Topic: Paperwork

Sunday, October 19, 2008 - 08:30 PM

Over the past couple of years, I have refrained from opening a Mexican bank account for several reasons. One of which is that every time I have gone into a local bank, the size of the crowd and the length of the lines made me think that they must be giving away large bags of money. Needless to say, the massive presence of the banking public dampened my enthusiasm for establishing a financial footprint in Mazatlan.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 05:32 PM

We have been avoiding opening a Mexican bank account. Everyone we have talked to has told us it is a long, grueling process that takes most of a day. I certainly didn't want anything to do with that. I have much better things to do with my time than sit in a bank all day, thank you. And really, we have gotten along just fine without one. All our money is in an American bank account that we access through an ATM without problems. In fact, our bank charges us no fees to use any ATM anywhere in the world, so keeping our American bank account has been a very practical and economical choice. Until now.

Sunday, June 01, 2008 - 05:04 PM

The federal electric company, CFE, works in ways I do not understand, and sometimes hurts my brain. Of course, a lot of my confusion stems from the fact that I have NOB sensibilities and ideas about how things should be done. I am sure this will change slowly over time, as I become more integrated into my new home and culture, but for now, I am really annoyed.

Thursday, May 08, 2008 - 02:29 AM

Today is the one year anniversary of our border crossing into Mexico and the start of our new life. We celebrated it by going to migracion to finish the renewal of our FM-3s. Yes, we just took our final proof that we had registered with Hacienda to pay taxes 9 days ago. It took us so long to get our working permission, that we only had 9 days of sweet, blessed legalness before we had to reapply.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 - 03:57 AM

When Chuck and I were contemplating our move to Mazatlan, we knew we were going to be working. Let's face it, we're in our low-to-mid 30's. We haven't worked long enough to build up the kind of nest egg necessary to retire. We have an online computer components store, and I have US clients for my web development business, but we knew that if we wanted our house with a view and to go out to eat whenever we wanted and a maid and all the other little things that make life great, we were going to need to generate some additional income.

Sunday, September 23, 2007 - 12:59 AM

Our very low electric bills have been very exciting to us. We came from Fort Worth, where in the Summer, our electric bill could be $800USD. And ours was low compared to a lot of our neighbors. So when we got our first electric bill, a scarce $204MXN, we were astonished and did a happy dance. Other people we spoke with thought that was a little low, but we reminded them that we don't have air conditioning. We insisted that fact, combined with the different rates charged to each neighborhood made up for the difference between our bill and theirs. A theory proven false.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 08:40 PM

We screwed up our courage and went to Dallas today. We battled Kamikaze drivers, choking smog, and a growing sense of surreality, but for once no one was murdered while we were there, and we made it out alive. Alive, but without visas.

Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 10:25 PM

We know that you can get your FMT and Temporary Car Permit at the border, but we wanted to get ours ahead of time. It has been described as couple hour procedure, and we are going to have the dogs with us. That means Chuck goes in and gets his FMT and the car permit while I wait in the car with the dogs. Then when he comes back, I go get my FMT. Ugh.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 02:55 AM

Coordinating going to the passport office together wasn't going to happen, so I went the office at the nearby sub courthouse and Chuck went to the office downtown during his lunch hour. We both planned to go on a Friday, but when I showed up at the sub courthouse, no one was in the passport office. They only open that office on Mondays and Wednesdays, which I would have known had I bothered to read the additional information available on the passport office location search site.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 05:40 PM

We contacted our real estate agent, Joanne Stewart, yesterday. It felt like a really big move and it was great. We’re not at the no turning back point yet, far from it. But it feels like a real move toward our goal.

Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 08:35 PM

I got my certified copy of my birth certificate in the mail today. It arrived in the self-addressed, stamped envelope I provided. I opened it and realized it isn’t actually a copy of my birth certificate, its a standard form with the blanks filled out by somebody with a typewriter, signed by a stamp, and passed somewhere in the vicinity of the official seal.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 11:50 PM

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.