Mexico's New Immigration Law and ExPats

The new Migration Law for Mexico (originally passed in May 2011) was published on 2012-Sept-28 and will take effect 30 working days from that date (early November).  Many articles in the law are intended to help protect immigrants from countries south of Mexico and to improve the rights of women and children.  However there are also major changes that will effect temporary and permanent residents, especially ExPats from other countries. 

Many of the details are missing such as income levels required for temporary or permanent residence.   The new Residente Temporal visa which will replace both No Inmigrante and Inmigrante visas is bound to have new income requirements.   Also upon applying for a Residente Permanente card there is no income level mentioned.  Of course the reason to be interested in a permanent resident card is that it means no more visas or renewals.

It also states that you can apply for a permanent resident card after 4 years on a temporary visa but does that mean on the 4th renewal of your current visa.   For instance, I'll be entering my 7th year next renewal but it will be my 2nd renewal on my current visa.   That point may be moot since the law also states you can apply for permanent status at any point.  Then there's the issue of regional interpretation which many of us have experienced or read about in the past.

Here's one persons take on the changes from San Felipe Life  He also has PDF files in English to down load from his site.   You can also go to the official Mexican site Diario Oficial de la Federacion and read it online.  If that link does not come up in English you can use their translator on the right sidebar.

Here is another aspect to the new regulations from Rolly Brook's web site

You will be able to renew your Residente Temporal for periods of one to four years with costs being: (in pesos, of course)

$3,130 for a single year
$4,690 for two years
$5,940 for three years
$7,040 for four years

RepubliCons are destroying peoples constitutional rights to vote

Sarah Silverman | Election 2012 - Voter Fraud

RepubliCons are destroying peoples constitutional rights to vote in some states. They pulled this crap on my elderly mother a week ago in Michigan. I bought the wrath of God down on her city clerk (state bureau of elections), he still can't sit down.

The road to Pinal Villa

This is our road to Pinal Villa after heavy rain ... and this is hours later after the sun has come out. It actually smooths the road in most places so has it's benefits. We are still feeling the effects of Tropical Storm Norman and it rained hard all night and into the morning.

I just heard they opened the lagoon again and it's about time. When the lagoon really backs up our road by the highway does not drain well. We were headed for Barra to Uriel's physical therapy today and ran into 2 feet of standing water and it was starting to rain again. I turned around for fear the water would be even higher on our return. Hopefully we'll be back to normal tomorrow or Sunday as Norman moves away.  There was no school today in Pinal because the teachers couldn't drive in.

Niama's second birthday

A very small party but they went to a lot of work, especially the pinata of a Racimo de Uvas made with eggs. They had to empty all the eggs, fill them with confetti, glue them into the shape of a bunch of grapes and then paint them. I'd never seen or heard of this before

Niama got a new dress, a Dora Exploradora pinata and two cakes because the store only had small ones. No one was there to write anything special so we just used a candle in the shape of a 2. Dora was almost indestructable and the kids worked on her for almost an hour

Niama's new dress

Dora Exploradora pinata

Racimo de Uvas de huevos

When It Rains, It Pours

When It Rains, It Pours: Intensification of Extreme Tropical Rainfall With Global Warming Modeled

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Extreme precipitation in the tropics comes in many forms: thunderstorm complexes, flood-inducing monsoons and wide-sweeping cyclones like the recent Hurricane Isaac.

Global warming is expected to intensify extreme precipitation, but the rate at which it does so in the tropics has remained unclear. Now an MIT study has given an estimate based on model simulations and observations: With every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature, the study finds, tropical regions will see 10 percent heavier rainfall extremes, with possible impacts for flooding in populous regions.

"The study includes some populous countries that are vulnerable to climate change," says Paul O'Gorman, the Victor P. Starr Career Development Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, "and impacts of changes in rainfall could be important there."

O'Gorman found that, compared to other regions of the world, extreme rainfall in the tropics responds differently to climate change. "It seems rainfall extremes in tropical regions are more sensitive to global warming," O'Gorman says. "We have yet to understand the mechanism for this higher sensitivity."

When It Rains, It Pours