How We Registered Mister's Birth - or Some Facts You Should Know About Documentation :)

I suppose you can file this under....should have asked an experienced Nomad...they probably could have saved us a ton of hassle, but we weren't "Nomads" then, at least not in the sense of having knowledge about this forum and all the great people involved in it. Now, on with the story....

You will recall from the tale of "How We Became a BajaFam" that our son, Tristan, was born in the Hospital San Francisco, in the Colonia Lazero Card##as, just on the outskirts of San Quintin, Baja Norte.

The attending staff from left to right: Doctor Rubio, Nurse Marie, Doctor Rodriguez, and of course Mister Tristan and myself.



The next morning, at the hospital, we filled out all of the necessary paperwork, including Tristan's initial hospital issued birth certificate. We were told that the next step was to register him at the municipal office in Vicente Guerrero, which is the nearest government office for birth registration. We had brought with us our passports and birth certificates, to prove our identities and we figured, no problem. We'll go down, hand over the hospital birth certificate and be done with it. Easy! Well, as you seasoned Nomads know, nothing that has to do with documents is EVER easy in Baja (or, I suppose in any foreign country, especially if it has to do with nationality).

We went to the municipal office on Monday, with naivete on our side. The ladies in the office were quite nice, although I'm sure that this was the first time that they had ever had a guero family come in to register. The main senora that helped us, Mita, gave us a sort of sympathetic smile and shook her head. No, passports and birth certificates were not enough. We would need apostilles for our birth certificates to prove their authenticity. Both my husband and I knew nothing of these apostilles and were quite baffled. But Mita explained to us (as best she could, as she spoke um, no English) what they were and how to get them. This would be no simple task, as my husband was born in California, LA county, and I was born in Florida. Not exactly a hop, skip and jump away from our present position in Baja.

Mita told us that there was nothing more we could do until we had the apostilles, and that his birth had to be registered before he turned 6 months old, or it would be more paperwork and problems that would probably have to be dealt with in Ensenada. We assured her that we would get them by then, and we would return in November. As we were leaving, we asked her if there was any other documentation that we would need. She shook her head and said just the apostilles. Okay. So we would enjoy the rest of our stay in Pedregal and return in 5 months to complete this step of the documentation. Bummer. Another trip to Baja, and so soon. What would we do with ourselves until then?

Lil' Surfer Girl


Daddy and New Mister Baja.


Mama and her babies.


Flat Dog...A Toast to the Maestro.


At the Feria San Quintin!






Dos Peros.


Adios San Quintin. For Now...


So, now we have sent off for our apostilles for our birth certificates. Mine came right away. In Florida, they prepare the apostille with the new certified copy of the birth certificate and sent it to you. Easier than I thought. For Lionel, apparently LA county is HUGE. The process took FOR - Ever!!! His birth certificate arrived (after several phone calls) the day before we were set to leave for Baja again (now it's November) and we still had to get the apostille. But thankfully, California is on the way to Baja, and they would do the apostille on a walk in basis. Apostilles done. Next!

Baja Bound!


Bobo's Secret Cove...I'm Not Telling!


Erin playing with her Oaxacan friends.


I love all these boats in San Jacinto.


We went back to the municipal office, Mita remembered us, and we handed over our documents. She looked at them and said, they are in English. Right, and? They need to be translated. Great. Luckily, she knew of a doctor who did such translations. Bonus, he spoke English. Dr. Cano was happy to help, and would have the translations by the next day.

The next day, for only $700 pesos, we had our translations. Back to the municipal office and Mita. She looks over our documents, has us go down the street to get copies. Everything is progressing nicely. We get the copies, no problema. We return to Mita, who has gone to lunch and another Senora is to help us. She looks at the documents. Are you married? Yes. Do you have your marriage license? No. Can't do the registration without the marriage license. WTF? Now what?

Sunrise at Pedregal.


Beautiful Bahia San Quintin.


On the way back to Pedregal, a brainstorm. Lionel thinks he may have a copy of our marriage license in his employee file. Maybe we can have a copy emailed or faxed to us somehow. One phone call, and YAHOO!! They have it. They email it to us. But, of course, we have no printer. So, we go into town the next day and search for an internet cafe. There are several, but it takes us a few tries before we find one that has a working printer Ah, Baja!!! Thankfully, the emailed document was acceptable and Mister's paperwork (at least this part) was finally done!!! We celebrate and head for home -

BajaFam + 2.


But not before a stop at La Fonda!!




The day after we returned home. Beach one day, snow the next! Notice the bare feet


Now to get his passport, Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and his US SSN. The adventure never ends

Quote:

Originally posted by soulpatch I wanted to have our twins in Mexico but my wife, the sensible one(read:much smarter than me) figured I was out of my mind. She knows me well.

No, his name is Tristan but he gets called Mister about 99.999% of the time.

Moms (and women in general ) have that kind of intuition. I had the same feeling with my first, so we stayed stateside, and she had a pretty serious jaundice issue. But with Tristan, I just had a feeling that we should be in Baja.

Thank goodness your wife listened to her instinct. I hope that your boy is healthy and happy.

[Edited on 12-4-2009 by bajafam]

Great Story and Beautiful Family!

Really happy there were no complications and it all worked well.

Now, if you buy any property in Mexico, Mister will really have a hold on you----better treat him real nice.

Quote:

Originally posted by DianaT Now, if you buy any property in Mexico, Mister will really have a hold on you----better treat him real nice.

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS Quote: Originally posted by DianaT Now, if you buy any property in Mexico, Mister will really have a hold on you----better treat him real nice. Utilitarian childbirth. Kinda takes the mother instinct out of it, doesn't it.

Well, he had better be nice to us, or we'll leave him with relatives and go to Baja without him and I'm not above the threat of "We'll give you to the Border Patrol"

Quote:

Originally posted by bajafam Well, he had better be nice to us, or we'll leave him with relatives and go to Baja without him and I'm not above the threat of "We'll give you to the Border Patrol"

OH, that is worse than the Military School threat of old.

BTW, love your older baby surfing!

I almost forgot about the Military School threat.