getting my Yucatan drivers license, part 2 and 3

If you choose you can refresh your memory of 'getting my Yucatan drivers license, part 1' here!

Having pushed my return date to go take my tests for my drivers license off for a few days, there always seems to be something more important going on - I finally managed to get up to Siglo XXI.  I turned in my paperwork; copies and originals of my immigration card, my passport and my comprobante de domicillo, and waited.  When I was finally called, I had to answer a few simple questions, any serious illness, allergies, need glasses, blood type, etc. I took the eye exam, was returned my original documents and then was directed back out to wait some more.  Then I was called in to take my written test
The problem with people always telling you how good your spanish is is that sometimes you believe them.  So when confronted with taking my written test in spanish or english I chose spanish.  I mean many people have said how bad the english translation is.  So I tried my test in spanish, and failed.  I just didn't know what too many of the words were. So completely defeated, deflated, and upset with myself, I tucked tail and left with my slip of paper and instructions to return tomorrow!  I almost decided to not tell you that I failed the first time.  That was yesterday!

anyway, today I returned to Siglo XXI and was able to bypass the lines and go directly to the testing area.  Today, I took it in English!  The translations are bad, but at least even in bad english I could reason out what I thought they were asking.  I passed.  The driving test, a parallel park, was easy.  Then back inside - and wait.  then pay (365pesos), get the foto taken, and in just a very few minutes the card.

I now have my yucatecan drivers license.  whoop, whoop, hands in the air, whoop, whoop!

getting my Yucatan drivers license, part 1

Starting this past Monday I had go get Drivers License on my calendar.  It kept getting moved as other seemingly more important things came up.

Today, after 3 moves, I went!

The ladies at the Information Desk, once they could take a break from their jokes and conversation, and after inquiring if I had my comprabante de domicillo,  my immigration documents, my passport, was I renewing or getting a new license... informed me that the system was down and that I should come back on Tuesday, or the 21st, or maybe the 28th, they were just having a hoot!  Ni Modos!

Since I had already driven 30+ minutes to get there - and since there was a big book fair going on I decided to step in. Today must have been school group day. I enjoyed looking around, I enjoyed all the books and displays.  Sometimes I enjoyed being gawked at by the kids.

I bought a few books - three 7-10 year old level stories that used some verb tenses I'm not so good with, might help, you never know! I bought a small libretto named "Leyendas de Yucatan", again, trying to increase my conjugation level.  And I purchased a book "Testimonios de Mujeres Mexicanas", which is frank and sincere confessions of women, mostly how they tried freeing themselves from bad relationships, lack of schooling, poverty, etc.  I actually was reading some in Volume II, and was understanding it, so decided to buy but then bought Volume I, because it must be good if they made a volume II; and I do tend to be an optimist.

I drove around in some areas of town I am unfamiliar with, drove a good ways on the Periferico, which was great fun, and stopped for lunch.

So anyway, I'll try to get my drivers license next week, and now I have something to read while I wait!

my new old yucatecan plated car!

So now I have a Yucatecan plated car.   When I bought the car, at christmas time, my migratory documents were in Immigration being renewed.  And although I have good clear copies of both sides of the card and the letter from Immigration stating that they had the card, I could not change ownership of the car.  Ni Modos.  I was told just to come back when I got my card.  The fact that the lady I bought the car from would be out of country was unimportant, I just needed copies of her id and utility bill.

So about a week ago I finally got my new Immigration card, Residente Permanente.  Now I need to go change the ownership of the car.  And along with this yucatecan plated car come a whole slew of new things to learn and do - tramites!    EEEEEschhhhhhhhhk!   I hate tramites.

So I have to find out about:

• Tenencia (taxes), I don't think I owe any since the car is 11 years old, 
• Tags, they don't need to be changed yearly, but I don't really know or understand  the renewal process, 
• Tarjeta de Circulation, what the heck is this, I have one, but don't know what it is or how often to renew it!  
• Car insurance, the car had several months left on its policy so I'm good there, and her agent is my agent, so that's easy!  Here car insurance stays with the car!

ah well this kind of thing is supposed to help keep me from getting alzheimers, or dementia.....
maybe I should just learn french, that's supposed to work too!

oh, and I need to go get my yucatan drivers license, OMG, will it never end?

foreign plated cars and migratory status changes

When Tom and I moved to Merida in 2006 we brought with us a car. Here it is a 'foreign plated car'.  The rumors speculation and fear about having a foreign plated car are incredible.   The car comes in attached to someones migratory document. In our case my FM3.  Rumors and speculation abound about how long you can keep a foreign plated car, and what happens when your migratory status changes.  For example when I changed from FM3 to FM2 It was rumored and speculated that I had to get the car out of the country.

We made a trip to Aduana, with a friend that is Mexican to act as translator.  We were told that as long as my migratory documents was up to date I was good, but that I needed to notify Aduana of any changes to my migratory documents.  I was given text for a letter advising Aduana of the change in migratory status.  I keyed the text along with the particulars about my migratory documents in to a letter and sent it off. I kept a copy that resides in the car.  I never received any acknowledgment of receipt of the letter, but was told it didn't matter.  ni modos!

So now I have my Residente Permanente card, just another change to my migratory status right!. Now again the rumors and speculation have started, what do we need to do, we can only keep foreign plated cars 30 days, we have to do this, we have to do that, blah, blah,  blah.   So what am I doing?????  I used the same form letter as last time, changed the data to reflect the current change to my migratory document and have an envelope with the letter  ready to post to the Aduana. I have a copy that resides in the car.

So for those of you interested here is the text of the letter:

Merida, Yucatan,  DATE

Administracion General de Aduanas
Av. Hidalgo 77, col. Guerrero,
c.p. 06300, México, D.F.

A quien corresponda,

Por medio de la presente, notifico que me otorgado un permiso de importacion temporal numero ####, con un documento migratorio FM3 de No Inmigrante rentista numero ###### y el DATE obtuve un cambio de calidad migratoria y ahora cuento con un documento migratorio  Residente Permanente numero #######.

Manifesto bajo protesta de decir verdad que persisten las condiciones bajo las cuales seme fue entregado el permiso.

Sin mas por el momento, agradezco la atencion prestada.

-------------------------------
NAME
ADDRESS
Phone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~more or less it says this

To whom it may concern,

Through hereby notified that I granted a temporary import permit number #######, with an immigration document FM3 de No Inmigrante rentista numero ######## y el DATE got a change of immigration status and I now have an immigration document Residente Permanente numero #######.

I swear under oath that these are conditions under which the permission was given.
No more for now, thank you for your attention.

2012 FM2 Renewal

On 5 December 2011 Tom and I arrived at INM (Immigration) to turn in our paperwork for our annual migratory document renewal.  All the paperwork had been filled out online and printed.  We had all the copies we needed of the stuff we needed. We had our photos; 3 front views, 2 side views, no makeup, eyeglasses, or jewelry, against a white background.   After about a 45 minute wait to get through  the line to sign in the guard informed us that they were at days capacity and that we COULD wait, but probably WOULDN'T get in. I must say I did appreciate his advice.

On 9 December 2011 Tom and I arrived once again at immigration with the same packet of info, but this time we were there an hour and a half BEFORE they even open and sat on the street in a line waiting for admittance.  At 9, they open the gates and we file in to the checkin line.  No problems today.   We wait, while I wait in line Tom walks to the bank and makes our renewal fee payments; for 2011 it was 2801pesos each! We get in, we turn in our info, well sort of.  Our proof of income were the  quarterly statements from our retirement fund that show how much we get each month.  NOPE They want to see how much we put in the bank each month.   OKAY - race home - jump through hoops, get what they want from the internet and race back - Good thing we have a car, eh?  So we get everything turned in and are told to check back after the holidays, and here that means AFTER the first week in January.

Well the second week in January we were busy with the Spay n Neuter Campaign.  So about the 13th or 14th I check online and there it is - the message that says to present ourselves at the office.  So Friday 13 January 2012 we again position ourselves on the street in front of INM and hour and a half early to wait in the line for them to open.   Once we get to the check in line it takes 2 minutes for them to look us up and tell us we have an appointment at 10am on the 16th.   Great!

On the 16th I go to INM at the appointed hour and get the process started, we get completely through my set of paperwork.  Last step is to affix the photos and then laminate the card.  Our photos are precisely what was asked, EXCEPT that they were from differing photo sessions so the clothing was different. NO GOOD, WON'T DO!  Must have new photos.

So Tuesday we go to Wal-Mart, get the photos we needed taken, and while we wait we manage to spend 1450pesos.  As we are entering Immigration we run into a friend and the fee if you turn in your paperwork in January for the same renewal is now 34XXpesos!

Now Monday, when I left, the young lady, Alicia, told me when I return to come directly to her. SO! We get to Immigration and approach the young lady who had just the day previous told me to return directly to her and she tells me we must wait in the lobby/seating area. OK fine!  After about 20ish minutes they call my name, as I get ready to stand the guy doing the name calling asks me for my photos,which I give him and he tells me to wait where I am.  He does however take Tom with him.  In just a few minutes, less than 10, Tom is back with his card in hand.  I must continue to wait - I suspect that this could have something to do with my reaction the day previous when I was told the photos weren't going to work (and here I thought I had masked my feelings so well).  Anyway, so I wait a bit more, then a just a short while longer, and then in a few more minutes, out comes the name caller guy with my card.  EUREKA!   Legal for another year!

So now it is about 1pm, and it is WAY past lunch time, so off we go to Centro to get lunch at Marlin Azul; now why did we choose Marlin Azul; because it is a block from the building where we can pay our taxes.  You might think we are pushing our luck, but no, we walk in, approach the cashier with last years statement, she does some keyboard clicking tells us how much, we pay, and then go eat some fabulous fish and drink a few beers.

Then home for about 2 hours and off to the fun-filled dental experience I wrote about earlier!

But we did go out for a great meal with friends later in the evening, and I probably wouldn't have had I had any type of dental surgery or procedure!

So see things happen for a reason!

2011 FM2 Renewal process

Time once again to renew our documents which allow us to live in this country. We've been doing this for quite a few years now, and regardless of all the changes that have been made we feel like we've got it down! Piece of cake. No Problem! Oh how the mighty have fallen!

Actually so far it hasn't been all that bad! I went online and filled in the required forms for renewing our FM2's - here is the link for that form: http://inami.gob.mx/index.php/page/Solicitud_de_Estancia

Of Course our printer died, we took it to the repair shop and were told it would be cheaper to buy a new one. But a friend has/had an old one that he didn't use anymore so we got that. Then the trouble started. This older printer doesn't support Windows 7, so after 3 unsuccessful attempts to install the software I gave up. I installed it on our older computer, you know, the one that could go into catastrophic heart failure at any minute. Well it held up, did its duty, and our forms are all printed.

note - I've heard Firefox isn't working well so I did use a computer that has Internet Explorer.
Also, for all sorts of other processes, Application, Renewals, etc friend Steve has done a fabulous job of spelling it all out step by step http://yucalandia.wordpress.com/living-in-yucatan-mexico/moving-to-mexico-fmm-fm2-or-fm3/


Under “* ¿Qué desea hacer?”: Choose: “Extender la estancia”

Under: “* Especifique”: Choose: “Refrendo de inmigrante”

Since this is for Renewal you have your current FM2 card and it should have all the info you need; NUE, and CURP. Apellido is your last name, and Nombre is your first and middle name, exactly as it is on your card.

Well, like I said, this is for renewal only, so you should be able to figure the form out, it really is quite simple and basic.

The hard/harder part came when I was trying to find the Form online to be able to pay the fee before going in to start the paperwork process. I have heard that this really expedites the procedure if you are pre-paid. I couldn't find it, and the friend who had done it before didn't bookmark the page, but did send me a scanned copy of his form thinking that might help me in my search - It didn't, so what I eventually did was to go online and find a site that would take a PDF form and turn it into a WORD doc. So that is what I did, I now have the payment form as a WORD doc that can be filled in and used as needed. WooHoo.

OK, so we show up at INM at 9AM on a Tuesday, 6 December, the line is out to the street, we wait - after about 45 minutes we get to the desk, and thankfully I do speak Spanish, because the nice guard was able to explain, and more importantly I was able to understand, that he was telling me that because of the number I was about to receive (65) I probably wouldn't get in today and would have to come back another day. Now had I not been able to understand all this I could have spent hours waiting to finally be turned away. Anyway, Thanks to the nice guards advice we went home and plan to go back again, but much earlier.

OK, It is now Friday, 9 December - In our hope to get in, we, like MANY others have shown up more than an hour before opening and queued up on the sidewalk. At 7:45 we were in line at INM, which opens at 9.

At about 8:45 they opened the gates and allowed us on to the INM property where we queued up once again to sign in to the log book and receive our first ficha (numbered ticket), We received #20.

The numbers start to be called at 9 and then you queue up in front of an agent in front of a computer where you say what you want - she inputs info and then gives you another ficha, in a variety of colors depending on what your needs are, different colors designate different rooms once you actually enter the building, this time we were Red #16. Once the hour was past 9AM Tom walked the 3 blocks to the Bank with our vouchers to pre-pay our fees, I waited for us to be called into the building.

About 10am we were called in to the building. It was a short wait once inside the building.

We approached an Agent that we have seen many times before. She starts going through our paperwork, everything is order, it's looking good, we're moving right along.....THEN, SCREEEEEECH! Halt! Bam! Our Financial statements are 6mth year to date statements from the company that issues our pension; these are the same statements we've used in years past. The statement shows the amount we receive monthly, AND the YTD amount. No Good! They want a statement that shows exactly how much, in each of 3 consecutive months. Great, our pension funder doesn't offer that type of statement - long explanations ensued. She accepted our documents, but asked that we get the type of statement she wanted and get it back to her, before 1:30. Great! So home we raced, poked around in our pension webpage, then our bank webpage, finally we print out several things, create the type of doc she wants, and high tail it back up just in the nick of time! She's happy, we're happy, all is right with the world!

By this time it is 1:30, we've been involved in all this since about 7:30 when we left the house - so far we've had coffee, and I now have a headache, we're crabby, ok more that crabby, and we're really hungry. Off to lunch.

OH, and she said to not bother checking back until January because in all likelihood nothing will happen before then. It is the Holidays, and their offices are closed QUITE a few days during the Holidays, which include 5 days in early January for All Kings Day.

This new system is really working!

Foreign vehicles in Mexico

Once again, the rumors surounding the importation of Foreign vehicles are swirling.  A new decree, that affects vehicles coming in SINCE June of 2011, NOT before June 2011 is what has caused this recent hoopla!

Friend Steve wrote an excellent post on these new regs which you can read here,  he covers the topic fairly well!

His previous post on the 'old' rules, under which I, and MY car fall is here!

If you choose to read Steve's posts, continue on through the Comments and Answres,  very interesting info and scenarios!

Anyway,  just to be sure: We went with our friend Maggie C. to the customs office at the airport on Tuesday. We asked Maggie to go along so there would not be any misunderstandings, (she is Mexican and has no questions about her comprehension, unlike me, well about my comprehension, not hers!) in regards to the new decree that was passed mid June this year and how it would affect us and our Taurus.

The customs office at the airport doesn't handle vehicle issues and we were directed to the office in Progreso.
(That answered my question as to why people didn't just go to the airport and not all the way to Progreso!)
Anyway, the individual there at the airport customs office gave us the main customs office number in DF so that we could call and speak to them directly about this issue.

Maggie contacted them Wednesday and just reported that anyone that has a foreign plated vehicle legally in the country, brought in prior to mid June this year, will continue on as in the past and as long as the visa documents are in order then the car permit is in order. We do not need to make any notifications.

I'm still not 100% confident - but am willing to go with the flow! 

I sort of feel like I need to submit the letter to Aduana in DF, but they say no on the phone!