Foreign Residents Network News

By Peter Fowler
peterfowler_mx@yahoo.com.

Attention foreigners: This is the first of a series of network newsletters just for you! Bienvenido (welcome) to Playas de Rosarito, B.C., aka Rosarito Beach, a sparkling Jewel-by-the-Sea. There are approximately 140,000 people living in Rosarito Beach of which about 14,000 are Resident foreigners, most of whom have concerns and questions about such issues as long distance telephone calls, banking, border crossing, insurance, security, the purchase of property, rentals, medical, dental, visas, pets and vets, to name a few. There is an organization here called FRAO, which stands for Foreign Residents Affairs Office (the only one of its kind in all of Mexico), where you can get your questions answered. FRAO was created to assist foreigners integrate comfortably into this rapidly growing community. Just let FRAO know what your concerns are – what information you need - and they will do their best to get answers for you. You can e-mail FRAO at FRAO@Rosarito.org and conversely, if you have some good information you’d like to share with your fellow foreigners, send it via e-mail to internationalresidents@hotmail.com.

FRAO acts as a referral center to reliable counseling firms for questions such as immigration, land leases, bank trusts, concessions, taxes, urban development, medical, legal, insurance, cultural, and orientates on local routine procedures. Further, FRAO encourages the development of cooperative relationships between Municipal and Federal offices and the foreign residents who have chosen Rosarito Beach as their temporary or permanent place to live.

Whether a foreigner chooses to stay for just a few days, a few weeks, or a long term residency, the first thing they should do is visit Olivia del Corral, Coordinator of FRAO. She will be delighted to meet you. Her office hours are from 8:30 am ‘til 3:30 pm Mondays through Fridays. She is located on the second floor of City Hall. You can reach her by telephone at City Hall 614-9600 ext. 2830. and/or 614-9697. From the States you can also dial (619) 822-2955.

FRAO offers foreigners the opportunity to take an active part in the city. Through interactions with the local community, the Municipality, and charitable organizations, FRAO offers an outreach for various projects, several of which are staffed by volunteers. If you were involved in your community in your home country you might want to become similarly involved here and volunteer some of your time.

You can get more information about FRAO at www.Rosarito.org.