I was talking with Chuck and the subject of our impending move came up, like it does several times a day. It’s one of our favorite topics. We are both pretty much suffering from anticipation illness. Chuck said something about moving in a year, and I stopped. That’s the timeframe we always talk about. Right then it hit me: we’re not talking a year anymore. It’s 10 months.
We’ve realized its time to start taking care of the necessary paperwork. Ugh. My passport expired a few years ago and Chuck has never had one, so we have to visit the passport office. We looked up the application and documentation required and realized that we both needed to locate our birth certificates. Turns out Chuck doesn’t have his either. Good news is that Brenda, Chuck’s mother, being the superwoman she is, has been keeping it for him and knows precisely where it is. God I love that woman. My mom, who is also a superwoman (just a fastidious, clean-out-the-closets-four-times -a-year kind of superwoman), put all my stuff in a box, including my baby book, and handed it to me when I moved out. Not being a clean-out-the-closets kind of girl myself, I have no idea what happened to that box. Crap.
I did what I always do. I hit the internet and looked for a way to get a copy of my birth certificate. Looking at the search results, it seems that the town in Massachusetts where I was born is the last town in th US without a way to take care of this task over the internet. In fact, I was hard pressed to find a web site for the town at all.
I finally found the name and phone number of the city clerk and gave her a call. I asked how I would go about obtaining a copy of my birth certificate. She was very nice and told me I just needed to come into her office and she would take care of it. After a long pause, I asked if there was a way that didn’t involve my showing up in person. Then it was her turn for a pause. I guess most people don’t move away from there. She finally said I could send a letter with my request and include a check and self-addressed, stamped envelope and do it by mail. Wow. mail. Not even a form to download or have faxed to me. Good thing I went to college.
My official letter writing skills were a bit rusty, but I got it done. (Although I did have to look up whose address goes at the top.) Now all I needed to do was write the check. Hmmm. A check. I did finally remember where the checkbook was. Blew the dust off and got that done. I was even able to dig up 2 stamps. Now all I have to do is wait. How long? I have no idea. Good thing I got started when I did.
That experience made us realize that we should visit the Mexican Consulate in Dallas sooner rather than later. We’ve been told several times that paperwork is much slower in Mexico than here, so early bird and all that. We know its going to take us more than one trip, so we’ll probably try to make the first one in the next few weeks.
We’ve realized that now is probably a good time to start dealing with the legal aspects of starting a business in Mexico. There are so many things to know. If anyone knows a good Notario Publico or Abogado in Mazatlan, drop us a line. We’ll keep you posted on the paperwork.
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