Saturday, October 09, 2010

Now that's its on the internet......


You would think that it would be easier to renew your immigration papers.
Papers please.......
We filled out the on line form, but for some strange reason it would not take our address. Our street address is non-existant.
We don't live on a street, you see. We live on a road.
Our address is Kilometer something on the road to somewhere.
Internet form doesn't like it.
No problem, when the immigration person pulls up the form they can change it anyway they like.
WRONG.
They make you go down the street to an INTERNET cafe, mind you a cafe that thought dial up was blinding fast.

So, now back at the office and butting into line again, the clerk, (someone new, a new start that decided that this is his only shot at power) loads on the form, which is now a new form because you cannot correct the old form, and now says OK, but..... you put ninguna ( which mean none, or DNA does not apply) in one of the boxes.
No, we did not.
Well how did it get there?
Ask the computer.
So he calls his supervisor on the phone, and his supervisor agrees that sometimes it does that, and to leave it in, no problem.
Ok, the form looks ok, now take this and pay for it at the bank and return with the original and two copies.
What about the photos?
I'll tell you when you return......
(Why not tell us now so we do it when we go to the bank?) We knew better this time!
While at the bank we get the photos done. Two front, one side.
Return to the immigration office, present the bank receipt.
He looks at it, then reads it, then looks at it again. ( Hey it's the same piece of paper you , yourself gave me 30 minutes ago....)
Then he looks at the two copies..... spending about 15 seconds on each one.......
Amazing......absolutely amazing.....I say to myself...
He then goes in the back room and returns.
He then says you will need photographs, but you can bring them when you come back to pick up the new card.
We hand him the photos.
He is amazed........

He tells us to sit down and wait, just as I plant my ass on the chair, he calls my name.

I return to the counter, and he hands me the temporary paper stapled with the bank receipt.
Looks at me and smiles and says I can return in about a week.
Thank you,
No, Thank YOU!

The system this year is more streamlined, but it could be a lot more streamlined, but that is wishing waaaaay too much.

A little step at a time I guess.

Yes, I know, I should just chuck all this and become a citizen......
I was hoping that there would be a reciprocal agreement made with the US.......
We take yours, you take ours..........
Naaaw , it will be one sided only.

11 comments:

JerryL said...

Bureaucrats have always protected their stations in life. Mexico is no different than the US, or Italy or the UK.
Figuring out how to work with the system is key to sane living.
Good luck.

Don Cuevas said...

You actually took a photo while inside the INAMI office? Tienes huevos grandes, amigo.

The first time we present or printout from the online form, we were told it was wrong, and we'd have to do it over. I decided to go home and do it on my own computer, as I am accustomed to it.

We'd also had trouble with our calle conocida pero sin nombre and our casa sin número, but the man told us how to do it the way they wanted it.

When I finally figured out which menu led to what form, it became obvious that the form was identical to the previous, except for the title at the top..

It was accepted.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas

Tancho said...

How sad that they are not willing to simply correct that one line, while you are standing in front of them but instead make you walk through burning coals to correct and return again and again if there is a little correction.
But then again time is not an important commodity down here, is it?
We considered going home to redo it, but.....

Michael Dickson said...

Why anyone who is eligible doesn´t become a citizen at the earliest possible opportunity is beyond me.

I did it five years ago, and I´ve been sitting pretty ever since.

Mike Nickell and Cynthia Johnson said...

I think JerryL says it all: Bureaucrats have always protected their stations in life.

Same with attorneys and legalese...it's a racket, I tell you! (Heehee - and that's coming from a paralegal so don't figure out legalese or I'll never find a job.)

Anonymous said...

With the current level of xenophobia in the US, it's a wonder that Mexico even allows Americans to cross their border! The tea partiers and other ignorami seem to be trying their best to ruin our relationship.

Tancho said...

Oh Anonymous,
I wasn't aware the the US had much xenophobia, I was told that it was for the illegals and not the normal immigrants that do the paperwork, like is expected in Mexico....
For some reason Mexico has more enforcement than NOB, or is that just my perception?

Michael Dickson said...

Tell the nameless one that Mexico will toss your butt back over the border quick as lick if they catch you down here with no visa. And rightly so. I´ve seen it happen. The U.S. should do the same thing.

It´s not xenophobia that´s running hog wild in the U.S., it´s that the citizenry is bone-weary of the flood of my paisanos crossing the open border without a visa, ignoring the laws, and the federal government´s refusal to do the job they´re elected to do. Doesn´t seem to matter which U.S. party is in power.

Americans in general have no problem with legal immigrants. Would that they were a larger percentage of the newcomers.

Tancho said...

Well said Felipe, I knew I could get the lowdown from a Mexican citizen.

Michael Dickson said...

It may shock our nameless commenter to know that we Mexicans are blatant racial profilers too. A couple years back a team of immigration agents came to Pátzcuaro and went around downtown asking anybody who looked like a Gringo to show their visa. Yes, they just asked the lily-white folks this question. That, of course, makes perfect sense.

And traffic cops stop folks based on their skin color every day. The whiter you are, the more cash you´re expected to hand over.

While we just toss Gringo illegals back over the border intact, we roundly abuse illegals who steal over our southern border from Central America. We rob, rape and murder them, and often it´s the cops doing it.

The irony is striking. While we huff and puff in righteous indignation at the thought that we don´t have the right to enter the U.S. without papers, we don´t stand still for a moment when foreigners enter our country in precisely the same way.

Calypso said...

It most certainly is frustrating when red tape has many apparent better ways connected to its clunky process. Some seem so obvious they make the process just ludicrous enough to simply follow knowing what you are doing has little logic to it anyway.

I have been here long enough now to have known BEFORE I go to the comments that Felipe would serve up his “why not just become a citizen” speech. Oh my!

I finally feel like a member of the virtual fellars slinging lots of chisme crowd – BYOCP (bring your own coffee and pan dulce).

Responding to Don Cuevas’ comment regarding the taking of a photo in the INAMI office, the local Xalapa branch was so difficult to find with no signage etc. that as a public service I took it upon myself to provide a photo for our Forum. I was across one of Xalapa’s bigger avenues taking said photo(s) when two hombres, a cleaning man I believe and a uniformed official, risked life and limb to rush across the road and emphatically demanded I cease taking photos of their non-descript building. They were not interested in my tale about my effort to help other immigrants locate the office – not at all.

That second comment of Felipe's is jam packed with wisdom and truth. He is such a clever fellow - a hero of mine really.

It did start falling apart around the time Ozzie and Harriet went off the air - didn’t it?