Immediately following the departure of Ambassador Anthony Wayne, the audience of expatriate U.S. citizens gathered at LCS stuck around to engage in a no-limits dialogue with Mark Seibel, the new head man at the Guadalajara Consulate’s American Citizens Services Section.
Seibel introduced himself as a Kansas native with 22 years of experience in the foreign service. He arrived three weeks ago for his second tour of duty in Guadalajara and readily recalled visiting the LCS grounds many years back, around the time the Consulate first began regular monthly visits to the Chapala area.
With his bags barely unpacked, the official admitted that he is not totally up to speed on some issues of specific concern to lakeside residents. He did offer common sense advice on universal consular matters and duly took note of other more localized topics that cropped up in the discussion.Subjects ranged from passport security, clunky communication channels to contact consulate staff and issuance of travel visas for Mexican citizens to broader political matters such as medicare benefits for citizens abroad and pending enforcement of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA). And, as expected, there were some cranky comments about inconveniences of Mexico’s immigration and customs rules that fall completely beyond of the purview of U.S. government agencies.
All in all Seiber charmed the crowd with his easy-going manner and straightforward Midwestern style of responding to the questions posed.
The bulk of work in the Citizens Services Section concerns passports and notorials. Ample basic information is posted at http://guadalajara.usconsulate.gov/service.html and via links appearing in the appropriately labeled drop-down menu.