15/04/2021
What does It mean to become a Certified Guide in Mexico??? Many have asked me this question I’m sorry I haven’t written and answer to that but here it is. First of all, all tourist guides are regulated by the law of normativity NOM -08 ( you can find it in Google )it says in order to become a certified guide you have to present paperwork,birthday certificate, ID, CURP. RFC (SAT status ., pay taxes, high school certificate and prove that you speak English ( for the general or federal guides ) . There’s 2 types of certifications, local( only allows you to work in your municipality ( not necessary to be bilingual or speak English only Spanish is good . General federal guides. Allows you to work all over Mexico amd need to be bilingual . In order to have your certified document and credential you have to take a diplomat for 6 months 20 hours a week, with 9-12 subject then have a test on each and aprove amd of course have 80% assistance, plus pay for your diplomat around 9-10 thousand pesos ! When your done paper work most be taken to Mexico City plus get register at Sectur in the state amd Federal Sectur ., more money and time., if you want to be. Specialized guide in nature., adventure and other it is another process. The NOM 08 it’s very specifically non person with no certification is allowed to make any money from this activity, call it walks, call it voluntary work etc! You have to be certified, period .
FOR THE FOREIGNERS living in Mexico or San Miguel if you’re a legal resident here , pay taxes you can also do it , by following the same process you just have to be a permanent resident., speak Spanish, pay taxes and take the diplomat ! That’s all otherwise you are illegally working as a tour guide. Even tho you claim to be the best book seller on internet or. The best local guide and cheapest guide in town!! THATS JUST AN ILLEGAL WORK . We as a union of certified guide are working hard with the municipality and state authorities to have this pirate guides remove or at least give them the guidelines to become legal !! If they ignore this chances even worse., we are trying to position our city SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE in the best place as in to tourism matters by getting all of it under the law ! There are a lot of people out there, being pirates , giving false information and that affects our tourism standards as a world heritage city the last 2 years we where rank very law as in guided tours services ., why?? Because people are not aware that some guides are pirates and they use their services having a bad experience ! Now we are trying to position ourselves as accredited guides with the help of consejo turístico, to reinforce and fight the piracy ! There are many, local
Mexicans like the ones working at the trolleys that then offer tours with no certifications., some are identified, and many others, some come from other parts of the state and lately we have seen a lot foreigners doing this activity, new ones, guess following the bad example of Joseph Toone, who by the way has been operating illegally for more than 10 years!! And worse his info is not always correct and falls in to sensacionalist information! Please I ask you to hire certified guide we are more than 40 amd soon we will have a QR and info from the tourist office here in San Miguel., as GASMA we are working hard along side another AC of certified guides to eradicate all this piracy but we need tour support ! Please spread the word about the importance to hire a certified guide !we would apreciare it and help San Miguel become a high standar destination with the best guides and the best experiences for our tourist !!!
Thank you very much ! For information and questions contact is here or at San Miguel Xperiences tours and Languages or Isabel Mor thank you for your support and understanding !!
