We started this process by deciding to nationalize our car this year (a year in advance) just to have it already done when we must have it nationalized next August. Because we thought that we were going to be in the 'must' situation this year, we had a bit of money set aside and figured that we'd just spend it on other things if we didn't go through with the process now.
We surveyed several people who would facilitate this process for us before settling on one person here in town whom we had used for a variety of projects since deciding to move to San Miguel. We gathered a whole bunch of documents deemed necessary (vehicle title from South Dakota; this year's registration from SD with license plate number; a picture of the van's VIN number; two photos of the entire outside of the car; our passports with copies; our Residente Temporal visas (with copies of both sides); a utility bill and copy which showed our names and address - and since we rent the house and thus the utlilities are in the landlord's name, the lease with a copy and a copy of the front and back of his IFE card (sort of a voter's ID card); and a copy of our Mexican Driver's Licenses.
Since we didn't yet have Mexican Driver's licenses - we had kept our California licenses current - we had to go through that process which required much of the same documentation plus a letter from the Presidencia (City Hall) attesting that we lived in San Miguel at our address. This letter included a photo - which meant we had to go get new photos taken with specific requirements: no jewelry or earrings (not a problem!), hair off the forehead (not a problem...), no facial hair (goodbye beard), no smiling. Once we had assembled everything we needed and turned it in at the Presidencia, it only took a day to pick up the finished letter but then we had to go to the Transito office which issued the driver's licenses with our physical report and blood/eye test results. Luckily we had retained our expired California licenses to turn in so we didn't have to take the driver's test in Spanish! (I suppose this shouldn't be a shock to anyone.) We paid for the 5-year license so we won't have to go through this process again very soon.
There was also the question of in whose name the car would be registered. While our car is currently register to us both, in Mexico the usual procedure is to register it in no more than one name. Guess they don't believe in the 'X or Y' option, as they would consider it always registered to us both and even if something happened to one of us, they would require proof of his death, et cetera. With only one name on the papers, even if the named party died, it would only require a forged signature and ID to release the car to the other one of us.
Getting a copy of our landlord's IFE card was also a bit of a bother requiring us to engage the services of a friend to communicate the need for a copy with a landlord who speaks only Spanish and lives in another town! But it happened.
After scanning and forwarding all our documents to our local facilitator (who, in turn, forwarded them to the nationalization broker), we were advised to take everything with us to the border. Of course, all the broker was interested in was the original of the title - could care less about any of the other documents we had brought with us. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
So Monday we woke up at 3:30 a.m. and left the house after making sure there was food for the dogs in the fridge (said friend looking after them), sandwiches for our trip were made, and an updated GPS map was downloaded, directions printed out, a list of tolls prepared, and we couldn't think of anything else to do. Drove to the Texas border towns of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. Crossed the border that afternoon (after the #$%^!@ Border Protection Officers ran us through inspections, X-rays, et cetera) and headed to the malls for shopping! Got most of the things on our wish list and headed back downtown to the hotel.
La Posada is a great hotel - older but well-kept up with two restaurants that are both among the top 50 in Texas, nicely furnished rooms, comfy beds, a nice pool with lounges for our Tuesday of waiting around, and on the Rio Bravo (that's the Rio Grande to those of you NOB) between the two bridges we would be using for our trips back and forth to Mexico for the nationalization.
So Tuesday morning we took the car back over to Nuevo Laredo via Bridge II, dropped it with the broker who would handle the process, and walked back across via Bridge I. Spent the day lounging by the aforementioned pool, listening to soft music and sipping aqua frescas. Then the broker called to say the car was ready and we walked back across Bridge I and waited in a small park for the car to arrive. Once we had it back (with a sticker 'MX' on the windshield and a pedimento in hand), we drove it back across Bridge I (more incredulity from the Border Patrol Agents as we tried to explain - without too much detail - why we lived in Mexico, came to Texas, took the car back to Mexico for the day, returned to Texas, and were leaving for Mexico the next day!). Of course, I wanted to blather on about the process (there were also questions of why we were from California and had plates from South Dakota without ever living there), but Michael cut me off: the less information, the fewer questions asked. Probably a good idea; I was set to educate the agent...who was kinda cute in his own way.
So on Wednesday we went to the restaurant for the breakfast buffet at 6:00 am (here the hotel started to let us down) that wasn't ready until 6:20; the hostess from whom we had ordered sandwiches for our return trip who told us she would arrive at 6:00 didn't show up until 6:30 - and there weren't any sandwiches to be had (a message she delegated to our server, although she was standing 20 feet from us) - and the bell man showed up at our room to take our luggage and presents to the valeted car without a cart.... They were doing so well up until then!
So, another long drive home to San Miguel with stops for gas and questionable, pre-packaged sandwiches. It was a long drive (Michael assured me that it was simply the first drive in reverse) with a huge traffic mess in Monterrey, a couple of missteps on our part (we were depending on the GPS as I hadn't printed out the reverse directions), and a tremendous, two-semi accident along the way.
But we made it home. We were to receive a factura (an invoice) in addition to the pedimento and window sticker, but it wasn't ready when the car was. We're still waiting for it to be emailed to us as we cannot begin the registration process without it. I did check the pedimento in Aduana's (Custom's) online database and it seems to be 'real' which is a good thing. (There were some pedimentos issued in another part of Mexico that were phonies and our first facilitator was duped by the broker he was using and we lost half our funds.)
So we sit and wait for the final bit of paperwork to arrive, then go off to the local office to register our pedimento and order actual Mexican license plates! We're almost there with a minimum of trouble. Nothing in Mexico is completely simple....
