In 1980, when I was married and living
in Los Angeles, my wife and I took a trip to Club Med in Playa Blanca, Mexico.
We boarded a 707 passenger jet, chartered by a travel agency, on a Friday night
bound for Manzanillo.
To my surprise, the plane landed in La
Paz on the Baja Peninsula where each passenger was given a card by the
stewardess and told to fill it out. Then we all disembarked from the plane,
stood in line in the terminal, handed the cards to a customs agent, got back on
the plane and eventually took off for our original destination.
Apparently, this exercise in
inefficiency was standard procedure for entering Mexico. Even though no one got
on or off at La Paz, it was a "port of entry" into the country so we
all had to go through this bureaucratic absurdity.
While my ex-wife always seemed to enjoy
our travels, this sort of nonsense generally caused my blood to exceed the
boiling point of tungsten. But it's nothing compared to the rigors involved in
moving to Mexico.
A director with SW Bell in St. Louis
recently posted an Internet account of his ordeal in relocating to Mexico. In
order to receive a permanent work visa, called an FM3, the man had to submit
the following original items:
- Birth certificate (plus his wife's birth certificate)
- Marriage certificate
- High school transcripts and proof of graduation
- College transcripts and proof of graduation
- Two letters of recommendation from supervisors he had worked for at least one year
- A letter from the Chief of Police of St. Louis indicating he had no arrest record, no outstanding warrants and was "a citizen in good standing"
- He also had to personally write a letter about himself clearly stating why there was no Mexican citizen with his skills and explain why his skills were important to Mexico
The above documents then had to be
certified as legal transactions, notarized and translated into Spanish.
Next, he and his wife spent five hours,
accompanied by a Mexican lawyer, visiting various government offices where they
were photographed and fingerprinted three different times. At four separate
locations, they were instructed on Mexican tax law, Mexican labor law, Mexican
housing law and Mexican criminal law.
The couple paid out a total of $4,000
in fees (and bribes) to complete the process.
They were required to obtain a Mexican
driver's license. Once again, photographed and fingerprinted. They were
instructed that if ever stopped by a policeman to never give their driver's
license to the policeman (instead, hold it against the inside of the window)
otherwise they would have to pay a ransom to get it back.
At that point, the man was issued a
"permanent" FM3 work visa, which was good for three years and renewal
for two more years after paying additional fees.
Hell hath no fury like a bureaucracy
scorned.
As U.S. citizens, the couple was not
allowed to purchase a home and required to rent in compliance with Mexican law.
In addition, to submit their annual Mexican income tax required about 20
legal-size pages.
The U.S. Congress has been currently
working on new immigration legislation that may include some improved security
across the southern border, temporary work permits for Mexican laborers, etc.
However, the Mexican government is
opposed to any such legislation because they consider it to be an insult and
inconvenience to their people.
Note to the Mexican government -- Life
is a two-way street and convenience isn't exactly your specialty.
The USA needs seasonal Mexican laborers
(jobs most Americans won't do) and the laborers need the work. There must be a
simple solution to this problem, but adding more government bureaucracy
probably isn't it.
In an imperfect world, where fruit
grows on trees, there are growers and pickers and consumers -- and those whose
sole purpose in life seems to be to make it more difficult for everyone to
venture from Point A to Point B.
___________
Quote for the Day – “The greatest power
of bureaucracies is to make the smart act stupid and the good to act evil.”
Raul Ramos
___________
Bret Burquest is the author of 12 books. He lives in the Ozark
Mountains with a few dogs and rarely ventures south of the county line.
___________
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