In 2015, the Foreign Ministry enhanced the services it offers to Mexicans abroad by expanding and modernizing the consular infrastructure and creating new products. From January through November, Mexican consulates processed over 5.3 million requests for services, an increase of 23% over the same period last year.
The consular offices in the United States, which account for 93% of the total documents issued, improved its quality standards in order to expedite their services. Another step taken to provide better service to our citizens abroad was to open new temporary positions to meet the demand for documents.
The most requested document was the passport, with over 1,300,000 issued, and the consular ID, of which more than 1,070,000 were issued in the United States, Spain and Costa Rica, where the product is offered.
Since January 2015, Mexican consular offices around the world have also issued certified copies of birth certificates by working with the National Population Register and the 32 states. A campaign was launched to invite Mexicans abroad to make use of this service and, as of November 30, more than 130,000 had been issued.
Beginning on December 1, 2015, all consular offices in the U.S. began issuing a new passport similar to that issued within Mexico. The new, improved passport has an upgraded booklet, a security film and biometric data. This complies with the highest standards set forth in Document 9303 of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and facilitates the visa process.
On December 17, 2015, the Foreign Ministry and the National Electoral Institute (INE) signed an agreement to issue voter registration cards in all consulates to enable Mexicans abroad to vote. It will be implemented from February to August 2016 in response to the demands of the Mexican community abroad. This will be a big step forward in ensuring that Mexicans living abroad can exercise their political rights, especially the right to vote.
The Foreign Ministry will continue to modernize the consulates to better equip and regulate them in order to streamline the services they provide to our citizens abroad.