BajaNomad

FMM change. UPDATE

Tommy A - 7-11-2022 at 02:32 PM

Noticed when I gave my FMM to the official at the Loreto airport they did not give me the bottom part, when I asked about it he said there not doing that anymore
Anyone know what’s going on?
Thx

Update
Left Loreto yesterday 7/21 and was never asked for the bottom part of the FMM

[Edited on 7-22-2022 by Tommy A]

[Edited on 7-22-2022 by Tommy A]

Howard - 7-11-2022 at 03:47 PM

Last month I flew into Loreto and did the normal thing with the FMM even thought I am a R.P. They gave me the lower portion as usual and when I flew out of Loreto I handed the Alaska ticketing agent my passport with the lower stub inside the passport, just like I have done countless times. To my surprise when I got to my house NOB, I opened the passport and the lower part was still in the passport. I just thought they forgot to take it until I read your post. Maybe it isn't necessary any more or it could of been an oversight.

Tommy A - 7-11-2022 at 07:34 PM

Flying into Loreto
Passport was stamped

[Edited on 7-12-2022 by Tommy A]

JZ - 7-11-2022 at 08:49 PM

Are you still in Loreto? They always want to collect them back when you leave.

So, if the immigration guy screwed up it's gonna be an issue for you.

Tommy A - 7-11-2022 at 08:57 PM

Am still in Loreto
I posted this on a Facebook Loreto site and people have had similar experience
I let you know what happens when I leave

Tommy A - 7-12-2022 at 03:47 AM

Good idea
I also remember some of the people on that flight and they are staying at the same hotel as me, I’ll check to see if they got the bottom part back or not

DIWR17 - 7-12-2022 at 08:55 AM

We flew out to Breck last week for a few days of cooler weather.

On the way out, went into SJD immigration office where the officer filled out the FMM using our PR cards and US passports. Checked in and the United agent attached the bottom half of said FMM to our boarding passes. The top half went back into our passports. At the gate the agent took the bottom half attached to the boarding pass and kept it, to go into the nether or wherever they lose it to.

On the way back in the the Immigration agent took the completed top half, ( I filled it in with our inbound flight info),scanned our PR cards and stamped our passports.

That seems to be the process the last few times.

surabi - 7-12-2022 at 11:05 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Howard  
Last month I flew into Loreto and did the normal thing with the FMM even thought I am a R.P. They gave me the lower portion as usual and when I flew out of Loreto I handed the Alaska ticketing agent my passport with the lower stub inside the passport, just like I have done countless times. To my surprise when I got to my house NOB, I opened the passport and the lower part was still in the passport. I just thought they forgot to take it until I read your post. Maybe it isn't necessary any more or it could of been an oversight.


This is odd and wrong. When you have a residency permit, you fill out the lower portion of the FMM form when you fly out, it gets stamped at the immigration kiosk at the airport, and you hand it in to the ticketing desk when you check in. You retain the larger upper half and that is what you fill out and hand in when you fly back from NOB. (Although if you lose that upper half when you are up north, immigration doesn't seem to care if you just fill out a new one when they hand them out on the plane) You do not end up with the lower half, as that was submitted when you flew out.

A resident never has a lower half in their possession. That is only for tourists.

You were supposed to hand the lower half to the airline when you flew north.


[Edited on 7-12-2022 by surabi]

Tommy A - 7-12-2022 at 11:24 AM

Spoke with a few guys at the marina this morning who had flown in the last few days and they all said they did not get there bottom part of the FMM back
Going to try to get up to the airport today a talk with an official there

sancho - 7-12-2022 at 11:52 AM

Where did you fly out of going to Loreto? If by chance
you flew out of TJ, one typically does not return the fmm.
So not having the tourist portion of the fmm would not matter.
I don't see how the Mex Imm officer at Loreto would be
so careless as to flub that. The guy has one, maybe 2
simple jobs. Or his 1st day on the job?















[Edited on 7-12-2022 by sancho]

Tommy A - 7-12-2022 at 12:38 PM

Flew out of
Los Angeles

Tommy A - 7-12-2022 at 05:45 PM

Asked the concierge at the LaMision hotel if he had heard about this
He said he had not but would call the airport and talk to the officials there
Spoke with him later in the day and he said yes that they had changed the process of giving you back the bottom part of the FMM and just stamping your passport
He said the reason was that too many people were losing the bottom part and then missing there flight

JZ - 7-12-2022 at 05:50 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Tommy A  
Asked the concierge at the LaMision hotel if he had heard about this
He said he had not but would call the airport and talk to the officials there
Spoke with him later in the day and he said yes that they had changed the process of giving you back the bottom part of the FMM and just stamping your passport
He said the reason was that too many people were losing the bottom part and then missing there flight


Tommy bringing the goods! Appreciate the real-time info.

I know all those guys working at La Mision. Great people, super friendly and helpful.

SFandH - 7-12-2022 at 05:52 PM

Hmmm, this is complicated. Does anybody have any idea about the objective of issuing an FMM? There must be a simpler way to collect an admission fee to the fun zone.

Don Pisto - 7-12-2022 at 06:02 PM

Quote: Originally posted by SFandH  
Hmmm, this is complicated. Does anybody have any idea about the objective of issuing an FMM? There must be a simpler way to collect an admission fee to the fun zone.


do away with the free 7 day fmm and put the INM back in Maneadero....few visiting tijuana-ensenada bother getting them anyway.

JDCanuck - 7-12-2022 at 06:07 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Tommy A  
Asked the concierge at the LaMision hotel if he had heard about this
He said he had not but would call the airport and talk to the officials there
Spoke with him later in the day and he said yes that they had changed the process of giving you back the bottom part of the FMM and just stamping your passport
He said the reason was that too many people were losing the bottom part and then missing there flight


Interesting. My last flight in the customs agent rewrote my FMM, extended the time way beyond what i told her we would be there, gave me the section I was to carry with me and that was taken when I flew back out. No stamping of the passport at all, either on entry or exit, so I had thought that was only the European methodology.

sancho - 7-12-2022 at 06:18 PM

There was a fb post, yesterday or so, mainland area, alluding to this. Someone
suggested Mex going paperless? Seems to be a quagmire in
the making, tourists having to count forward 180 days, or in
some cases less than 180 days that have been granted recently,
to determine when their fmm expires. Time will tell.
Es Mexico

DIWR17 - 7-13-2022 at 12:54 PM

It's a cultural thang.

surabi - 7-14-2022 at 01:41 PM

Quote: Originally posted by SFandH  
Hmmm, this is complicated. Does anybody have any idea about the objective of issuing an FMM? There must be a simpler way to collect an admission fee to the fun zone.


You might understand better if you and others stopped calling a tourist visa an FMM, as giving you back half to serve as your visa is only one of the uses of an FMM. An FMM is a migratory document that everyone but Mexican citizens fills out. So it isn't about "collecting an admission fee", because residents also fill them out, as well as foreigners coming to work with a company in Mexico, etc. and there is no cost associated with that.

They are supposedly used for statistical purposes to track entry and exits of travelers, be they tourists, residents, diplomats, etc.

David K - 7-14-2022 at 03:25 PM

Bureaucracy, plain and simple... a make-work program for officials and brings in cash for such programs and government spending.

It is not a "visa" per Mexico... Visas are required to visit Mexico for some countries, but not the U.S. or Canada. It is a way to track non-visa foreigners crossing the border... or simply a way of collecting data. Since I suspect the forms are boxed up and sent to Mexico City monthly or maybe not at all? Those who used to return them when they exited Mexico, have seen them thrown into the trash as they left the counter.

New? fmm Stuff

sancho - 7-30-2022 at 05:00 PM

Off a Mexico Immigration Attorney site; http://soniadiazmexico.com.
under Visas Immigration, states as of 7/28/2022, starting at some
Mex Airports, Mex Imm is no longer issuing paper fmm's,
just a stamp in a Passport. Not sure about land crossings, they may remain unchanged. This was buried in another reply
by surabi. Thought I'd point it out


[Edited on 7-31-2022 by sancho]

Alm - 7-30-2022 at 05:29 PM

Less work for INM, no need to collect stubs in airports. It doesn't say anything about airports only. Blue fonts announcing this change sort of contradict the section that goes right after it:

"The traditional way of obtaining the FMM at ports of entry is still in force. The electronic version allows you to fill out the form in advance. It is very important to keep the stamped portion of the FMM "

Es Mexico, indeed.

Whiskey Witch - 7-31-2022 at 06:49 PM

Fake news. Two things.

1) I went to the Mexico INM web page where one can ask them questions via Facebook Messenger. With respect to tourists, their response was that FMMs are not being replaced by a passport stamp with days allowed. (You can go ask yourself.)

Perhaps folks with Permanente or Temporal residency will be affected. IDK.

2) I don't believe that Sonia provides a link to any relevant government policy. But maybe I've missed it.

David K - 7-31-2022 at 06:53 PM

It was stated by Ron, that it was a test and others were not informed. Also, just for flying tourists with a passport book.

Tommy A - 8-1-2022 at 07:32 AM

Landed in Loreto from Los Angeles in the middle of July, was not given the bottom part of the FMM, when I asked the immigration clerk why not she said they were not doing that anymore. When I left 2 weeks later was not asked for it at the airport.

mtgoat666 - 8-1-2022 at 08:13 AM

Why does it matter?
It will be what it will be.