Monday 4th December 2017.....Border issues!!!!

If you look back at my blog from last Saturday and read about the problems I had at the border...this is a follow up...

SO I PARKED DOWNTOWN AND READY TO CROSS THE BORDER I HAVE ALL MY DOCUMENTATION AND THE REQUIRED COPIES...  I CROSS THE BORDER AND WENT TO THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE JUST AS I DID WHEN I CAME THROUGH IN JUNE...HAD ALL MY COPIES AND MY PASSPORT READY AND THE 500 PESOS IN HAND AND THE AGENT PUNCHED MY PASSPORT INTO THE COMPUTER AND THAT IS WHEN THE FUN BEGAN.......I KNOW THE MAN SPOKE ENGLISH BECAUSE I HAD HEARD HIM BUT HE ONLY SPOKE TO ME IN SPANISH WHICH I AGREE WITH AND UNDERSTAND BUT I COULD NOT GET THE GIST OF WHAT HE WAS TELLING ME EXCEPT HE WAS NOT GOING TO LET ME IN TO THE COUNTRY..HE TOLD ME TO TO SIT AND WAIT AND I DID.....EVENTUALLY A WOMAN CAME OUT OF THE OFFICE WHO SPOKE ENGLISH  AND SHE EXPLAINED TO ME THAT IN THEIR RECORDS I HAD A TEMPORARY VISA WHICH HAD EXPIRED AND NOT BEEN CANCELLED...I TOLD HER I DID INDEED APPLY AND WAS GRANTED A TEMP VISA IN 2014 WHICH EXPIRED IN APRIL OF THIS YEAR AND I DID NOT WISH TO RE NEW OR APPLY FOR A PERMANENT VISA AND WANTED TO COME IN ON A TOURIST VISA.... BUT THAT WAS THE PROBLEM  SHE TOLD ME I HAD NOT KNOWN I HAD TO CANCEL THAT PERMIT. AND I DID NOT....I WAITED ANOTHER 20 OR SO MINUTES WHEN SHE AGAIN CAME OUT AND TOLD ME THAT IF I GO TO THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE IN SAN MIGUEL ON MONDAY AND CANCEL MY VISA I WOULD BE ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTRY ON A TOURIST VISA.....OF COURSE I AGREED TO THIS RIGHT AWAY AND THEN THE PROCESS BEGAN AND I WAS ISSUED THE 180 DAY VISA AND WAS ON MY WAY..THE ONLY THING I DID NOT LIKE WAS THE ORIGINAL OFFICER BEFORE I COULD STOP HIM WROTE SOMETHING IN MY PASSPORT UNDER THE STAMP..I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT SAYS BUT I WILL SORT IT OUT ON MONDAY AT THE LOCAL IMMIGRATION OFFICE WHERE ONE OF MY EX STUDENTS IS IN CHARGE(GOOD TO KNOW)....SO IT WAS A BIT OF A SCARE THINKING I WOULD NOT ALLOWED BACK INTO THE COUNTRY...BUT I WAS NEVER RUDE JUST PATIENT AND POLITE AND IT WORKED OUT.....FROM HERE I WALKED ABOUT 5 BLOCKS TO GET MY CAR PERMIT AND THAT WENT THROUGH LIKE CLOCK WORK......SO IT WAS A GOOD JOB I TOOK THE EXTRA DAY TO WALK OVER AND GET THESE PERMITS!!!!

I have a wonderful local lady here who has always assisted when needed with documentation and the Mexican way of doing things and I went to her last week and told her what had happened and showed her my passport, she took copies and told me she would go to the local Immigration office and find out the story.

Well it turns out that once my visa expired in April that was the end of the matter no need for me to have done anything and the immigration officer at the border was totally wrong and she also told me he had no authority to write in my passport...so I can just forget about it but I will confess I spent a nervous hour at the border when I was refused admission...anyway all is well and I am legal and fulfilled my obligations!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!!