My wife, a Mexican national, and I have met these kinds of bureaucrats before when she was getting her green card the first time and when she was renewing her Mexican passport. However, I have to say that the last time she had to do both, we were very well taken care of. On the Mexican side it might have been because one of the consular officials just happened to be from her home town and knew the family very well. We didn’t even know he was in the U.S.