Originally Posted by
FlyingHoustonian
But I am saying, I fly to Merida for business very often, and at MID it is not done at the gate, it is done in the terminal at a formal Federally manned immigration booth where they can, and sometimes do, ask questions on exit; thus my question above. In fact, my last trip to MEX, granted some time ago, and VER several weeks ago had the same Federal immigration officials at manned desks taking the cards well before the gate.
From what was said above, it seems like it is being promoted as always happening at the gate or by airline personnel which is not ('always') correct.
Originally Posted by
FlyingHoustonian
Fair enough; I was, and am geniuenly curious as I will be sending more employees to other parts of Mexico this year, and going more myself expanding outside MID and VER. All biz travel though so likely no CUN :-( I'd guess with all the tourists in CUN it kind of makes sense to have the gate agents do it.
I do know they threaten one with fines if the form is not handed back in on departure.
The procedure at MEX was a formal one in the past. It appears the collection of the retained portion of the "tourist card" may be the result of a less centralized decision-making process (somewhat surprising in Mexico).
My advice:
Remind your employees the law requires them to keep the retained form until they depart Mexico; they can be fined if they fail to produce it on exit or if requested to present it by officials, and the procedure for getting the proper process done prior to departure in cases where the form has been lost can cause one to miss their scheduled flight.
Tell them the procedure for collecting the retained portion of the form may vary: they may have to produce it at a formal
migración departure queue, or at the airline ticket counter. I'd go so far as to tell them if nobody has collected it by the time they board that they give it to the gate agents (even if they appear confused), as it is supposed to be turned in by law.
Though Mexico hasn't shown they track (or have the ability to track) returned forms, it is always possible they might begin doing so. As one who has dealt extensively with various state and Federal bureaucracies in Mexico for at least six decades as both a Mexican and as an American, I'd worry some bright, shiny day some petty
burócrata will decide to create barriers for someone who did not have their (now) exit form collected upon departure - possibly impeding their return to Mexico and my ability to carry out my business as smoothly and efficiently as possible.