Logistics...

What's going on now?  I'm bogged down in the nitty-gritty logistics of our move to Mexico.  At first, we thought it would be best to drive our stuff down, then we realized that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for several reasons:

- You can't permanently take a car into Mexico while ALSO taking your stuff in.  You have to do one or the other.  You can temporarily take a car into Mexico with your stuff.

- Taking your car into Mexico temporarily means that you'd also have to take the car out again after 6 months (unless you get a visa- this wouldn't be the case because M would be driving it).

- You'll have to get Mexican car insurance for your car (required!), and probably also keep your American insurance so that you can keep your plate.  I know that if you cancel your car insurance in PA, the Department of Transportation requires that you send your plate back within a certain period of time.

- Driving from Pennsylvania to Yucatan would take 6+ days of driving, which M would be doing all by himself.

So, we decided to sell most of our stuff and/or give it away, and fly with the rest.

The other issue is that we have 2 pets that we're taking with us, a (large-ish) dog and a cat.  Both animals weren't up to date on their vaccinations, so we're in the midst of taking care of that at the moment.  We also have to get a health certificate and an airline-compliant kennel to ship the dog in.  He's going as checked baggage.

I'm fairly sure we're going to be flying with American Airlines, and go first class.  I've never flown first class before, but the advantage is that we can change our tickets (if necessary) with no penalty, we get three checked bags, and of course flying is a lot more comfortable from start to finish.  Since we're only going one way, it won't break the bank, either.

Er. Mah. Gerd.

We're in the homestretch now, and boy do I feel it!

I've been working in a retail position since the beginning of November, and our store has been slammed with the holiday season.  It's been horrendous having to deal with the "cream of the crop" of insanity.  It's been a nice way to bookend our 3 years of living in the U.S.: getting to see the "real" side of Americans.  We're talking about people who bitch and moan about the littlest things, like having to wait 5 minutes.  5 FREAKING MINUTES.

Good ol' USA.  Where we'll FIND something to bitch about.

The good news is that it's only for a couple of more weeks, and we should really start to be slowing down soon.

Update

About one month to go until our move to Mexico! Yay!

I have a brief update for you regarding the new Mexican immigration law:

If you have Mexican children, you qualify immediately for permanent residence.  If you just have a Mexican spouse, you qualify for temporary residence for 2 years, after which you can apply for permanent residence.  Since we plan on living in Mexico indefinitely, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'll end up applying for permanent residence through my kids.

Another update, related to my last post:

I sent one of my friends to the INM office in Merida to see if she could find out if the local office has any different requirements for people wanting to change from an FMM (tourist visa) to a temporary/permanent residence visa based on family ties.  She said that what they require include my passport, our marriage certificate, and my husband's ID.  I think that it was under the assumption that I'd be applying through my husband, and not my children.  I asked her if they said anything about showing financial documents, and she said NO.

I also emailed the INM through their website and asked them specifically what I'd be able to do.  They said that once I arrived in Mexico, I could apply for either permanent or temporary residence, whatever I wanted.  They then referred me to link to the INM's list of requirements for changing from FMM to a temporary/permanent resident visa (the same link that I referred to in my last post).

I've been following several forums, and I've heard of a single case, so far, that's similar to mine.  The person entered Mexico on an tourist visa and changed to temporary resident based on marriage.  No financial documents required.

Awesome.

So, that's it so far!

In the meantime, I'm working away in retail hell for the holiday season, and I'll be able to post more once we start to slow down!