| Sunday,
April 23, 2006 This was forwarded by Colonel Haynes; I have
not seen the original. I presume it is a true account, as I have other
sources who say the same things.
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 6:58 AM
Subject: Work Permits in Mexico
Can any of you relate????
This makes some very interesting reading:
The following was from a director with SW BELL in
Mexico City:
I spent five years working in Mexico.
I worked under a tourist visa for three months and
could legally renew it for three more months. After that you were working
illegally. I was technically illegal for three weeks waiting on the FM3
approval.
During that six months our Mexican and US Attorneys
were working to secure a permanent work visa called a FM3. It was in
addition to my US passport that I had to show each time I entered and left
the country. Barbara's was the same except hers did not permit her to work.
To apply for the FM3 I needed to submit the following
notarized originals (not copies) of my:
1. Birth certificates for Barbara and me.
2. Marriage certificate.
3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation.
4. College transcripts for every college I attended
and proof of graduation.
5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I
had worked for at least one year.
6. A letter from The ST. Louis Chief of Police
indicating I had no arrest record in the US and no outstanding warrants and
was "a citizen in good standing."
7. Finally; I had to write a letter about myself that
clearly stated why there was no Mexican citizen with my skills and why my
skills were important to Mexico. We called it our "I am the greatest person
on earth" letter. It was fun to write.
All of the above were in English that had to be
translated into Spanish and be certified as legal translations and our
signatures notarized. It produced a folder about 1.5 inches thick with
English on the left side and Spanish on the right.
Once they were completed Barbara and I spent about
five hours accompanied by a Mexican attorney touring Mexican government
office locations and being photographed and fingerprinted at least three
times. At each location (and we remember at least four locations) we were
instructed on Mexican tax, labor, housing, and criminal law and that we were
required to obey their laws or face the consequences. We could not protest
any of the government's actions or we would be committing a felony. We paid
out four thousand dollars in fees and bribes to complete the process. When
this was done we could legally bring in our household goods that were held
by US customs in Laredo Texas. This meant we rented furniture in Mexico
while awaiting our goods. There were extensive fees involved here that the
company paid.
We could not buy a home and were required to rent at
very high rates and under contract and compliance with Mexican law.
We were required to get a Mexican drivers license.
This was an amazing process. The company arranged for the licensing agency
to come to our headquarters location with their photography and finger print
equipment and the laminating machine. We showed our US license, were
photographed and fingerprinted again and issued the license instantly after
paying out a six dollar fee. We did not take a written or driving test and
never received instructions on the rules of the road. Our only instruction
was never give a policeman your license if stopped and asked. We were
instructed to hold it against the inside window away from his grasp. If he
got his hands on it you would have to pay ransom to get it back.
We then had to pay and file Mexican income tax
annually using the number of our FM3 as our ID number. The companies Mexican
accountants did this for us and we just signed what they prepared. It was
about twenty legal size pages annually.
The FM 3 was good for three years and renewable for
two more after paying more fees.
Leaving the country meant turning in the FM3 and
certifying we were leaving no debts behind and no outstanding legal affairs
(warrants, tickets or liens) before our household goods were released to
customs.
It was a real adventure and If any of our Senators or
Congressmen went through it once they would have a different attitude toward
Mexico.
The Mexican Government uses its vast military and
police forces to keep its citizens intimidated and compliant. They never
protest at their White House or government offices but do protest daily in
front of the United States Embassy. The US embassy looks like a strongly
reinforced fortress and during most protests the Mexican Military surround
the block with their men standing shoulder to shoulder in full riot gear to
protect the Embassy. These protests are never shown on US or Mexican TV.
There is a large public park across the street where they do their
protesting. Anything can cause a protest such as proposed law changes in
California or Texas.
Please feel free to share this with everyone who
thinks we are being hard on illegal immigrants.
I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of this account.
However:
Work Permits and Immigrants in Mexico:
Fred Reed has an opposing view on living in Mexico, he
likes it. His viewpoint is interesting and his comment on the FM-3 is,
"...and with no hassle you can then get FM-3 residence status ..."
http://www.fredoneverything.net/ImmigrationIntoMexico.shtml
Will
I've read Fred's stories and I correspond
with him, and he certainly makes it sound simpler. I suspect it's a matter
of time, place, and bureaucracy.
But we also have:
Jerry,
Mexico has a lot of problems but the letter forwarded
by Colonel Haynes has many inaccuracies and some fallacies.
First of all the process to obtain a working permit in
Mexico is long and convoluted, no doubt about it. However it is mostly set
up that way to benefit Mexican nationals, as it should. Could someone be so
king as to forward us a letter with the procedure to obtain a green card? A
procedure no doubt much simpler, faster and much more streamlined than the
Mexican one... Please let him be so kind to include the expensive,
convoluted and very arbitrary procedure for a simple US tourist visa... By
the way just let me say that I don't need a US Visa since I'm a E.U.
national.
"...we were instructed on Mexican tax, labor, housing,
and criminal law and that we were required to obey their laws or face the
consequences. We could not protest any of the government's actions or we
would be committing a felony." Does that sound like the Patriot Act? Sorry
but since the Patriot Act was instituted I've avoided going to the US
(something I did at least twice a year before that). I don't want to end up
in Guantanamo just because Bin Laden's brother in law is named like me. As a
foreigner to the US I have absolutely no rights while in US soil.
The driver's license part I didn't get. Is he (the
writer, not the Colonel) complaining because it is... too expensive? too
hard? or just because he didn't have to take a driver's test. Today any
legal resident or Mexican national over the age of 18 can get a PERMANENT
driver's license in Mexico City in about 30 minutes time and paying a $30.00
USD fee. No exam, test or anything required. You are supposed to take
responsibility for your actions. Is that so frightening to SW Bell
directors? And the part about not giving your driver's license to a cop is
just bull... they will only require a bribe if you actually break the law
AND you don't want a ticket. Last time a cop pulled me over I had run a red
light but I refused to give him a bribe and requested my ticket. Ten minutes
later I was on my way with my ticket and my driver's license.
"We then had to pay and file Mexican income tax
annually using the number of our FM3 as our ID number. The companies Mexican
accountants did this for us and we just signed what they prepared. It was
about twenty legal size pages annually." ?????? I don't get it. Does the IRS
exempt legal foreign workers from paying taxes?
But the worst part is this: "The Mexican Government
uses its vast military and police forces to keep its citizens intimidated
and compliant. They never protest at their White House or government offices
but do protest daily in front of the United States Embassy. The US embassy
looks like a strongly reinforced fortress and during most protests the
Mexican Military surround the block with their men standing shoulder to
shoulder in full riot gear to protect the Embassy. These protests are never
shown on US or Mexican TV. There is a large public park across the street
where they do their protesting. Anything can cause a protest such as
proposed law changes in California or Texas."
The Mexican "vast military and police forces" are but
a tiny fraction of the US Military force and it has been decades since the
Mexican military has been openly used in large urban areas (the
underdeveloped rural south and other hot spots could fill volumes in the
why's, when's and how's). I've lived five blocks from the US Embassy
on-and-off for at least 25 years and I can tell you that there has never
been a park in front of the Embassy (or behind, for that matter) since it
sits in one of the largest streets in Mexico City,"Paseo de la Reforma,
something like the Champs-Elisée in Paris or Recoletos in Madrid.
The fact that the US Embassy looks like a fortress has
nothing to do with the Mexican Government. That was inflicted in the US
Embassy by the US Government, and it wasn't done to avoid "terroristas
suicidas mexicanos" (has anybody heard of Mexican suicide bombers lately?).
I can attest that the Mexican military has never surrounded the US Embassy,
at least after 1968. Whenever there is a protest in front of the Embassy, it
is protected by Mexico City's police, civilian police and not military style
police like Italy's Carabinieri or Spain's Guardia Civil. It isn't even some
kind of national Mexican police; it is purely local. Is it wrong for the
police to protect a foreign Embassy? It is also done for other countries,
like Japan's Embassy whenever the Greens protest the killing of whales.
Whenever protests occur, those are freely shown on newscasts in ALL Mexican
TV channels at regular intervals, on radio stations, newspapers and the
Internet, peaceful or not. If they are shown on US newscast or not has
nothing to do with Mexico or its Government.
Last but not least, I can tell you that we have at
least two orders of magnitude (that is a hundredfold for the mathematically
challenged) more protests in front of the "Palacio Nacional" (the official
seat of the President) and "Los Pinos" (the President's official house) than
in front of the US Embassy.
Truly yours
Francisco -- Francisco Garcia Maceda maceda@pobox.com
As for myself, I haven't had any experience of travel and work in Mexico
since the 1970's when I was chancellor of a campus of an American University
down in lower (very lower, almost to Cabo San Lucas) Baja. We did drive down
for the eclipse, and that was pleasant enough. I have never had any problems
with Mexican officials. I did smuggle in a case of .22 ammunition at the
request of the Mexican Commandant of Marines in Cabo; he needed the
ammunition for his rifle team practice, and the paperwork for getting it was
impossible. It was simple enough for me to buy some in San Diego and stuff
it under the marine sample collection equipment...
But I wasn't a permanent resident nor did
I try to be one.
And perhaps the last word:
Dr. Pournelle,
Fred has an interesting column on the Mexican
Immigration Laws at
http://www.fredoneverything.net/ImmigrationIntoMexico.shtml
in which he says "Further, I think the law entirely
reasonable—provided that you realize that the Mexican government exists for
the benefit of Mexicans, not gringos."
Should we ask that the American government exist for
the benefit of gringos, not Mexicans?
Sincerely,
-- Earl Everett
===========
Subject: "Mobbing" Academic Opponents
An academic studies how supposedly rational,
thoughtful faculty can (and do) turn on outsiders.
Julie
The Chronicle of Higher Education The Faculty
http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i32/32a01001.htm
From the issue dated April 14, 2006 Mob Rule
In departmental disputes, professors can act
just like animals
By JOHN GRAVOIS
When songbirds perceive some sign of danger — a
roosting owl, a hawk, a neighborhood cat — a group of them will often do
something bizarre: fly toward the threat. When they reach the enemy, they
will swoop down on it again and again, jeering and making a racket, which
draws still more birds to the assault. The birds seldom actually touch their
target (though reports from the field have it that some species can defecate
or vomit on the predator with "amazing accuracy"). The barrage simply
continues until the intruder sulks away. Scientists call this behavior
"mobbing."
The impulse to mob is so strong in some birds
that humans have learned to use predators as lures. Birders play recordings
of screech owls to attract shy songbirds. In England, an ancient
duck-hunting technique involved stationing a trained dog at the edge of a
pond: First the dog got the ducks' attention, and then it fled down the
mouth of a giant, narrowing wickerwork trap, with the mob of waterfowl hot
in pursuit all the way.
Birds mob for a couple of reasons. One of them
is educational: Youngsters learn whom to mob, and whom to fear, by watching
others do it. But the more immediate purpose of mobbing is to drive the
predator away — or, in the words of the eminent Austrian ethologist Konrad
Lorenz, to make "the enemy's life a burden."
Sometimes, especially in winter, Kenneth
Westhues can hear a flock of crows tormenting a great horned owl outside his
study in Waterloo, Ontario. It is a fitting soundtrack for his work. Mr.
Westhues has made a career out of the study of mobbing. Since the late
1990s, he has written or edited five volumes on the topic. However, the
mobbers that most captivate him are not sparrows, fieldfares, or jackdaws.
They are modern-day college professors.
Social Syndrome
In the early 1980s, Heinz Leymann, a German
psychologist working in Sweden, was conducting clinical studies of workers
who had encountered violence on the job. At the time, plenty of research had
already been done on the "mental insufficiency" experienced by soldiers
after wartime and the survivors of major industrial disasters. So Leymann
set out to study some of the less obvious cases of post-traumatic stress. He
carried out longitudinal studies of Stockholm subway drivers who had
accidentally run over people with their trains. He studied the psychological
effects of robberies on bank tellers. But he stumbled upon an even less
obvious group that showed the most surprisingly acute measures of stress.
These were people whose colleagues had ganged up on them at work.<snip>
=========
Robert Jordan diagnosed with a potentially fatal
disease.
http://www.tor.com/jordan/
-- Roland Dobbins
==========
THE REVISED HOSTIGOS.COM IS NOW ONLINE
Friends,
The redesigned Hostogos.com is now online at our usual
address: www.Hostigos.com
I'm really pleased with the new site and we all owe
the Hostigos Webmaster, Mark Richardson, a big Hostigos round of thanks!
Mark put a lot of work and time into the Hostigos.com redesign and it shows.
We, also, have a lot of room to grow. In the future, I
plan to put add major features for Paratime, Home Time Line, Styphon's
House, the Five Kingdoms, the Middle Kingdoms and Styphon's House on the
site.
The new Gallery includes a brand-spanking-new shot I
just received of the new dust jacket for "Great Kings' War," as well as a
number of Alan Gutierrez's working color sketches for the new "War World:
The Battle for Sauron" hardcover edition, which will be coming out before
the end of the year. Plus, we've finally update the About Us feature with
photos of Beam, myself and Alan.
Another feature highlight is the Road to Hostigos,
which has it's own button. The Kalvan Genesis essay is on a PDF file on the
last page. This piece contains everything Piper ever wrote on the subject of
the beginnings of Hostigos, Lord Kalvan and Great King Kalvan that I've ever
run across -- 90% of this material (some 15,240 words) has never previously
been published.
Enjoy!
John F. Carr
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