Yesterday, for the first time in 12 days, there was movement on my residente temporal visa renewal — payment was finally applied and information entered into the system. This is going much, much more slowly than it did last year in Progreso — I had my card on the 22nd of May after starting the process around the same date at the beginning of the month. The situation is becoming unbearably stressful, especially since I still have my vehicle temporary import permit to renew. For that, I’ll do like last year and wait until I get the “your renewal is approved” letter before going to aduana, rather than wait for the card itself. I believe I get a grace period beyond the expiry day of the permit, but if I avail myself of that, I’m guaranteed to lose my deposit.

I have to say that the Mexican online immigration system is quite good at keeping you informed and letting you know if you have to do anything. This is because you get a notification by email if there is action needed on your part. So if you see movement on your account but didn’t get an email, you know there’s nothing to do. For example, I eventually got an email confirming that they’d processed my change of address that invited me to download a letter for my records. With the movement yesterday related to my renewal, I did not get an email.

As an English speaker, it amuses that when you’ve signed into the website with the user name (pieza) and password linked to the exact thing you’re tracking (eg. a renewal), you are asked which NUT you want to consult, which is yourself.  Hey, every bit of levity helps in life!

(The NUT is your unique “procedure” number that follows you through your immigration journey.)

I remain surprised by how stressed I am about the whole renewal process, but I guess that just goes to show how seriously I take it. Hopefully, I’ll get the invitation to return to INM to have fingerprints taken no later than this time next week…