#871 – The Expat Files: Last Live Show & Legal Insights in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started All right, meet Johnny here. This will be the last live show. Well kind of live show Because as of today when the show goes out July 5th I'll be out on the road with my expat insider seminar group That means for the next week or so if you tune in you'll be getting the best of the expat files or maybe the worst

[00:49] who knows hey How about that for a killer PR stunt a commemorative gift box set a show is called the worst of the expat files A splendid gift for children of all ages. Don't worry That's not gonna happen, especially since all the shows the good the bad and the ugly ones are free All right. Here's an email I got last week from someone who's coming to the seminary says dear Johnny I'd like to bring my drone down on the chip. It's the kind that's got its own little backpack Do I need any permits and what are the drone flying restrictions in Central America and Latin America in general sign? You know who I am Johnny Alright, well, I'm glad you asked that question You know why a couple of seminars ago, that's exactly what one of our attendees did He brought down his drone a very popular model called the DJI Phantom 3 professional

[01:34] He flew that thing everywhere over Mayan pyramids Around lake ats Atlanta most beautiful lake in the world and other places known and unknown He got some tremendous footage and you know what coming down from the US with that thing strapped to his back Not a single person bothered him if you think he'd been luckier. It was just a fluke He came back as a repeat offender and he brought the drone down again. Same thing. No must no fuss However, things are changing and though Latin America has a lot of built-in lag time in every department Countries are starting to pass drone use and restriction laws. Then again, whether they're ever gonna enforce those laws is another thing This is Latin America, you know Yes, Latin countries have passed all the legislation and laws known to first world man They copy everything the US does but they never seem to allocate enough funds or personnel to actually carry out the enforcement

[02:23] Which in my mind is a good thing. In fact, that's one of the reasons I like it so well down here The thing is what I see all the time when green gringos and expats first get down here to Latin America They're absolutely terrified of doing something illegal thinking the cops are gonna come down on them. There'll be no due process They'll go in front of a judge who doesn't speak English and they'll get tossed in the slammer and they'll throw away the key You know like that movie midnight Express course that didn't take place in Latin America But nevertheless, that's every first world person's idea of the third world legal system Well, you know once you're down here while you'll realize that just isn't so unless of course you get caught smuggling drugs the operative word They're smuggling not just casually using then again If you get caught smuggling a huge amount of drugs, you almost always get off

[03:09] It's the small-time dealers and idiots that get caught and go to jail It's a lot like big banking pharma and political crimes up in the states The small-timers go to jail the big fish get a fine a slap on the hand and another round of government contracts But I digress anyway regarding fresh green gringos and expats coming down and thinking man They better not break a single law The fact is US citizens are scared to death of the US legal system and they carry that with him down here Yep, we've been whipped into shape. All right, which is why nearly a hundred percent of us obey traffic signals Not to mention even 90 year old ladies are scared to death of being just a smidgen off on their tax forms Well, the fact is you could say the US government big brother law enforcement system has us well trained and scared

[03:54] You can tell that right away when new fresh green gringos come down and they're in a car Taxi uber or they're driving a rental themselves when they're on the road and they see with their own eyes The countless traffic laws that are violated with impunity often right in front of traffic cops who do nothing about it That's when it finally sinks in that a law is not necessarily a law Come on how many times have you been stuck in a big crowded intersection in Milwaukee or Cleveland and The light remains red for it seems like a lifetime Then suddenly one guy here or one guy there and then many people start running that red light Nope You'll never see that happen up in the states because you'll get slammed with a huge fine And maybe they'll take your license away But here not in America running red lights is absolutely a way of life even when a transit cop is standing right there

[04:44] So what's he do then? Well nothing he'll either ignore it or shrug his shoulders and shake his head though Sometimes if he's really bothered he'll point at the driver motion with his hand to pull over but most men just won't Women however usually will but they're usually not the ones running red lights either I've observed this situation a lot and it seems like it's almost always macho guys who are jumping the gun I think it's definitely true that women drivers get a bad rap mostly because some guy behind us in a hurry and she's obeying All the rules though. Ironically, I'm all in favor of women even men running red lights If you're stuck in a crap neighborhood at night Doesn't matter which country you're in including the US and Canada but back to drones speaking of brand new drone legislation

[05:30] That won't get enforced that is unless you're very unlucky stupid plain reckless or someone's got it out for you I'd like to read for you now some of the general drone Legislation that's been drawn up in various Latin American countries, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Chile Guatemala, Colombia and on and on I have here a copy of the legislation as of April 2018 It's in Spanish and I'll try to translate it says as of this date drone flying will be regulated by the country's civil Aviation Institute if you possess a drone and it weighs less than 4.4 pounds That would be 2 kilograms you are not required to have a permit However, we strongly suggest you still request permission by going to that particular Latin American country website Because the customs department at the airport tends to hold these kind of items in order to assess duties and taxes

[06:22] So in other words, you're not trying to restrict you or hold you to any kind of regulations and flying the thing They just want to hit you with some taxes sounds easy enough But the problem is of course when you go to a Latin American government website, it's going to be in Spanish Alright, let's go on with the rest of this ruling It says drones imported or carried into the country must be made of flexible materials in case of possible impact Towards objects or persons in other words The propellers have to be made out of plastic or graphite like they all are and not out of the same stuff They make machetes out of yeah, right like they have to incorporate something that obvious into a law What a bunch of doofuses, huh? Alright, then it says number two The drone must be manually operated allowing you or the operator to maintain direct visual contact at all times not exceeding

[07:10] 122 meters of distance from you or the operator that'd be 400 feet Hmm by the way, I have a drone and I know some people who do and all of us send our drones out into the stratosphere miles away 400 feet that's a laugh Now I'm telling you this just to put you in touch with little drone operator reality here Alright number three. You must not fly the drone inside a five-mile radius That's eight kilometers of any airport number four. You must not operate the drone at night Oh really and they've got all those nice blinking and flashing lights on them. Well, there's a rule that's begging to be broken Alright number five the drone must be in good working order and fly with permissible weather conditions The could anything be more obvious then again all the drone operators

[07:59] I know prefer to fly their drones when damaged in rain, hail and sleet Alright that calls for another the number six must be permanently in your sight in control of the operator at all times Number seven, you must obtain permission Preferably written but it can be verbal from the resort or any private property over which you intend to fly your drone and to operate When the area is not crowded so as to not invade anyone's privacy particularly on busy beaches or tourist sites Number eight if your drone is above the two kilogram 4.4 pound limit you will need permission from the country's Civil Aviation Institute You can contact them directly at the government website And then they show a government website to receive your application and start the process at least a month before your trip

[08:47] Yeah, right. That's gonna happen Finally it says if your drone weighs more than two kilograms 4.4 pounds were required by law to submit a permission request to the Civil Aviation Institute in this request You must specify the date time and place of use and the nature of usage whether it's commercial or personal All right, just a little observation here even a big professional DJI drone Like the Phantom 3 or 4 only weigh about 3 pounds complete with camera battery and all So even though the rules sound quite restrictive the framers of this law must have written the legislation Long time ago when drones were very heavy 5 pounds and over But these days they really don't apply it to probably 95% of all the drones sold for private even commercial use In fact drones are getting smaller not bigger and some of the latest greatest drones the industry standards like the Mavic Pro

[09:39] Also a DJI drone and cost around twelve to fifteen hundred bucks those things with batteries and camera only weigh around two pounds That's good news even for nervous Nelly gringos who might be worried about bringing a drone in So then what about being taxed on the way in not to worry as long as it looks Slightly used and is not in the fresh shrink-wrapped box or they just might try to nail you Owen expat Eddie has a fail-safe answer when he's hauling his drone around He's been asked by customs when going through borders if he's filming for a commercial enterprise Say no to that unless you're a resident because if you're not a resident technically you don't have permission to work and make money He just tells them he's filming his sister's wedding turns out everyone likes that answer even the brain dead slugs and customs

[10:25] Oh and don't forget drones have lithium batteries pretty big ones airlines are touchy about those things You know you want to pack them right so they don't get confiscated. Just check your airline's website They've got a section on lithium batteries They all do and on the subject of drones here in Latin America Yep All the hobby shops sell them even the latest greatest models But you're gonna pay at least a third to a half more than you would if you ordered them on Amazon or brought one Down yourself. In fact one of our famous past expat insiders seminar attendees Oscar Miner who also gives us the cryptocurrency Mining presentation at the seminar. He is you know an undisputed expert in that field So everyone coming to the seminar will absorb some of that wisdom and even better hang with him for a couple of hours now What most people don't know is that Oscar has drones man does he have drones you might not believe this?

[11:15] But if you were to visit Oscars condo It's a very nice condo as you walk through the place He's got a couple of special rooms are all checked out Where you'll see various pieces of crypto mining equipment then about between 10 and 20 drones Most all of them in various stages of modification and well you could say Reconditioning because he likes to take stock products and make them faster and stealthier Which is why most of his drones are in various stages of well Let's just say disassembly now Oscar lives only about 10 minutes from me right around all those coffee fields So there's plenty of places to fly these things. I mean plenty now you might ask why so many drones Well, you know people who are heavily involved in electronic software crypto engineering and tech Well, they all me included have their strange obsessions

[12:01] Just like some people have Harley muscle car Barbie or dollhouse or baseball card obsessions Well Oscar has drones so then you might be wondering. What's my obsession or obsession? Well, I'll tell you one of them since I grew up in a household where my father had a tool drawer with just a Phillips A flathead and a hammer in it. Oh and one slightly bent adjustable pliers Why because when something broke he always called somebody to fix it and I even as a kid was an inveterate tinker I take everything apart and try to get it back together mostly to the regret of my parents, especially in the early years Well early on because there were no tools in the house I think when I was probably 12 years old I promised myself when I had my first job a paper route I decided whatever tool I needed I would buy it would be mine Even if I only use it once in my life, I would have it and I wouldn't use the wrong tool on the right job

[12:49] I'd get the right tool. I don't want that too So even at 17 18 and 19 years old that go to rummage sales round Chicago and buy up tools They didn't necessarily have to be new. In fact, I preferred it that way because they were much cheaper at rummage sales But they had to be good high quality stuff So I ended up with a massive basement and garage full of tools everything and anything So I guess by the time I was around 22 years old I had amassed enough tools so I could completely overhaul or rebuild a car build kitchen cabinets even a whole house In fact, the basement and garage looked like a hardware store You know when I first moved to Latin America about 30 years ago now I shipped a container down that was completely filled with my tools and some household items and stuff and where did it land? Well quite naturally in Costa Rica You know 30 years ago if you had your sights set on Latin America Mexico and Costa Rica were probably the only two places

[13:39] That clueless gringo is new about but even 30 years ago was overrun with gringo So I only lasted there about two two and a half years and my tools Well, most of them the good ones traveled around with me, too And they are right now somewhere in Guatemala actually have a pretty good collection in another unnamed Latin country, too So tools people might say are one of my crazy obsessions Why because I just hate borrowing things from people remember what old Ben Franklin said he wrote in poor Richards almanac Neither a lender nor a borrower be I always wondered why he named his monthly pamphlet Poor Richards almanac because you know if you followed even some of Ben Franklin's advice, it certainly never be poor Oh and by the way about Oscar minors drone collection

[14:24] Well, a lot of them are just tiny racing drones that go over a hundred miles an hour Talk about lethal weapons, huh? Full disclosure here. He didn't bring any of them down personally. He ordered them all through Amazon Then as you longtime listeners know you have them ship it to your Miami Mail drop and they forward it to your country in Latin America in a week or so Next step Oscar gets notified by email and he goes down and picks it up or has it delivered to his house And it costs him around six to eight dollars a pound Oh, and here's a little trick when ordering from Amazon eBay Whatever and having a chip to your Miami box and then it finally makes it to your Latin destination You know, those services are readily available in practically every Latin country except Cuba Even Venezuelans have mail forwarding services out of Miami and they charge anywhere from around three to eight dollars a pound and most of them

[15:16] State right on their web page that you don't have to pay a duana or tax as if it's under a certain amount Usually two or three hundred bucks that seems to be the range Then the package slips right through custom without even being opened and comes right to you So then what if it is over the two or three hundred dollar limit? How are the customs and the duana people gonna know that I mean when you get a box from Amazon It doesn't have a price on it Sometimes there's not even a price inside the box not to mention with Amazon They combine a lot of things in a box to you might get six or seven different items from different companies each one of them You order separately and they combine them because then they can minimize their shipping costs You know what I mean when you order from Amazon, you can check a box. It says combine items That's always the best thing to do if you're having them shipped to Latin America You're paying by weight remember because if you have various items that are under one pound

[16:03] They'll round it up and you'll pay for each pound combining them is much more efficient and cheaper now sometimes when you order something with a very big box seems to be heavy or has an odd shaped box or Appears to be a very well-made and expensive box Look at flagged by the adwana and your mail forwarding service will send you an email saying Please send us a scan or photo of the receipt to see what you paid for it You have to do that before customs will release the package Well, let me tell you a little story that happened to me recently. I just bought a 42-inch TV from Amazon I could have bought it here in Latin America But there was a super duper one of those prime sales where it was only like a hundred and forty three bucks And certainly would have been around 350 to 400 here in Latin America for an equivalent model So I thought hey, what the hell the sales on for just one day. I'll get it

[16:52] It weighs 14 pounds and it's gonna be three or four bucks a pound So still I'd be paying under 200 bucks for a TV that would be almost twice as much here So anyway, I got the email from my mail forwarder and it says please send us the scan of your receipt and I did and I Know since it was only 143 bucks being under the $300 limit in this country I pay zero import taxes and adwana fees so far so good Well about a half a year ago. I bought a real nice computer from Amazon must have been around 1200 bucks way over the Adwana and customs limit of 300 So I downloaded the Amazon receipt for myself moved it over to my Photoshop program Took me about a minute and a half to change a few digits and now it looked like I paid around 285 dollars for this computer

[17:38] Of course, I did that strictly in the interest of seeing what customs would do a fact-finding mission on my part You could say hmm and guess what it went through just fine now Of course, you do gooders out there are thinking the honorable thing to do would be to now pony up and pay those taxes Experiment work you saw it could be done, but honesty should prevail, right? Well, you know how I feel about those postulate large-ass bastards in government Don't you and I mean that the kindest most Christian way, of course So am I advocating that you should do the same? No, not at all You have to decide for yourself some people like to push boundaries Some don't as for me in the case of the computer if I hadn't done a little photoshopping I certainly would have had to pony up at least 200 to 250 dollars in taxes to a bunch of known thieves

[18:26] So it was my little photoshopping incident a fluke Nope, I've done it three or four times since then when here is another very cool loophole If you're bringing expensive stuff down or you're thinking of shipping any expensive stuff down If you don't have receipts or copies of receipts to attach the Duana or customs people will assign a value and it's always higher than What it should be so how do you avoid that? Well, you could do it a lot of astute gringos and expats do they take the original receipt Photoshop the number down then in the description put down used or refurbished because you know these days Amazon eBay all of them sell used and refurbished items for a lot less than the original brand new in the box So let's say for example, you had a mountain bike you were shipping. It's worth 5,000 bucks Some of those things are really expensive first thing you do is you mong it up a little bit at least

[19:14] So it's not looking brand new you take the original receipt you mark it down to let's say 1500 bucks put down in the description and big letters Used or refurbished and you'll save a ton of dough going through customs. Of course, I'm not advising you to do this I'm just telling you with a lot of astute gringos and expats do usually after they've been burned a few times Bringing things through customs the so-called right way The thing is if you don't have a receipt the customs and adwana people will look that stuff up on the internet and charge you fees And taxes based on the new retail price. That's why there's a whole lot of receipt doctrine going on They've got nothing to lose the words that can happen is they'll just say no way and charge taxes and adwana fees based on The full amount by the way, it's amazing how non standardized the adwana tax system seems to be for example

[20:04] You could bring a brand new five thousand dollar mountain bike through customs and pay let's say six hundred dollars in taxes this week And in a month do the same thing and get charged four hundred bucks or eight hundred Which is why I always say since they play those kind of games with you You've got the right to bend things a bit yourself because again all that can happen is they could say no We're going with the price basis that we've come up with but still as much as you might like or dislike Amazon It's done a great thing for receiving things here in Latin America that just can't be obtained Otherwise at local stores, especially oddball custom and one-off stuff And you'll find if you order right and the items are of small weight Even if you can find a very same product here in Latin America You could generally pick them up online from Amazon Alibaba or eBay much cheaper even after factoring in the shipping

[20:52] Those are games you'll learn to play once you're down here long enough And you know, that's why I also think it would be a great gringo business opportunity to teach Latinos how to use Amazon and eBay Because I'll tell you a hundred percent of them would just love to use those sites, but they don't speak English They have no idea how to maneuver their way through those sites Nor do they know how to take advantage of the way you can combine shipping get free shipping use coupons combine orders Take advantage of special days and deals buy from different suppliers Evaluate the comments and reviews to see if they're BS or not The basic stuff most of us know already but Latinos are clueless about I can envision a seminar at a hotel salon entitled Amazon Alibaba eBay para tontos Amazon Alibaba and eBay for dummies or tontos

[21:40] Like tonto the Lone Ranger sidekick, which means stupid idiot or dummy moving on get another email This one's from Kiki. She says this lady Johnny. Are there closed fishing seasons in Latin America? I'm a girl who likes to catch my own and I'm not talking about going out on one of those expensive day-long Marlin slash bill fishing rigs even then you're often crowded in a boat with a bunch of people You don't like or wouldn't want to hang with anyway as for me I'm into Lake River and estuary fishing my plan is to bring down my portable gear and fish in a few different countries Starting on the Caribbean side around Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Roatan etc and working my way through Costa Rica by land to the Pacific side where I hear there is great fishing

[22:28] Signed an avid listener for three plus years now Kiki from Boulder. All right Kiki. Thanks for that You know, I've been on a couple of those fishing expeditions myself You're right It costs a few hundred bucks and you're stuck on a boat with people you wouldn't want to hang with under any other circumstances Yep, I've been there because to me, you know deep sea and bill fishing is kind of boring But talk about bringing home the spoils fresh fish. Wow, that's the only way to go Wait a minute spoils and fresh fish. There's something congruent about that in there All right Here's a few tips if you're starting out near Puerto Rico the DR and Roatan If you hook up with a fishing charter or bill fish charter, they'll tell you we're going for three or four different kinds of fish They'll narrow it down and you'll get up to though. All countries have their rules. For example in the Dominican Republic

[23:13] They have several closed fishing seasons by law So it's prohibitive for example for anyone to fish consume or possess the following marine species during these designated time periods I am reading from their website. It says you can't eat lobster between March 1st and June 30th You can't eat crab between March 1st and June 30th. They can't eat conch between July 1st and August 31st. That's okay I never liked conch anyway, it's all about the breeding season, you know But the odd thing is at least in these Caribbean countries It says these species cannot be available for sale or served at food establishments markets or other commercial locations During these closed fishing months fishing for parrotfish too and sharks is strictly prohibited at all times year round It says violating the laws will result in heavy fines and imprisonment

[24:02] So tourists beware so then you might ask are these laws followed rigidly by the locals in a word? Hell no. Are you kidding? All right. I know that was five words Bottom line the locals are breaking those rules all the time. So then how many are actually fined or put in prison? How about Zero can't say I've ever heard of or seen or read in the papers or on the Internet of anyone who's ever been fined Or put in jail. So they've got the laws All right, but they've got no lobster crab conch or restaurant police and though the locals may be poor and they look it They're smart enough to realize they don't want to over fish. So a balance sometimes a delicate balance does exist I mean look you longtime listeners for heard me mentioned on a past show You could be walking down the street in a beach side area in Costa Rica or Guatemala, Mexico

[24:50] Nicaragua, etc Never fails during certain times of the year little kids will run up to you with baskets selling turtle eggs Even though the law say it's definitely prohibited to dig up turtle eggs Well, where do you think they get them at Walmart? You know, there are no turtle police though There are semi organized groups of gringo do-gooders that come in now and again, isn't that funny? It's always the gringo do-gooders never the locals that try to fix things Even so the local kids dig them up and sell them as they have done generation after generation Turtle eggs. Yeah, personally, I think they're gross, but I see them in the markets all the time So how do you solve a problem like that? Well education won't those guys are in subsistence mode They need the calories and the protein and they don't care what the do-gooders or the government say Why because the stomach speaks louder than words though in the end

[25:38] You could say it's about the money because my friend who happens to have a beach house in Guatemala And those kids pass by all the time you longtime listeners may have heard me mention this before to the fact that he buys quantities of those eggs from those kids and he brings them down to the Turtle sanctuary a couple of miles down the road run by who else do-gooder gringos So it's a win-win in the end the kids get their dough and the turtles get to live. Well, I take that back It's not exactly a win-win because after the kids sell off those eggs that are off to the store to buy junk food and coca-cola So when you think about it nutrition wise anyway in the end that have been much better off just eating those eggs themselves Yuck, but back to our fisherwoman Kiki Kiki my advice by all means go fishing But do ocean fishing and estuary fishing only don't fish rivers streams or lakes

[26:27] Unless you're just doing it for sport and you're gonna toss them back But to me that's no fun either as you've heard me mentioned before practically all inland water supplies are contaminated in Latin America And I wouldn't trust most first-world streams and lakes either. That doesn't mean you can't fish there Just don't eat this stuff please though the thing that really bugs me is that there'll be little tourist destinations around lakes and rivers inland and Practically all the little restaurants, especially the mom-and-pop restaurants will have the local fish catch of the day Yep, people eat that stuff all the time. I wouldn't and you shouldn't either in fact If you're at a restaurant in Latin America or anywhere for that matter You should always ask for the origin of the fish if it's been imported Don't eat it when the waiter says import auto. He thinks it's higher quality

[27:14] But in reality, it's coming from China, Chile, Malaysia, Vietnam One of those factory fish farms where fish aren't swimming in antibiotics and eating their own poop However, if it's local fish from that particular country That'd be fine as long as it's a small in size that is low on the food chain ocean-going fish You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B, you can schedule a one-on-one phone call with me But first download my free plan B questionnaire at www.thenewexpat.com Better yet, if you want to get your plan B going from right up there in the States Just sign up for my 9-hour expat essentials course Get the perfect plan B blueprint by going to the expat files.com slash academy Los bemos!