In South America we have the real thing..
Problem;
You can only continue to collect certain monies if you are alive. (alimony, inheritance etc. etc.)
To prove you live you need "el Certificado de Supervivencia".
How do you get a "Certificado de Supervivencia"? You must go to a Notary Public, in person, with your current ID card and have him authorise the certificate.
Kind of makes sense, I suppose, in a bureacratic sort of way.
But here's the thing; you must take two witnesses with you, who will not sign the certificate or be part of the process, but must be prepared to say that you are actually alive.
Problem 2;
You are an illegal immigrant and wish to leave the country.
As far as the border police are concerned, if you are an illegal immigrant then technically you are not in the country. If you are not in the country, how can they authorise you to leave? So they won't.
In order to leave you must obtain official permission to stay.
Then you can leave.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 26 Aug 15 at 20:21
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Signed a few documents like that over the years. Notaries Public are few and far between and underused in the UK. Odd really.
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Aren't border police in Latin America amenable to a few banknotes from a respectable citizen FMR? Perhaps the cost would be prohibitive. Always worked a treat in Africa.
At one frontier, Benin-Ghana I think, there was a miles-long queue of vehicles waiting to get through. Some of them would be there for days.
But you could, for a handful of money, hire an expediter - they surged out of the bush to suss you out as soon as you pulled up cursing in a cloud of dust - who would climb into the car and escort you to the front of the queue and straight through the customs and stuff.
Only for the rich and their minions and hangers-on. Life is so unfair, but when you're knackered and in a hurry you don't care about such details.
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>> Aren't border police in Latin America amenable to a few banknotes from a respectable citizen FMR?
In Chile? Dear God no. You would be banged up faster than that.
In Brasil, all things are negotiable.
>> But you could, for a handful of money, hire an expediter
In Brazil they are called Despachantes. Someone who is required to make things efficient. The purpose being that they know who to bribe, how much to bribe and shield their client from any accusation of using bribery.
This is not acceptable in Chile.
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>> This is not acceptable in Chile.
Ever since that Franco-like beast of a military dictator who murdered Salvador Allende you mean? Must have a grim side.
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In Chile corruption requiring cash is unacceptable. Corruption involving friends, contacts, blind eyes, favours, etc is a different matter.
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>> In Chile corruption requiring cash is unacceptable. Corruption involving friends, contacts, blind eyes, favours, etc is a different matter.
In the end it's the same thing. If you consider it coldly, even family stuff has a clear economic dimension. Stands to reason. It doesn't have to be direct and crude, what goes around comes around as it were... cast your bread upon the waters sort of thing.
Some would call it class solidarity.
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>>In the end it's the same thing
No, quite different.
One may choose to call the second "class solidarity" although that seems a little conceited. But it is certainly a solidarity of some kind.
The other is quite mercenary, irrespective of any solidarity, feelings of oneness or club-oriented preference.
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>> Problem 2;
>>
>> You are an illegal immigrant and wish to leave the country.
>>
>> As far as the border police are concerned, if you are an illegal immigrant then
>> technically you are not in the country. If you are not in the country, how
>> can they authorise you to leave? So they won't.
>>
>> In order to leave you must obtain official permission to stay.
>>
>> Then you can leave.
Isn't that an almost universal problem and response in any country? Most of them have to declare you are an illegal, charge you with being so, and then officially deport you.
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>>Isn't that an almost universal problem and response in any country? Most of them have to declare you are an illegal, charge you with being so, and then officially deport you.
I don't know.
But perhaps it is the normality of the situation here which surprises me. Being illegal is a valid reason for applying for leave to stay. Reason, not justification.
And if you wish to leave, then it is a process that *you* must follow. Not that they will push you through.
One of your options is to choose not to leave. Then, since you are not officially here, the case will be forgotten by the border authorities.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 26 Aug 15 at 20:54
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>> Isn't that an almost universal problem and response in any country? Most of them have
>> to declare you are an illegal, charge you with being so, and then officially deport
>> you.
IIRC UK Home Office/Borders stopped checking departures sometime during the 79-97 govts as it was regarded as unnecessary cost/red tape.
Recently (much more recently) we've twigged that government has no idea or at best limited information on who leaves so no idea whether deportees have gone or not. Result is that airlines/ferry companies have, since July, had to report i/d of departing customers.
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40+ years ago in Saudi Arabia you needed a Visa to get in and a Visa to exit - there was a stamp (10 Riyal (£1) in & 2 Riyal (20p) out. Not Post Office Stamps but Visa stamps.
You could queue for hours outside & inside the local Passport Office - get near to the front of the queue only to find they had run out of the Special Stamps.
However, help was always at hand - outside would be standing "the clerk's brother/cousin " who had stamps - but they were like Cup Final Tickets and went to the highest bidder so the price for a 2 Riyal stamp(20p) or a 10 Riyal (£1.00) varied from day to day.
How much you paid depended on how keen you were to be on the plane - tomorrow would cost you more than for 10 days time but a minimum of 10 to 20 times the face value. This does not sound a lot of money but Yemeni labourers were on 70p - £1 / day for 10 hours digging roads etc etc
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My mate has just flown to Dublin to get a visa for Iran for a work visit, apparently you can't get them here. Had to be an overnight trip for some reason - and I don't think it was a social reason.
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Presumably because the embassy staff here (and probably ours in Tehran)are not yet on site, and Dublin is the nearest one that can issue visas.
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British red tape? Pah!! - R.P.
