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

Los piojos - or head lice

Yari has piojos or head lice and her mom was picking them off tonight. This is not unusual in the tropics when other kids in school don't combat the problem. Head lice are common with kids from 5 thru 12 years old when they are in primary school. Yari is both uncomfortable with them and somewhat embarrassed she has them. Head lice are a sign of a lower standard of living. We will buy a shampoo tomorrow that should clean her up. Girls are more susceptible due to longer hair.

We found this web site that will talk to you in Spanish about the problems of Los Piojos .... Los piojos

Lice

Pinal Villa futbol fundraiser

We had a Pinal Villa futbol fundraiser yesterday. Sunday is the normal soccer day and they had a game combined with volleyball, food served, lotteries for prizes and beer sales. The proceeds will go to team uniforms and improving the field. They've decided to have these events every 2 weeks with extra monies going to other community projects.

Evidently soccer is very loose as I was asked to play a few times but I had to explain that I'm old (these guys play rough) and we didn't play soccer when I was a kid. Anyone can play volleyball and nobody is a pro. A fun day but I don't understand how these guys can play for hours in 90 degrees and high humidity

A header?

Part of the field is a road

Typical afternoon cloud formations

Food and beer under my white awning

Volleyball

Cantaloupe on compost pile

Cantaloupe growing on my compost pile from seeds that got deposited months ago. The plants cover 3-4 square meters so are almost out to the driveway. With all this rain we've been having the ones sitting on dirt have been having a problem with "belly rot" while the ones on sand stay drier. I looked on the Internet and supporting them on egg cartons was suggested so I've done that with a few. Already ate 1/2 of one last week and was just as good as you'd buy in the store. Next to plant some seeds I brought down from up north.

Largest about 8" on sand

Smaller but looks more like a Cantalope

Sitting on egg carton

Churros on the Plaza

My new job is bus driver for Uriel who just entered his first year of Secondary School.   We live in the country about a mile from the school and 'Uri' is disabled and can't walk that far on a very rough road.   School starts at 1pm and gets out at 7 so last night we did a little shopping and picked up a bag of churros from a stand on the plaza.

Churros are basically extruded donut dough, deep fried and then rolled in sugar and cinnamon (canela) and best eaten hot. I usually don't eat sweets but these hit the spot last night.

I'm getting re-acclimated to the warm weather after the Seattle trip and getting some painting done and more impermeabilizante on the roof. The garden has gone crazy with all the rain ... and the rain washes away my 'ant powder' I use to keep the leaf cutter ants at bay.   The lime trees are full of fruit, a few bats are back even tho I leave a light on under the palapa and there are new cantalopes growing on the compost pile.   Good to be back.