Tried to drive north to Nuevo Vallarta at 6:00PM yesterday. Saw that traffic was not moving north from Plaza Marina so waited until 7:30 to try again. Got as
far north as Home Depot and traffic came to a full stop then stop and go. No help from Transito as cars, buses and trucks created new lane on shoulder. So over
30 minutes from Home Depot to Ameca River bridge then in middle of bridge wide open traffic. Can only assume that army checkpoint on Narita side of bridge had
caused holdup. Return drive just five minutes later and could see no holdup on northbound lanes but southbound starting to backup as traffic funneled into
single lane.
Returned to PV after short trip two weeks ago. Immigration area full so it took over 30 minutes to clear. Yesterday immigration area full and lineup snaked well outside. Can't imagine how long it took for the latest arrivals to clear. Delay caused luggage to back up in baggage claim area. Felt sorry for tourists who were caught at airport and then in traffic jam.
Last year when renewing FM3 there were very few people and only took a short wait to submit documents and receive form for bank payment. This year at 9:30 room packed. Came back at 11:00 people lined up down the stairs. Left and came back next day at 8:30, 30 minutes before office opened and was 13th in line. Got ticket waited 15 minutes saw speed of processing and went home. Came back an hour later and still had to wait another 30 minutes. What hurt was that it then only took a minute or two for the review of documents and printout of document for bank.
For a country that relies on tourists for a third of the economy this is not a good way to treat customers. Need more people and different procedures at immigration. Should let FM2, FM3 and Immigrados use Mexican citizen line. Should stop immigration consultants submitting multiple applications on a single ticket while the rest of us wait. Should prescreen simple applications and stream to a dedicated official.
Apologies for long rant and acknowledgement that we have some of the same problems in Canada.
Returned to PV after short trip two weeks ago. Immigration area full so it took over 30 minutes to clear. Yesterday immigration area full and lineup snaked well outside. Can't imagine how long it took for the latest arrivals to clear. Delay caused luggage to back up in baggage claim area. Felt sorry for tourists who were caught at airport and then in traffic jam.
Last year when renewing FM3 there were very few people and only took a short wait to submit documents and receive form for bank payment. This year at 9:30 room packed. Came back at 11:00 people lined up down the stairs. Left and came back next day at 8:30, 30 minutes before office opened and was 13th in line. Got ticket waited 15 minutes saw speed of processing and went home. Came back an hour later and still had to wait another 30 minutes. What hurt was that it then only took a minute or two for the review of documents and printout of document for bank.
For a country that relies on tourists for a third of the economy this is not a good way to treat customers. Need more people and different procedures at immigration. Should let FM2, FM3 and Immigrados use Mexican citizen line. Should stop immigration consultants submitting multiple applications on a single ticket while the rest of us wait. Should prescreen simple applications and stream to a dedicated official.
Apologies for long rant and acknowledgement that we have some of the same problems in Canada.
