This past Wednesday a good friend of ours, Enrique by name, helped us get to the Municipal building in the southernmost regions of the city, (or so it seemed at the time) where we needed to go to file the paperwork which will change my residency status from a temporary visa, which allows me to stay 6 months, to a permanent visa, which I will need to renew every few years, but will allow me to stay indefinitely. Said paperwork includes, but has not limited to: my passport, with 2 copies; (6) 2 cm. X 3 cm. photos of me facing front, and facing left; a government form, of which we had to fill out online, print, and make 2 copies; my husbands passport, plus 2 copies; the contract from the purchase of our apartment, with 2 copies; an original receipt of a bill paid here at the house in which we are staying, (for address verification), plus 2 copies, of course, plus….. well, you get the idea.
We spent 2 hours on the Metro, an hour in each direction, which cost us only $5 MN (pesos) each direction, roughly $.25. We then spent about an hour standing in line, waiting to file the above paperwork, only to be told we did not have the correct paperwork. What we cannot seem to remember, yet, is that with each newly elected president/political party comes an entirely new, well, everything- new government agencies, new government officials, new council members, from mayors to attorneys, to …. fill in the blank. Everything changes, and I mean everything -where you have to go to file said paperwork, as well as what paperwork is now necessary to file.
This trip down we were told that I had stayed one day passed the date on my temporary visa paper, which was issued at the US/Mexico border, in Nuevo Laredo, and is only good for 30 days. So, what was the point of going to the Mexican Consulate in Chicago, and getting my 6 month visa, which cost $95? Is that not supposed to supersede the little 30 day paper? Normally, yes, it would. However, there was a new president elected in 2018, President Andres Obrador, whose political agenda was not that of the prior president, therefore, things are now happening his way. As it should. We simply have to find someone here that can, what? No guesses? Translate our marriage license into Spanish. That’s right. That is the paperwork for which we do not currently have 4 copies!! We have 4 notarized copies of our license in English, which was approved, and certified by a notary, called apostille, at the Mexican Consulate in Chicago, at $1 each, and, to which we had to make 6 trips to finish our paperwork allowing us to transport our household goods into Mexico, (but that, too, is for another day), but that isn’t what this politician wants. He wants a foreigners marriage license in Spanish. Resistance is futile. We must comply. And we will.
So, the hunt for Red October continues. We will continue to search for someone who can translate our marriage license into Spanish, we will have it notarized, and we will go, for the umpteenth time, to the Municipal building, stand in line, and get my more permanent visa.
Other than that, it’s been a joyous ride thus far. Stay tuned.