Papirex
Jul 28, 2010, 2:59 PM
Post #1 of 18
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I went to The US Embassy in México City and renewed my passport yesterday. México City is only about 56 miles from here, but that is just to the city limits. It took another hour and a half in very heavy traffic to get to the Embassy, Altogether, it was a 7 hour ordeal to keep my appointment, have lunch, and make the round trip. Besides the time and gas there is an $86 Peso toll each way on the Cuota (toll highway) for a total of $172 Pesos ($13.59 US Dlls.) I was also lucky enough to need to pay the extra security surcharge of $40 US Bucks instead of the old fee of just $70 Bucks for a passport renewal, so I was lucky enough to pay a total of $110 bucks instead. It cost me a total of $123.59 US Bucks plus the gas and a lot of frustration to renew it today.
I had some passport photos made at a Kodak store here in Cuernavaca, I was charged $40 Pesos for 8 prints, even though I only needed 2. They turned out to be too small. Fortunately, I was able to have the correct sized photos made at The passport office in The Embassy for $50 Pesos for 2 prints.
You must make an appointment in advance to renew, or be issued a new passport. There were several options given for renewing an expired, or first time passport, but none for a passport that had not yet expired. It is a confusing web page. There is a phone number listed to call for an emergency trip with an expired passport. You must call that number between 3 and 6 PM. I tried to call it for four days, hoping I could get some clarification from a real, Mark I human being. I always got the message that “the person that is supposed to answer this phone is unavailable now, call again later.” I don't know what a person would do if they had a real emergency.
I finally filled out and printed the form to renew an expired passport, even though my passport did not expire for a few days. It expired last Saturday, my appointment to renew it was on Tuesday. I was then able to choose a date available for an appointment to come in to renew mine. The form you must fill out on line is very confusing. It is for a mail in renewal, and it lists a US address to mail it to. When I printed it, there was no US mailing address on it, and I was immediately given the option of making an appointment at The embassy to renew my passport.
I was not given any documentation to show that I had applied for a renewal, except for a Receipt when I paid them. My new passport is supposed to be ready in 7 to 9 days. Instead of going through the nightmare of coming back to the Embassy to pick it up, I opted to have it delivered to my home here in Cuernavaca. There will be a cost of $120 Pesos to be paid on delivery, That is less than the road tolls,gasoline, and time it would take to pick it up in México City. I don't know if it will be delivered by the post office or a courier.
It has been several years since I visited The Embassy. They have remodeled it a lot. It used to be a snap to gain entry, just show your passport and you were in, there was a fence in front of the building, and you could come in to the front yard to talk to the Marine guards. No fence or yard anymore, and now, they have a bunch of private security guards, no Marines in sight. They take all of your information outside, and then make you wait out on the sidewalk until the time of your appointment, and they take just about everything in your pockets or purse until you come out, both of our cell phones, and the cell phone case for my cell phone, it has a magnetic closure, and a metal belt clip, my lighter, metal cigarette case, pens and pencils, a pocket and pen knife of course, and even a little one celled penlight. They even had me take off my belt so they could X Ray it.
I had listed Doris and her mother as coming with me, or they could not enter. Sarita decided to wait in the van when we got there, they spent about ten minutes going through Doris' purse, they took anything and everything made of metal, including her lipstick. They also wanted to see some kind of official Mexican government issued ID for her. ( a Mexican drivers license is not acceptable) Going to The US Embassy has changed from a pleasant experience to a minor nightmare. I hope the Consulates are not going to emulate the Embassy's' policies.
I don't know if it is possible anymore to just drop by The Embassy anymore to do any business at one of the agencies, like the Social Security office located there, without an appointment to get inside.
There is an estacionamiento on the same side of the street as The Embassy, about 50 meters past it. There is also a very noisy Sanborns restaurant about 50 meters past the estacionamiento, also on the same side of the street.
With any luck, I won't be here to need to go through this in another ten years.
Rex
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo
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