Tech Gringo

Fancy A Salta Tour?

Trolling through the web, I like to find interesting posts, pictures and information about places in my future intended destination. I was so lucky to go across this blog of a teacher in Argentina. I particularly enjoyed his recent tour of Salta, Argentina. It offers a small glimpse into things in Salta.

IDL Scam?

Wanna know a scam going around that affects expats? Have I got one for you. When traveling outside of the US and Canada, many expats find themselves needing to drive. Since your US driver’s license, or UK driver’s license or whatever country, may not be valid in the country you are traveling in, many people need an International Driver’s License. This is a document that supplements your current driver’s license and is valid in any country that has signed the UN Treaty that governs its issue.

So where does the scam come in? Many individuals sell these international driver’s licenses to expats. They charge fees ranging from very little to upwards of $100 depending on who is trying to do the scamming. The problem is that they aren’t even worth the paper they are printed on.

The UN Treaty doesn’t define citizen rights but rather it is an agreement between countries. The treaty doesn’t define the requirements for obtaining the IDL supplement, this is left to individual countries to decide on their own. For US issued driver’s licenses, the State Department has the responsibility to issue IDL’s. They have delegated this responsibility to AAA and a lesser known auto club. These are the only valid IDL’s for US driver’s licenses.

This means that if you buy an international driver’s license off of the internet or Jose at the corner print shop, it is not valid. This could land you in some very hot water if you run into an official who is astute enough to recognize the difference. It might be as simple as trying to do a little explaining or paying a bribe or you could be talking jail time while they sort things out.

If you are already abroad, AAA makes it really easy to get the IDL, just send them a copy of your driver’s license, two photographs and the fee. A few dollars to AAA can sure save a lot of headaches later.

Even The Embassies Are Inspected

As I was surfing tonight trying to look for Bolivian ISP, yes I really don’t have a life, I found this link to US Embassy inspections. You know inspections one government agency does as oversight against another government agency. Kind of interesting reading.

Embassy Inspections

They are just summaries and only a few embassies are listed but they are interesting nonetheless. It gives interesting reading if you have ever had more than limited dealings with an embassy. I never really knew these kind of inspection reports existed, but now I do.