FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Requirements for visiting Mexico 🇲🇽 as a tourist (FMM, "tourist card", visa, etc.)
Old Jan 19, 2023, 10:43 pm
  #152  
i0wnj00
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: LAX, TIJ
Programs: UA, AS, Volaris, VivaAerobús
Posts: 204
Originally Posted by resolute
I have traveled to Mexico many times over the years, usually flying into some airport and the immigration seems pretty typical - passport check and scan on the inbound to MX. get the stamped immigration card you keep until you leave when the airline collects it.. However the land crossing combined with a flight from TIJ seems odd/confusing. Please help me understand it..

Recently I took 2 trips from TIJ, crossing the land crossing then flying from TIJ to MEX City and back. I chose to NOT use the CBX on either trip, but took mexican taxis to/from the land crossings. The first time i used OTAY Mesa, and the second time I used San Ysidro. This is sort of where the confusion started as things were handled inconsistently at each crossing on the MEX side. Both crossings into MEX were in the wee hours and I pretty much was the only person crossing at that hour (around Midnight to 1 AM in each instance..)
At that time, they don't really care...they're only there to collect a pay check and more likely than not, hate working nights.
If you had arrived 12 hours earlier they would be busy processing people...

OTAY - Crossed into MEX and there was a person (INM) who asked me if I had my documents and where I was going. I said to TIJ airport and then Mex City, so he took my passport and scanned it and wrote me out a "tourist card" himself and stamped it and gave me my half of it and sent me on my way. I remarked that the last time a few weeks later when I entered MEX City by air the INM people there didnt give me a tourist card, just scanned and stamped my passport and told me they quit doing the paper forms (which I was very happy about..). This person at Otay acted liked he had never heard of such a thing and just said they were still doing it.. So I took it and did my trip. On return to TIJ, I got off the plane went through baggage claim and passed the desk with "immigration" on it. As though I was coming from a Mexican city (domestic flight) I just passed on by doing nothing. However, you still had to put your bags through the X-Ray as if entering the country from an INTERNATIONAL flight...(odd..) before going out into the landside airport. Got my taxi and returned to Otay and crossed to US - asked US official if someone was supposed to have taken my copy back of the "tourist card" and he just replied "ahh, you can just trash that.."
And, at that desk sometimes you will be asked for your documents, that has happened to me before and other times, you see groups of people sitting in chairs...sucks to be them.
You were suppose to turn in the "tourist card" at that desk, but you can trash it if nobody is around.
You know why the x-ray machine is there for? Right?

San Ysidro - couple weeks later walked across at San Ysidro - went through the turnstile into Mexico and into dark Mexican immigration/customs area for foot traffic. INM person sitting in a booth but seemed half asleep when I walked up to him (had to wave to get his attention in an empty room..) and told him I was flying to Cancun "That's nice" he replied.. I asked if I needed a "tourist card" and he said "I don't have any right now... IF you want one you can get at airport, they have a booth when you go in" He waves me onward, I go around the corner and put my bag in Xray and go out and get taxi to airport. At airport I go to INM booth landside before entering security and ask guy about a "tourist card" as I am flying into the interior of Mexico (cancun) - he says he can give me one with there will be a cost of $600 pesos (like 30 US) - I question this as I have never PAID anything to immigration before in Mexico and found it odd. He just says "well, then yu can get one in Cancun probably if you want want one - no problem - the only place they are free is at San Ysidro and OTay crossing. Otherwise you have to pay" and goes back to his corner and keep watching a show on his phone (OK this is a new one..).. So I am like thinking to myself that I really don't care whether or not they give me one or not. I entered the country legally and properly through a designated crossing and will just go on with my trip - which I do with no problem. Besides, I had several stamps from prior visits in weeks prior so if anyone has a problem with it, they can just use one of those for reference. Upon return that night to TIJ, I exit the airport and pass the "immigration" desk in the baggage claim - no one seemed to be there anyway and then I pass the x rays after baggage claim which no one seemed to be manning at the moment. I just walk out into the landslide terminal and no one pays any mind. Get taxi back to San Ysidro foot crossing and cross back into US - no problem.

See above
That person probably has some FMM, but doesn't want to work or doesn't have them and can't help you.

1) Why is there an "immigration" desk and references to "immigration" etc. in the MEXICAN DOMESTIC portion of TIJ airport? TIJ is still legally Mexico, so why would they do any immigration checking in the domestic part of the airport? Same with the baggage x rays upon arrival from other parts of Mexico, I have never seem this at any other MExican airport when arriving domestically.. Its like they are considering a flight from MEX-TIJ to be an "international" flight and makes no sense..!
This is common in Mexico and isn't limited to TIJ. Major Mexican international airports have INM offices inside of them, in the past tourists who lost their tourist card would come here, pay the fine and get a new one to get out of the county. Still in effect, it's for minors who are Mexican citizens and are traveling with one adult other than the parent(s) or alone need permission from INM to leave the country, and foreigners who are Mexican residents also need to "check out" by visiting the INM office. Airlines will make sure the law regarding these situations are followed. I don't like the check out regimen as a resident of Mexico, just another chore to do at the airport, but that's the procedure that's been established for us.

At least, at the land border with US/Mexico, I "check in" at INM with resident card and US Passport (book) and drive back and forth or just stay in the US...
After that, I just bring my resident card with me...until I need to "check in"/"check out".

2) Why did the immigration person (uniformed INM person) in the landside booth at TIJ want to charge me for a tourist card but then when I questioned it, just handed me back all my stuff without having scanned or recorded anything and acted like he was indifferent with whatever I wanted to do? That was a new one too.
The purpose of the office...see above.
Back in the days, when I tried to do same thing, they told me that I'm ok.
I had valid FMMs that I used for Baja California or registered under my US Passport card and wanted to ensure I didn't have any problems when I traveled to the interior so I would approach them and show them the existing one and told me I was ok.

3) Is Mexico getting rid of the paper cards altogether? In my several recent trips, MEX City is no longer using them it appears for international arrriving passengers - just scanning and stamping passports. But (as per my experience in Baja) it seems very inconsistent elsewhere...
I'm sure the program will be expanded to the land border, but I'm not sure how people with US Passport Cards or other specialized cards used at the Southern Border will be handled because you can't stamp a card and you would have to some how let the visitor know how many days they can stay. Nor I am sure, how people who just drive in with personal automobiles be handled, which I presume they will continue to put the responsibility to check in on the driver and any passengers to visit the INM office.
For now, at least they are focusing on the major airports who are receiving large amounts of international arrivals...

The land border with the United States is mainly dominated with local traffic, people who regularly commute between the US and Mexico.
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