A Quiet Day

It's early here, so not much has happened yet today, however we did complete the paperwork to file for our Immigrante - Rentista visas (the old FM2) yesterday afternoon. The package (including pictures that only a mother could love) will be taken to INM on Monday and we should be told later in the day when we can expect the visas to be issued. It has been taking about 7 days, so we should have them in plenty of time for our trip to Santa Fe for the opera.

This means that our car will be legal while we are out of the county.

Under our tourist visa the car needed to leave the county when we left. However, we're flying to Tijuana and then crossing the border on foot - no car involved. In the past, because the flight is within the country, the airline has not picked up our tourist visa, nor was it collected when we crossed the border (many people are not required to obtain a visa if they stay within the border area).

Nevertheless, our visa would be effectively cancelled when we left the country and without a valid visa the temporary import permit for the car would be cancelled, too.

So soon we'll be legal for an entire year at a time with the ability to come and go under the same visa. We can be out of the country a total of 18 months during the five-year period without having to start the process all over again. And at the end of five years we'll be able to apply for Immigrado status with no more annual renewals (and fees) required.