Bill Steele and I flew into Zihuatenejo in early April. We tried to
use our "180 day" tourist visas that we purchased in December (on the
same trip as Mark) but they confiscated them and told us they were no
longer valid, since we had left Mexico. We had to buy new ones, and
return them at the airport when we left (or each pay a 500 peso fine).
I guess if you are driving back and forth across the border, they have
no good way to decide that you have left Mexico, so it's more
difficult for them to confiscate your tourist visa and force you to
buy a new one.
A little story about assistance at a border crossing from the
officials: a few years back the border crossings finally were not only
computerized, but they were all connected to the same database.
Eighteen months earlier, I was facing a dilemma: I had only a few days
in which to decide to trade in my old Toyota Tundra for a brand new
one (no money down, 0% interest as long as you chose a truck on the
lot), but my old one still had a window sticker. It's a very long
round-trip drive to the closest border crossing from Dallas, so I
thought I'd try to return the sticker at the Dallas Mexican consulate
(I had done this once before, so I thought, why not try?). No dice:
after much hassle, they finally told me, "you should have been here
last week, the official who is authorized to do this here has returned
to Mexico City." So I peeled the sticker off the window of the old
truck and decided to take my chances. I managed to pass into Mexico
four times with the new truck until the unreturned sticker finally
caught up with me on a spring 4-day weekend trip to Minas Viejas. What
to do? The people at the Laredo crossing brusquely told me, "you can't
bring your truck into our country." "Not ever?" I asked pleadingly,
but they waved me away. So we tried the Columbia crossing. Since there
were only a few customers there, the officials at the window were more
willing to help. I was told I could get a new sticker as long as I
could use a different form of ID--since I had used my passport to get
the unreturned sticker, if I used my birth certificate I could get a
new one. Alas, I had not brought a copy of my birth certificate, but
we were finally able (with much effort and many phone calls) to get
one sent from the county courthouse where I was born to the fax
machine at the border crossing (by way of several intermediate
locations). Since you are supposed to present a certified copy of your
birth certificate (and not a faxed copy, which typically has either a
header or footer with a time stamp from the fax machine) at the window
to get your vehicle papers, our official simply folded the fax so that
the header didn't show when copies were made. Voila, we were able to
get our papers and cross into Mexico! We thanked the woman profusely
and presented her with a sum of money that we told her was "for her
church," and she found that acceptable.
Since my passport was due for renewal in 8 months, when I returned
home I made sure that I applied for a new one. New passports are
issued with new passport numbers, and I am once again able to obtain
vehicle papers with my passport. But now I always carry a copy of my
birth certificate when I take my vehicle to Mexico, too.
Diana
On May 6, 2009, at 12:13 PM, Minton, Mark wrote:
Aimee said:
I won't miss those semaforos since they were obviously not really
random like they were supposed to be. I've had the
light come on before I ever even pushed the button!
I've heard that they come equiped with a "hippie detector".Now I
have evidence!
Yeah, but I usually get the green light even with a truck full
of gear, so I don't think they're being discriminatory based on
personal appearance. I think someone inside the building decides
whether they want to examine a vehicle's cargo, and presets the
light to show red or green.
Preston said:
Has anyone been turned away at the border in recent years for
"looks," long hair or bo?
I was certainly victim of that many years ago, but the last
decade or so has been very mellow. I haven't heard of any
problems. There was some kind of purge of border officials and ever
since, they have been much younger (with lots of women) and way more
professional. Almost no one expects a tip or bribe any more, and we
do not give them. In fact when one has a problem, like improper or
expired papers or whatever, it is actually rather difficult to buy
your way out of the situation. The old system was a hassle, but it
occasionally worked in our favor by making it easy to bend the
rules. Still, I like the new professionalism much better.
Mark Minton
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Diana R. Tomchick
Associate Professor
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Department of Biochemistry
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Rm. ND10.214B
Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A.
Email: [email protected]
214-645-6383 (phone)
214-645-6353 (fax)
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