The Nov. 17 opening of a new Career Consulate of Mexico in Raleigh, N.C., will ease the workload of the Mexican consulate general in Atlanta, according to Teodoro Maus, the consul general of Mexico here.
Mr. Maus accompanied the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., Jesús Reyes, to last week’s inaugural ceremony of the Raleigh Career Consulate that will provide consular services for North and South Carolina.
“We will still take care of people from the Carolinas, we won’t turn them away, but this will lighten our workload,” Mr. Maus said of the Atlanta consulate general.
The Career Consulate, or civil service consulate, will provide the same services as a full Consulate General, such as passports, visas and business services for Mexican citizens, except it will cover a smaller jurisdiction.
Mr. Maus told GlobalFax that the need for a Raleigh office arose from the “steadily growing Mexican population in both Carolinas.”
The Career Consulate is an independent office but is to report to the Consulate General here.
Consul Generals are appointed by the Mexican president, whereas Career Consuls are appointed by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
Carolina Zaragoza, previous director of protection for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico, is to be the new head of the Raleigh office.
There are 45 Mexican consulates in the U.S., 16 of which are full consulates general, and the remainder are career consulates.
For more information, contact the Atlanta office at (404) 266-2233.