Change of address

Ok, I really need to vent. I went to the immigration office to change my address. Granted, I waited until the eleventh hour, which happened to be Easter week. I had to make 4 trips. First I did not have my initial, back home to redo. Then I made then grave error of putting a period after my initial. Back home to redo the online form. office closed for 4 days. I had received helpful info from one of Spencer's staff to fill out the online form, but failed to have picture id's of the office staff who had helped me with my visa. This was feeling like a Saturday Night Live skit..
I suggested to the woman that changing address shouldn't be so difficult. She said it isn't if you know what to do, " You are in Mexico, you should know Spanish".
Oh man, I really wanted to tell her I had helped many Mexicans in the hospital who didn't know English, interpreters were provided..meanwhile a gringo came in who presented her with a visa card from a friend who had died. She insisted he make a copy of the death certificate and bring it in." If I tell you to make a copy, you make a copy". He said, I don't have to do this...I am doing you a favor. She very reluctantly made a copy with the copier on the desk. She told the man "I am doing you a favor"
Maybe I feel a little better now...but I know what discrimination and powerlessness feels like.

I'm sorry you had a difficult time at that government office doing what seems like should be an easy procedure.

I remember changing my address with them and also my "work status" and managed okay by myself. It's a government office in Mexico and there is no question you have to do it "their way".....like all government bureaucracies throughout the world, etc., in my experience.

If you are unable or unwilling to learn enough Spanish to navigate those kinds of procedures, it's probably best to simply hire someone who can help you get it done painlessly. Save yourself the aggravation and multiple trips. There is no shortage of professionals locally who can get it done for you efficiently and who charge very reasonable fees to prevent you hardship.

If you're unwilling to pay those reasonable fees then, good luck in the future.

Personally, I've never been "discriminated against" in that office, and the use of that word seems entirely unfair. I know sometimes it's necessary to vent from frustration. Good luck in the future.

I got you beat. It took me 7 trips, including a 1 hour interview with 2 witnesses that I had to bring along, to complete my change of address.

Never again will I try to do it myself.

A friend had a bad experience with what seems to be the same woman. Luckily she had a Mexican friend with her even though she speaks passable Spanish. This is a newer person & I guess they have to have a quota of nasty employees since the fat guy is gone.

hahahah sigh Yes, I well remember stalling around so as to miss having to get the fat guy.

Normal. It took three hours and three trips for my wife to change address and yes she speaks spanish and read the instructions and followed them.

Is this changing within MX or from another country? Is there a site that says what to do? The part about the . after your MI is a bit mucho! So far all I've had to do is change names at utilities companies. Those folks have been extremely kind, patient and helpful.

Changing within Mexico. FYI your Visa agreement requires you change address when you move. It is what it is....

Z

Playaboy wrote:I got you beat.  It took me 7 trips, including a 1 hour interview with 2 witnesses that I had to bring along, to complete my change of address.  

Never again will I try to do it myself.  

7 trips and a one hour interveiw with two witnesses,for an address change?
What questions did they ask you in the interview?

nthensome wrote:
 Maybe I feel a little better now...but I know what discrimination and powerlessness feels like.
 

Pobrecito,que sufrido...

Check this out.

viajero wrote:

Playaboy wrote:I got you beat.  It took me 7 trips, including a 1 hour interview with 2 witnesses that I had to bring along, to complete my change of address.  

Never again will I try to do it myself.  

7 trips and a one hour interveiw with two witnesses,for an address change?
What questions did they ask you in the interview?

Yes, 7 trips thru the bureaucrats merry-go-round.  The PDC office has a decades long reputation that makes the Chapala office "fat man" look like an amateur.  

For the interview I brought a gringa amiga and a Mayan amigo.  Since the gringa didn't speak Spanish, she had to wait in the reception area. The officers Spanglish and my Spinglish seemed to work.  Questions like; when was my 1st time in Mexico? 1973.  Purpose of the trip?  Teenage drinking and girls.  How many times have I traveled to Mexico? Hundreds.  Why do I want to live in PDC?  Beach and diving.  The officer didn't understand my living situation and spoke with my witness awhile about Paamul.  

So 20 minutes of conversation, 40 minutes watching the officer type into her computer, then my amiga called into the office for all of us to sign a document none of us understood.

Just 2 more trips after that. 

Thru it all I gave everyone at INM a big smile.  Just got to love them bureaucrats. It is what it is.

Playaboy wrote:The PDC office has a decades long reputation that makes the Chapala office "fat man" look like an amateur.

Maybe the PDC office has that history. But "King Taco" in the Chapala office was also awful. I remember him well. It was always like drawing the black bean when you had to go to him instead of the nice lady with the thinning hair.

The "fat guy" was a world-class, dead-eyed bureaucrat just looking for any reason at all to say "No", every single time. And he always made the experience as unpleasant as possible while doing so.

Sounds like he's been replaced!

(DANG! I was about to say..... "I'm so glad I don't have to go back to that office since I'm Permanente, but I changed address a while back. So maybe I'll get to meet the new horror! jajajajaja!)

That is strange. We almost always dealt with “the fat guy“ at the Chapala INM office and never had a problem. He was always pleasant, tolerated our somewhat fractured Spanish and was efficient in producing our documents through several renewals, before we became permanentes.

You were one of the lucky few, RV. I have never heard a public employee more vilified by more people who would do anything to avoid dealing with him. He generally was a bad actor.

His English was very poor, so it was easier to use what Spanish we could muster, and he seemed happy that we did. I suspect that he may have tried to get rid of those who insisted on English, as it frustrated him.

This is why we use an inexpensive facilitator here in Merida.

No, RV, most of those people were either very good Spanish speakers, spoke passable Spanish about like yours or brought a Spanish speaker with them. Language was not the issue.

I dealt with the fat guy when he worked in Guadalajara, he was awful, always looking to say no and make you come back. He did it to me one too many times and I told him I wanted to speak to the boss when he told me some bs about my papers not being there. I knew they were there because I had spoken to the boss before asking..all of a sudden he found my papers..I have no problem speaking Spanish and that guy was a nightmare.

I've never had ANY problems with either getting my permanante visa OR changing my address (a couple of times since I moved here). I've always used Spencer McMullen's office, and they have been extremely helpful. Easy peasy!

brigitte wrote:I dealt  with the fat guy when he worked in Guadalajara, he was awful, always looking to say no and make you come back. ..... I have no problem speaking Spanish and that guy was a nightmare.

Yep. It had nothing to do with a language barrier. He was an equal opportunity asshole.

I remember one time, before they opened the Chapala Office and only came out once a week to the Palacio Municipal, I spent 3 or so hours waiting my turn under the bigtop tent and he screwed me in the end, gleefully saying, "See you in Guadalajara!".

Total jackass.

Now this new person at the office....I sort of look forward to meeting!

hahaha Rosa. I forgot about his MO there at the Palacio, you are right! That was where first I formed an opinion on him and tried hardest to avoid him.

I could never decide if he hated his job and took it out on us or if he just hated us! lol

I also noticed that he was happiest in the new office when he had a gaggle of facilitators to work with. That's when I was happiest too!

He took care of my paperwork one time at the Palacio when I turned it in 1 day before the expiration date. When I came back to get my visa I had to pay a 500 peso fine because the paperwork showed I had turned it in to INM two days LATE. I think he held my paperwork to hassle me. It did no good to argue with him, of course.

I think they forget how the expats support the economy at the lake and all of the volunteering and giving expats do.

I think they remember the entitled attitudes and actions of a few ex-pats.