Surviving Yucatan

Our full article on the New Immigration Rules for Mexico is at:
New Rules and Procedures for Immigration, Visiting, and Staying in Mexico – Nov. 11, 2012

I talked with an INM supervisor and an experienced agent for an hour yesterday at our Merida office, and confirmed the following things for how Merida INM is handling residency applications.

1. They confirmed that all current FM2 and FM3 permit holders get full credit for time they have completed on their current permit. 2. If you want a Residente Permanente card, FM2 and FM3 years count towards the 4 years of Residente Temporal requirement.
3. FM2 and FM3 holders are asked to submit a cover letter describing that you want a “renovacion” of your current permit, changing to either Residente Temporal or Residente Permanente.
4. FM2 holders with Familiar/spouse status are eligible to apply for Residente Permanente after completing 2 years on their FM2.
5. The income requirements for proving fiscal independence are cut in half (1/2) for both home-owning Residente Permanente and Residente Temporal applicants who already have valid Inmigrante Rentista or No Inmigrante Rentista permits. This same condition is being reported from Yucalandia readers across Mexico.
6. They are generally not requiring bank statements from people who already have their FM2 Rentista or FM3 Rentista. They do however, reserve the right to ask for proof of sufficient income.
7. New applicants for Residente Permanente or Temporal (who have no current FM2 or FM3) are required to show proof of sufficient income.
8. If you have a “Lucrativo” category of prior INM permit, then you likely have to show bank statements. e.g. Permisos para realizar actividades remuneradas , have different requirements than Rentistas or Jubilados.
9. When you enter your information into the INM website, prior to going to your local office: One block of information is actually a Formato Basico, so most people do not have to fill out a Formato Basico at the INM office.
10. Bring the standard stuff on your first visit to the INM office: Letter, copies of key passport pages, passport, current INM card, but NO bank statements. They will ask for these later if they decide they want them.

Our full article with all the details on the New Immigration Rules for Mexico is at:
New Rules and Procedures for Immigration, Visiting, and Staying in Mexico – Nov. 11, 2012

* * * * * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff.

Our full article on just what might happen on Dec. 21, 2012, and the Mysteries of the Maya Calendar can be read in our article at:
2012 Maya Calendar Mystery and Math vs. Thor’s Day, Worship the Sun Day, …

Maya Calendar People:
What will you be doing on Dec 21 / 23, 2012

This is an appeal to all Maya Calendar People, and the rest us of us too, to tell us what you will be doing when the odometer rollllllls over….

Really, all the excitement is about one part of at least a 6 part Maya Calendar. The upcoming changing takes us through a truly magic number that occurs just one day out of almost 2 million days. Just like European cultures have magic numbers like Lucky 7’s, bad 13’s, etc, the ancient Maya thought 13 was special. 13 months in the religious calendar (Tzolkin calendar), etc.

Since the Long Count (a 5 digit number) gets to the value 13.0.0.0.0 only once every 5000 years, … then sometime between Dec. 21 or Dec. 23, we will have moved from the first magic-number of the Calendar’s Long count starting date (4-Ajau, Dios 9, 8-Kumku) of the Long Count, through 5,126 years as 1,872,000 days, to the mysterious magic ” 13.0.0.0.0 “, when the odometer rolls over to … 4-Ajau 8-Lanl’n.

vs.

The mystery deepens, as this magic date is only mentioned on 2 stelae, but because celestial events, ….

* * * *
Curious readers who would like to know more about the surprisingly rational, predictable, math based Maya Calenders can check out just what might happen on Dec. 21, 2012, and the Mysteries of the Maya Calendar:
2012 Maya Calendar Mystery and Math vs. Thor’s Day, Worship the Sun Day, …

* * * * * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff.

Nov 14, 2012 Update
Our full article on the New Immigration Rules for Mexico is at:
New Rules and Procedures for Immigration, Visiting, and Staying in Mexico – Nov. 11, 2012
* * * *
Surviving Yucatan has been receiving some really fine reports from expats around Mexico, describing how the 2011 INM law and new regs are actually working. Since these reports are entered in the Comments section of either of 1 post or 2 articles, some readers may not see all of them. We especially liked the details and thorough-ness of one reader’s efforts.

Here is that novel set of comments:

Gary writes: (11/14/2011)
I called the Hotline in DF four separate times today to see if I would get a different answer when speaking to another agent than the first one this morning, and, the answer from the four was the same;

2) You do not have to change to Permanente, just as you are not required to do now.
At the expiration of you Temp Visa, you may renew for 1-4 years at your discretion and stay in the country indefinitely. However each four years (if you renew for four years) you will have to once again show bank statements for six months showing the minimum monthly is being met. You do not have to leave the country and reapply in the US or Canada. You renew as you currently do forever…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Wow, your repeated questions got some pretty tight answers, detailing the precise conditions of possible paths to change from a current FM2 or FM3 permit to a Residente Permanente permit.

I especially like the distinction that Gary drew out by questioning around how their might be differences between lucrativo FM3/FM2s vs rentista no lucrativo FM3/FM2 permit holder requirements. This might explain why some applicants are being asked to show bank statements, and others do not show bank statements. ??

Are any readers out visiting the regional offices finding confirmation of the requirements/rules they described to Gary?

One local Merida report, from an expat residency applicant, says that the local INM offices are NO LONGER doing final approvals or laminating Tarjetas de Residencia any more. Each application is now sent to a central office in DF, where they cross-check the applicant’s information, issue a final approval, and print and laminate the Tarjeta de Residencia (Residency Card).

These extra steps involving some central INM office in DF are reported to extend the whole application and approval process out to a total of 30 days (or more?).

If some central INM office in DF is reviewing all applications, then maybe they will have final say over approving the variations in requirements being reported from different regional INM offices?

Yet more fun things to wait-and-see how they are resolved.

Anybody else experiencing similar things or reading similar first-person reports?
steve

* * * * * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff.

Our full article on the New Immigration Rules for Mexico is at:
New Rules and Procedures for Immigration, Visiting, and Staying in Mexico – Nov. 11, 2012

Nov. 10, 2012 Fresh Updates
The INM now answers questions over the fone:
Immigration Hotline
01-800-004-6264
24 hours / day and 7 days a week.
They answer quickly and a few speak English.

Special Thanks! to John Garvin for being persistent to ferret out and share this tasty update.

Why did John call them?
To find out that: “the time on a FM-3 does not count. Time on a FM-2 does count towards Permanent Resident.”

This confirms what Cancun INM agents told us last week, but it contradicts reports about how 2 other regional INM offices have initially answered this key question.
Thanks John!

* * * *

A full set of details and instructions on
~ How to Visit Mexico: Immigration, Importation, and Traveling with Children, and
~ How to apply for Residency in Mexico
~ How the new Immigration Rules fit with becoming a Naturalized Citizen and
~ Rights and Responsibilities of Residents and Naturalized Citizens in Mexico …
can be found at New Rules and Procedures for Immigration, Visiting, and Staying in Mexico

If you want summaries of the previous changes (taking effect on Nov. 9, 2012), describing the details that affect tourists and expats in Mexico, please see our previous older Article on the May 2012 New Immigration Law at: New Immigration Law Published for Mexico

* * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff.

Our full article on the New Immigration Rules for Mexico is at:
New Rules and Procedures for Immigration, Visiting, and Staying in Mexico
* * * *

If you want summaries of the previous changes (taking effect on Nov. 9, 2012), describing the details that affect tourists and expats in Mexico, please see our previous older Article on the May 2012 New Immigration Law at: New Immigration Law Published for Mexico

* * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff.

People on various message boards for the SurEste de Mexico (a.k.a. the Yucatan Peninsula) have been predicting a direct laser-like hit by Ernesto on Merida and Progreso.

We at Yucalandia have a slightly different take on the official US NOAA and Natl. Hurricane Center data on Ernesto.

See full article at: Tropical Storm (Hurricane?) Ernesto’s Potential Paths

* * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Dr. Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff!

It’s that time again.

We are approaching the 2012 US elections, and the voter registration rules for US citizens abroad have changed.

The US Embassy in Mexico has made a good synopsis of the new rules, and given good how-to descriptions of how to vote in the upcoming US elections for US citizens living internationally.

*          *            *          *
Full article at: Official Voting Instructions for US Citizens Abroad
*         *         *         *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Dr. Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff!

After Friday’s Supreme Court announcement on the ACA – Obamacare, there are bundles of questions that now arise affecting US citizens who are outside the USA.

This article is for all the Americans traveling or living abroad who have, so far, avoided learning about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), affectionately known as “Obamacare” to those interested in Obama’s legacy.

Many readers now wonder what are the effects on US expats, now that the US Supreme Court has ruled that Obamacare is legal.

Are US citizens outside the US covered / protected by the ACA? . . .
*          *            *          *
Full article at: ACA – Obamacare’s Effects on American Expats Living Abroad
*         *         *         *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Dr. Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff!

Why I changed my mind this weekend,  … or …

Is the ACA all it’s cracked-up-to-be:   Is there more-than-meets-the-eye ?

Does “Obamacare” actually address the real problems plaguing US healthcare?

Reform the failed system by making it even bigger?

Is Bigger always better ? . . .

* * * *
Full article at: ACA “Obamacare”: Necessary Change or “Bigger must be Better” ?

* * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Dr. Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff!

Flotsam and jetsam:  Just more shmata, drek or occasionally useful stuff, nu?

Trash and treasure really are in the eye of the beholder.

What follows is an egocentric (living?) collection of odds and ends.

As a science guy, people have often asked if there is …

*         *          *         *
Full article at: Quick ‘n Easy Conversions etc – The Article

*         *          *         *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Dr. Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff!

Confused about the ins-and-outs of changing money in Mexico and the USA, how to get reliable exchange rates, plus some of the nitty gritty details on how the credit card, bank debit cards, currency exchange and ATM systems work? Rather than a dry discourse of skads of financial details and jargon that make our eyes glaze over, we’re going to try give you some tricks to make managing your travel dollars easily and well.

Some expat experts proclaim:
~~ Using a credit card will always give you the worst exchange rates anywhere in the world. ~~
~~ Credit cards always give the best exchange rates. ~~
~~ ATMs are the only way to go! ~~
~~ Try to get the official exchange rates! ~~
~~ None of us have enough money to ever get the published rate. ~~
~~ I have always used Traveler’s Checks. Aren’t they still the best choice? ~~

. . .
*           *            *           *
Full article at: Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico
*           *            *           *

Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff!

May 28 update: (see below)
3 guys were seen by the police taking stuff out of 64 year old Pennsylvania retiree Leo Robert Wicard’s home (per SIPSE ~  or  60 year old “Robert Leen Wicard” per Diario de Yucatan ~)  in San Sebastian, Merida, Yucatan at 4 en la madrugada. The guys explained that they were taking the stuff to be pawned…

The cops smelled something putrid and found the body   ~   rotting   ~ “semi-interned”  ~  in the house.

The men had lived with the decaying corpse for 2 weeks…

One American’s blog is reporting that one of the participants is a transvestite, a twist that even Poe had not imagined.

*           *            *           *
Yet another reason to have good relations with the neighbors?
Por Esto reports that the murderers had the run of his house for 2 weeks, before someone finally called police.  ~ Wicard was not known(?) nor well-liked(?) by his neighbors. ~ ??

Update:
. . . Subsequent unverified “news reports” over the 2 days following initial reports, now include salacious details that claim that Wicard was a homosexual who supposedly had open door, open house, and open bottle policies for guests who stopped by his home. If the allegations are true, then this becomes a warning tale of the potential risks of inviting strangers into our homes.
*           *            *           *
Full article at: Lo matan en su casa
Asesinos ocultan al extranjero en su propio jardín
*           *            *           *

Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Steven M. Fry

Read on, MacDuff!

La,   El,   “a”   or   “o“…

Cruising the web this morning exposed yet another gringo saying:
” “O” endings on words are masculine      😮 ”

This “gem” of wisdom came from a well experienced gringo who posts very regularly, claims over 20 years on & off in Mexico, and a guy who spins good “insider” yarns about hanging out with many of Merida’s elite, writing advice rich with personal ideas of Mexican/Yucatecan culture.

This little “gem” is particularly seductive, because it is so simple.
Easy to understand, easy to remember, and so easy to apply.
…

Have any readers considered that overly-simple gringo-Spanish rules might have caused your workers or store clerk to briefly look askance at you, and gotten you unexpected and sometimes frustrating results?
. . .

Unfortunately, expat assumptions that  “o”  endings means masculine & that  “a”  endings means feminine,  is a major cause of eye-rolling by knowledgeable Spanish speakers. Casual gringo usages of  “el”  and  “la”  also raise myriads of misunderstandings between good-intentioned gringos and their Spanish/Mexican listeners.

Briefly consider how “a” and “o” and “á” endings right can get gringos into no end of problems: . . .

* * * *
Full Article at: El, La, “a”, “o”: Easy as Pie? or Fraught with Confusion for Gringos?
* * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Steven M. Fry

Read-on MacDuff . . .

Use only approved containers for gasoline . . .
Does anyone else ever wonder about the quality of Mexico’s single brand of Pemex gasoline versus the USA’s plethora of brands?

As a combination car-guy / chemist, I have seen both the car problems and environmental problems that gasoline and gasoline stations can cause, but I never imagined that our local Pemex station would have such issues with . . .

* * * *
Full article at: Pemex Gasoline: Issues? – The Article
* * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Steven M. Fry

No matter how clean we keep things,
nature finds ways to intrude into our lives.

A good friend recently turned up with odd welts and itchy bumps on their hands. Their first guess was that they had a reaction to touching the sticky syrup on mangoes. The sticky sap on mangoes can act like poison ivy, causing such reactions in some people. When the reaction goes away, we tend to forget about it … unless it is scabies – and doesn’t go “away”.

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Scabies?
NIH PubMed Scabies Reference
Scabies is a skin reaction due to an allergy to small mites. Scabies produces small red bumps and blisters. The mites that cause scabies feed on humans, burrow into the skin, and deposit their eggs (maturing in 21 days). The burrows look like a pencil mark. The burrows are tiny and threadlike, between 2 mm to 15 mm long. They look like thin gray, brown, or red lines.

.

.

<= Here’s a picture of the allergic reaction, the burrows, and infected pus points from scratching.
.
.
.

Scabies is generally spread by skin-to-skin contact with another person who has scabies (mites).
Our pets and animals cannot spread human scabies, . . .
*          *            *            *
Full article at: Scabies – Mites – Los Ácaros – The Article
*           *            *              *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
Steven M. Fry

See full article at: Higher Airfares, Gasoline Prices, and Shipping Costs Driven by Demand or Speculation?

An interesting question was posed to Rolly Brook and me on Mexconnect. ONAPPAFA – Importing a Used Car into Mexico

Mexconnect Topic: Importing a Used Car into Mexico:
Sculptari writes: Rolly and Steve -how does this ONAPPAFA thing work? apparently it is real popular near the border, under the guise of a grassroots movement to protect the rights of Mexican nacionales -especially those living near the border. You hire them to nationalize your car, the first thing they do is file an Amparos, so Aduana cannot seize your car while the application process is ongoing. It is good for one year at time, and costs about $37 USD per year, and you get an annual sticker on the back of your car. After 5 or so years, the org might report that your car is ineligible because it is Japanese (let’s say), but you get 5 years of driving – and the Mexican police are following this -they do not give expired tag tickets, and are constitutionally barred from an impound.
.

Here’s Yucalandia’s take on the rather curious ONAPPAFA program:
Hi Sculptari,
The national President of the ONAPPAFA organization made a filing with the State of Sonora (where this can be a hot issue) on the legality of ONAPPAFA “permits” and problems with them: ONAPPAFA Legal Filing with the State of Sonora. The ONAPPAFA President officially complains of problems that families have when using the ONAPPAFA programs – causing the owners legal problems with State and local authorities: . . .
.  .  .
To each his own,
steve

*          *            *            *
Full article at: ONAPPAFA – An Alternative to Paying Aduana Import Duties and Permit Fees? – The Article

*           *            *              *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry

The Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University (CSU) just released its initial outlook for the 2012 Atlantic basin hurricane season. They expect a milder than normal storm season for the central Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico.

Sounds good right?
Now think back to 1992 when we only had 6 named storms, well below the average of 11.

<= This is Irene.

Remember Andrew?

.
.
.
.

Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season, but . . .
.
.
.
.

Full article at: 2012 Hurricane and Tropical Storm Report – The Article

* * * *
Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry