BajaBros
Junior Nomad
Posts: 51
Registered: 9-4-2006
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What to do with FMTs?
This last trip we got FMT's with the new section that we were supposed to
return to Immigration when when we crossed back into the USA...but didn't.
Does anyone have wisdom to share on this? Thanks!
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
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Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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You are toast!!!!!
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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i was just in tj last week...
$22.50 usa
they said they dont want them
so...you're "french toast"
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Udo
Elite Nomad
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My advice is to give them to the US Border agent...he'll know what to do with it.
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
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Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Udo
My advice is to give them to the US Border agent...he'll know what to do with it. |
I'm thinking that would make you a prime candidate for "secondary" 
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sancho
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2524
Registered: 10-6-2004
Location: OC So Cal
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Baja Bros, Do you mean you got the
new FMM? That is did you get it after
May1? That is when Mex IMM, in theory,
changed from fmt to fmm. Much
confusing surrounding the new Procedures.
Since it is so new, there hasn't been
any feedback as to how the New Regs
will differ, if any, from the old fmt.
Rumors have it, now it is just rumors,
that Tourists will be allowed 1/180 fmm
in a yr. That is only 180 days
in Mex per yr. After that an fm3 is required.
Computer tracking,etc. I don't know
how that will shake out. If it were me,
although I try to follow Mex IMM regs
to the letter, and I was planning another
Mex trip within the yrs. time, I would make
the effort to clear out with Mex IMM
so I wouldn't have POSSIBLE problemas
in the future. Did they stamp your passport
with an entry stamp?
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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While I agree that the new FMM was designed to limit visitors to 180 days per year, I was under the impression that part of the new procedure was to
allow intermittent use of those 180 days. That way, folks who make several trips per year won't be out of luck after 180 consecutive days has passed
since the issuance of the FMM. With that in mind, some form of control must be established whereby you can "check out" and halt the clock.
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
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Are you all saying that if you are an American tourist in Baja who is a current holder of a validly issued FMT issued before May 2010 wherein its the
180 days have not yet expired, that FMT is no longer valid in the Baja at this time even though its 180 day period since original issuance has not yet
expired?
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RnR
Senior Nomad
Posts: 836
Registered: 5-1-2010
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If you are already back in the US, just throw the second half away. FMT's are(were) only good for one visit.
Technically, you are supposed to turn them in when leaving the country but when driving there is no practical way to do it. Once while exiting
through Tecate, a Mexican IMM official was standing just inside Mexico and asking for your tourist documents as you were leaving. He seemed a little
surprised that we actually had the second half of our FMTs.
We were legal once! 
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
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There's been quite a bit of discussion here about that point. General consensus has been that the FM-T was good for its duration, regardless of how
many times one entered and exited. In any event, one of the differences with the new FMM was that it would allow 180 days, not necessarily
consecutively. But, for that to work, there must be a system in place to track entries and exits.
You are, perhaps only the second poster I have read that related a story of being asked for the the document when exiting. That is, by land. My
understanding with respect to the confiscation of FM-Ts by the airlines upon boarding a return flight was that it had to do with a third-party's
responsibility to account for the whereabouts of foreigners that they had transported into the country.
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
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how 'bout soaking up some oil with 'em.
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
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Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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Maybe they could install drop boxes on the Mexican side of the border crossing.........na, wouldn't work
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sancho
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2524
Registered: 10-6-2004
Location: OC So Cal
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Mitch Man, I got an fmt mid April, just to
get ahead of the fmm confusion. I crossed
into Mex at Mexicalli 2 weeks ago, stopped
at Mex IMM to make sure the existing fmt was
still valid. They said it is, it expires mid Oct.
I have rarely found a Mex IMM Officer
to be helpful. The printing on the fmt says
to return it upon exiting Mex. I do not interrupt
that to mean mulitiple entries, but logic says
if there is time left on it, use it, and if choosing so.
returning it
when it expires. I tend to agree with Bajahowodd
that I believe the new fmm's are to limit the
Tourist to 180 days in Mex per yr. Calender yr.,
who knows. Returning the fmm after staying
2 weeks in Mex, would give the holder another
166 days left. The question I have is if one let the
fmm expire after 180 days, would Mex IMM actually
refuse a Tourist entry into Mex during that yr.?
That scenario doesn't sound realistic to me.
How Mex IMM would control that is beyond me
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O.G.
Nomad
Posts: 109
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Location: Ensenada
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Mood: waiting for the green flash
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Immigration took my FM-T away and said it was only good for 1 time during a 180 day period. Yes, to be used only one time and then relinquished. This
was in April. I was ready to depart Ensenada airport by private plane. However, I had used that same FM-T twice before without it being taken away --
go figure.
| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajahowodd
There's been quite a bit of discussion here about that point. General consensus has been that the FM-T was good for its duration, regardless of how
many times one entered and exited. In any event, one of the differences with the new FMM was that it would allow 180 days, not necessarily
consecutively. But, for that to work, there must be a system in place to track entries and exits.
You are, perhaps only the second poster I have read that related a story of being asked for the the document when exiting. That is, by land. My
understanding with respect to the confiscation of FM-Ts by the airlines upon boarding a return flight was that it had to do with a third-party's
responsibility to account for the whereabouts of foreigners that they had transported into the country. |
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BajaBros
Junior Nomad
Posts: 51
Registered: 9-4-2006
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Thanks for the info and opinions. Yep, what I have is an FMM and the Immigration Officer at the Mexicali border told us to return the last part upon
leaving Mexico. However, while waiting an hour and a half in 100+ degree heat trying to get even near the border, we forgot this final step. It's our
fault. Although getting out of line to park, return the card, then return to the back of the mile-long line sounds kind of extreme. I think I'll try
returning the paperwork to the Mexican Consulate here in San Francisco just to stop the clock. I'll post what happens.
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Riom
Nomad
Posts: 492
Registered: 12-17-2004
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The new FMM is very similar to the I-94 entry permit that is used by most non-Americans (with some exceptions, such as Canadians) when entering the
US. The US permit costs $6 each time.
That form is issued upon entry where the US immigration person decides the length of stay permitted (up to 6 months) (at the land borders this is
done at secondary). It must be retained within the passport, carried at all times, and shown at any internal Border Patrol checkpoints upon demand
(such as the checkpoint on the Yuma-Quartzsite road).
More importantly, it MUST be returned upon final exit from the US - the dates are tracked by computer. It is collected by airlines when you fly, but
there is no proper system in place at the land borders. I've returned it a couple of times at Algodones by parking on the US side, walking to US
immigration, and handing it in, but it's certainly something out of the ordinary there, they don't get many. At other border crossings like Mexicali
East it's basically impossible to park and hand it in.
BTW you don't need to hand it in for short trips - in theory up to 30 days - to Mexico/Canada providing you expect to return to the US before it
expires.
The US does have an address in Kentucky the form can be sent to if you accidentally leave the country with it, as sometimes airlines forget to collect
them. That's quite a process, as you have to accompany it with evidence you actually left, which can be hard if you left by land. Presumably at some
point Mexico will put a system in place for returning FMMs, but I doubt they've planned for that yet.
As the entry and exit dates are tracked, the US can and does sometimes refuse entry for those spending more than 6 months a year in the country (or
getting two consecutive six month entries, even if a good chunk of that time is spent outside the US such as in Mexico). It's very important to make
them aware when you have left, to stop the clock. Like the FMM if you don't hand it in, there is NO way to show you've spent part of that 6 months
not in the US, or not in Mexico.
This long explanation is really to point out the FMM is strongly influenced by the US system (that most Americans don't see), and will likely work
(poorly) in the same way. It's the FMM user's decision on whether to return to the US for a while within the 6 month validity retaining the FMM for
future use (understanding that Mexico considers you to still be in Mexico, if they are counting days), or to hand it in each time (even if there isn't
a proper system in place to collect it, like there isn't when leaving the US either).
It's a system designed for plane travel, where neither country has really thought properly about how it would actually work at land borders.
Rob
[Edited on 2010-6-7 by Riom]
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