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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Green Card Holder

Well, after waiting almost 10 months and after several visits to immigration and various other offices, we received our final, 3 year cedula (the national identity card). We are finally legal residents, much like a green card in the U.S. Ironic, isn't it, that the cedula is green? I have photoshopped the number and signature out, but the picture is the actual picture. It is the best ID picture I have had in years, ever since the fateful passport photo of '07, where I look like I had just been released prison. Thankfully I will no longer have to carry the passport inside Uruguay and will only need it for travel between countries.

This number of the cedula is used for everything. I think that your driver's license also is derived from the cedula number. We will find that out soon, when we attempt to obtain the local driver's license. And the cedula is linked to all your documents: fingerprints, marriage records, birth certificates, etc. It truly is a national ID card. In fact, as I mentioned previously, Denise will have to get a fresh copy of our Uruguayan Marriage license (applied for during the residency process) when she has to renew her cedula in 3 years, in order to keep her married name on the document.

Next step is to have our customs guarantee returned. This is the deposit we made when we shipped our meager belongings into the country. They allow one shipment per resident and the deposit is returned when residency is obtained (very similar to many Latin American countries).

We are finally legal residents of Uruguay! We're home.

5 comments:

Eddie said...

Congratulations, Wally.

I’m envious…..

:-)

Eddie

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Wally: Yes the I.D Card is so important that many years ago during the Dictatorship we HAD to carry the Cédula everywhere, if we were caught without it ....we would go directly to jail (no quiestions asked by the way)! Thanks God we no longer suffer that. You guys are very lucky and I'm glad you chose Uy to live!! as to your little Kitty Cat you should teach him some Spanish just in case he intends to walk around your neighbourhood! Ha!We don't call our cats "kitiy, kitty" but we say: "gatito, gatito"! I guess it'd be much better if this little fellow becomes bi-lingual!! Cheers, Isa.....a.k.a. Kikicandy.

Wally said...

Kikicandy- thanks for the advice. A bi-lingual cat is a must. And I wondered how to call for the cat in Spanish. How do you call dogs?

Anonymous said...

Hi Wally: O.K, IMO you need a close encounter with a UYN kid. They might be of some help. Let's get to the point: we sometimes call our dogs "chicho, chicho" (at least it was in my kid times) Pronounce:/cheecho/though we usually call our dogs by their names, but if it's NOT your dog you should shout LOUD AND CLEAR:"FUERA PERRO"!!!Can't transcribe that phonetically!Sorry !Just in case the pooch looks
kind of ferocious. Anyway, have fun with your new vocabulary! Too bad I live some 6o km. from you! it would be a pleasure to teach you and your wife new "tricks" in our language! Happy Easter! Isa.P.S: My parents used to own a beach house in Pinamar Km 37,5 (East from where you are living now). T'was there where I had the happiest summers of my adolescent! Bye!You can also call your cat (or any other cat) "Michi,michi" pronounce: /meechee/! Hope it helps.

Wally said...

Kikicandy-I like "michi, michi"- that is what I will use. Our neighborhood dogs are all friendly, so I do not need to warn them away- but thanks for the help.