This morning I went downtown to the federal building to extend my tourist visa. When I entered Guadalajara in Feb, the immigration officer at the airport pulled a power play and only granted me a 30 day tourist visa which expires early next week. So I went to the Federal Building early and who' there? The jerky immigration officer from the airport. He was working with some tourists from England and was well occupied. I did my best to avoid him and make NO eye contact. Luckily I did avoid him altogether.
All in all, It took a little less than 2 hours to extend my visa. The key is to have all your paperwork ready. This includes a bank statement, copy of passport, immigartion documents, form requesting tourist visa extension, payment and receipt of tourist extension. It really wasn't bad. I was expecting the whole process to be a lot worse.
The women who handled my request was very nice. She told me, "wow they only have you 30 days, that's not right." When she asked me how much time I wanted I told her I only needed 90 days but she granted me 120 days *just in case*. She was really nice! Thank god for some nice immigration officials.
So, I have to return to the Federal Building around 2:30 this afternoon to pick up my new papers. Yea I'm legal and not being deported (at least for the moment).
All in all, It took a little less than 2 hours to extend my visa. The key is to have all your paperwork ready. This includes a bank statement, copy of passport, immigartion documents, form requesting tourist visa extension, payment and receipt of tourist extension. It really wasn't bad. I was expecting the whole process to be a lot worse.
The women who handled my request was very nice. She told me, "wow they only have you 30 days, that's not right." When she asked me how much time I wanted I told her I only needed 90 days but she granted me 120 days *just in case*. She was really nice! Thank god for some nice immigration officials.
So, I have to return to the Federal Building around 2:30 this afternoon to pick up my new papers. Yea I'm legal and not being deported (at least for the moment).
No comments:
Post a Comment