We did it! We made it, hopefully for the last time, to the Immigration office here in CDMX, at 8:05am this morning, where I had a 50 minute interview, mostly in Spanish, regarding my residency status. Now, all we have to do is wait 20 days, more or less, to learn if they think it is ok for me to remain here, or if I need to go back to the US.
I must say that this has been quite the process. I retired on March 12th. of this year, 2019, and we have been on the go ever since. We had to sell one of our vehicles, our 2005 Toyota 4 Runner, travel 6 times to, and from, and, around, Chicago to have our household goods verified, our marriage license apostillated, etc., (check that out on Google). Plus, we had to buy another vehicle, our 2011 BMW, in Downers Grove, IL., because both of our Toyotas were assembled in Japan, and the second one was a 2012. (Immigration law states that any vehicle being brought into México has to be assembled in the US, and must be of the year 2011, or older). We spent 5 or 6 weeks packing all of our belongings, having given away more than half of our things to family and friends. We closed the sale of the house the first week of June, then moved into a long-term stay hotel in Davenport, IA, for 3 weeks. The beginning of July found us driving a 20ft. UHaul truck, (which we had to drive to Galesburg, IL., to get). Then we drove to Comanche, IA., to pick up our car transport, driving on to Laredo, TX., some 1800+ miles, taking us 3 days, and 2 nights, to, once again, stay in a hotel for another 1 1/2 weeks. We moved here the 15th of July, have spent tons of money, just to get this far; not only on the process, but finding places to live during the process.
Now that we are here, we have been downtown to the Immigration office countless times. On the fourth, or maybe the fifth, trip, however, we ran into one of Ivan’s cousin, Viridiana, there, at the Office of Immigration. And let me just tell you how auspicious that was. Without her help we would still be arguing with someone-someone who is unsure of what, exactly, this government wants with regards to its forms, its documents, and its regulations.
Now that we are reaching what we are, fairly, sure is the end of this chapter, we want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way. You all know who you are, and so do we. We cannot thank any of you enough, but know that we will always be grateful to you.