an important services for Hispanic population like: Cashing paychecks, Depositing money in a safe place (financial institutions), Paying bills and taxes, And sending money to family and relatives for a reasonable fee. Matrícula Consular is valid for five (5) Years. The fee is $27.00 US.

8. 8 Advances in U.S.A.: 178 Banks 33 U.S. States 163 Counties 377 Cities 1180 Police departments and Sheriff offices 12 States have accepted the Consular ID as one of the proof of identity to obtain a driver’s license Airlines companies July 30, 2004

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13. 13 All the matrículas consulares are issued for a period o 5 years. By 2007 all the old matrículas will have been replaced by the MCAS. As of march of 2002, the MCAS incorporate cutting-edge technology, holograms and other embedded designs to prevent its forgery. The MCAS has 13 security features, such as: A visible “Advantage®” seal which is a variable color, tamper proof, Optical Security Device, used to mark the ID photograph, and is solely manufactured by a U.S. provider, No one else in the world has access to this technology or design, which makes counterfeiting the ID highly improbable. This feature is used by the U.S. Government in several high security documents such as FBI badges.

14. 14 Scrambled indicia® is a pixel level security feature which conceals encoded text of graphics within the visible design. These encoded features are only visible through special purpose lenses. The Consular ID card includes two versions of this feature: fixed text and graphics printed on both sides of the teslin blanks, and variable text containing biodata of the-holder, encoded within a security stripe or “doc-u-lok®” and over the photograph in two directions. This is also a proprietary security feature and is used by the U.S. government in its high value postage stamps and its new High Security Visa, amongst other uses. Other security features include ultraviolet logos on the outer laminate, micro-text on the teslin blanks signature lines, infrared band over the ID bar code and high definition bank note type printing on both sides of the blanks.

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17. 17 NEW SECURITY FEATURES Seal of Mexican Government Name Date & Place of Birth Local Address Expiration Date Unique Identification Number Place Issued

18. 18 NEW SECURITY FEATURES Bearer’s Signature Government Official’s Signature

19. 19 Turning the decoder 90° degrees, you will read SRE written five times over the MCAS, with the following pattern:

20. 20 Using the decoder over the picture, you will read the bearer’s name.

21. 21 Using the decoder over the picture and turning it 90º degrees, you will read the capital letters “SRE” and the beares’s D.O.B.

22. 22 The MCAS has become an important tool for opening financial institutions to the un-banked people. The positive impacts of such access go beyond individuals simply being able to open bank accounts. They also have positive implications for the day-to-day lives of U.S. communities by unleashing economic transactions that would not occur otherwise. The acceptance of he MCAS by key financial institutions has significantly reduced the cost of sending remittances. The Mexican government estimates that, since the MCAS have been accepted by banks and financial institutions, the increase in use of bank transfers as a means for sending remittances has led to savings of more than U.S. $700 million for migrants and their families.

23. 23 The acceptance of the MCAS by key financial institutions also provides their ability to track the use of money and prevent criminal activities. The use of the MCAS has contributed to shrink informal channels associated with the potentially dangerous existence of financial “black markets”. The MCAS assists law enforcement officials communication with migrant communities by ensuring that people are not afraid to come forward as witnesses and report crimes. The MCAS make it easier to identified dead or unconscious people. They save time and resources for the police and facilitate communication with relatives.

24. 24 The MCAS reduce the vulnerability of migrants as objects of criminal activity. Before the MCAS were accepted in financial institutions, undocumented workers were forced to keep as cash whatever resources they had; thus, they frequently became prime and repeated targets of crime, including robberies and break-ins to their homes. The MCAS has no relation with the sovereign right of the United States of determine who can or cannot be admitted into its territory, as well as the conditions for any person to remain there. In no way does the MCAS constitute a form of “immigration status regularization” which may hinder the enforcement of immigration laws. MCAS holders are aware that this is only an identification card, which has no bearing upon their immigration or visa status

25. 25 In the last months, a number of law enforcement authorities in Michigan and Ohio, have agreed to use the Consular Id for humanitarian purposes: Sheriff offices and Polices departments are linked to us by; 24 hour phone lines to check the Consular ID users background in Michigan; To contact emergency liaisons of relatives In dealing with juveniles, pregnant women, illness of individuals, seniors and persons under INS or Border Patrol detention Witnesses in criminals cases Prevention as victims from robbers, and from cultural and language barriers during police investigations

26. 26 SAMPLE on inside back cover