Driver's Licenses

In preparation for nationalizing our minivan (more on that later), we are required to have Mexican driver's licenses.  So we set off on that path with the assistance of a good Mexican friend to guide and translate for us.  There's nothing quite like hoping to hear a word or two you can recognize and put together what you think they are telling you.

Obtaining a Mexican driver's license is not difficult but does require some hoops to be jumped through:

• Take a computerized driving test in Spanish;
• Prove your residence with a utility bill (water, gas, telephone - not cable, et cetera - see below) in your name; [Unlike in the US, a utility won't be turned on unless you are the property owner and can prove it, so renter's pay the bills in their landlord's name.]
• Present the results of a medical test including a basic eye test, height, weight, blood pressure, any health issues, and blood type (performed separately);
• Present your current visa and passport (with copies - everything requires copies in Mexico).
• There is also a fee to be paid determined by the length of your license: 2 years, 3 years, or 5 years.

Because we rent our home, not own, we also had to present a letter of residence from the Presidencia (City Hall) which had its own requirements:

• Birth Certificate;
• Passport;
• Visa;
• Two photographs of a certain size with certain requirements (size of head in photo, no jewelry, no hair on forehead - or facial hair (there went the beard and mustache!), no eyeglasses, no smiling;
• Proof of residence (a utility bill - for this purpose one in our landlord's name was okay);
• Pay a modest fee (about $4.50) for the letter which would be ready the next day.

So we jumped through the hoops,  going first to one lab for the blood typing, then a clinic for the health certificate, then a photo shop for our required photos, then to the Presidencia for the letter that confirmed our residence in San Miguel. All were within walking distance of each other except City Hall and that was on a bus route.  And with copies of everything.  The Presidencia office kept copies of our documents after comparing them to the originals; the Transito office kept the originals.

The second day we first picked up our letters from the Presidencia and presented them as part of our packet for our actual license.  We skipped the testing (thank Heavens - rules of the road in Spanish!?!) by turning in our California drivers licenses.  (Luckily, we had held on to our old, expired licenses so we didn't have to give up our current California licenses.)  We also requested 5-year licenses (the per-year cost goes down on the longer licenses and you don't have to renew them as often).

Once reviewed and approved, we went to the computer operator who entered all our information into their on-line system and took our pictures.  Surprise - this time we could smile!

Then they printed out an invoice and we drove off to the office a few blocks away at which we would pay for our licenses.  Upon returning with the proof of our payments we were handed our licenses which had been created while we were gone.

Yippee!  We were on our way; now we could go ahead with nationalizing our vehicle. And then it became complicated....