Merida, Yucatan — Life goes on for residents who have moved to Yucatan from abroad.
Expats here are keeping the government registry busy with births, divorces and settling minor children.
The newspaper Novedades Yucatan today countered the frequent and unfair narrative that expats living here are passive retirees.
Expats in Merida, living mainly in the Historic Center, have made an impact on the state administration, which is preparing to learn more about working with foreign residents, said Rafael Rodríguez Méndez, the general director of legal services and institutional liaison.
“Every day we have an average of four procedures requested by Americans who live in Mérida,” said Rodríguez Méndez.
“We have a close relationship with the United States Consulate,” he said. Only recently, the consulate has begun sharing monthly death statistics. “It is a matter of goodwill between the consulate and the state government.”
Rafael Rodríguez said the Civil Registry is training personnel to deal with issues related to foreigners, such as registering children born in Yucatan.
“We are going to start a training program that at the national level was forgotten. It is a completely free program that the federation provides to train civil registry personnel,” he said. “It is the issue of immigration, that is, how to treat a foreigner who has a dependent in Yucatan, and how to deal with the issues are difficult, legally speaking.”
Most foreigners are from the U.S. or Canada, but the office has also registered family matters for Dutch, French, English and Central American expats.
Source: Sipse
