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rayfornario
Nomad
Posts: 169
Registered: 2-23-2007
Location: Imperial Beach, Ca
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New border requirements for TJ
Just crossed into TJ with the new facility online. It is poorly run and very inefficient. On top of that the wait was 20 minutes, plus to avoid in the
future I had to purchase a 6 month tourist visa for 20.50. You also have to fill out a customs card even though you only going to be there for a few
hours...amazing!!!! Who is actually going to look at these cards?
In addition you have to now walk further to get to Revolution as the building opens up near the second bridge. The complaints were heard all around
Tijuana from merchants that heard from their customers. Just when TJ was recovering from the last decade of poor business , Mexico has now found a new
way to shoot themselves in the foot! Very bad business decision!
Even a bad day in Baja is better then a good day somewhere else!
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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Like the saying goes, "You can buy 'em books,and buy 'em books but......"
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64480
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Somebody had fun at your expense. A free tourist card is given for stays up to 7 days anywhere in MEXICO.
[Edited on 8-21-2015 by David K]
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5847
Registered: 7-18-2011
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Did you walk or drive?
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17302
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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Quote: Originally posted by rayfornario  | Just crossed into TJ with the new facility online. It is poorly run and very inefficient. On top of that the wait was 20 minutes, plus to avoid in the
future I had to purchase a 6 month tourist visa for 20.50. You also have to fill out a customs card even though you only going to be there for a few
hours...amazing!!!! Who is actually going to look at these cards?
In addition you have to now walk further to get to Revolution as the building opens up near the second bridge. The complaints were heard all around
Tijuana from merchants that heard from their customers. Just when TJ was recovering from the last decade of poor business , Mexico has now found a new
way to shoot themselves in the foot! Very bad business decision!
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Sure sounds a whole lot easier to go southbound compared to northbound, eh!
Compared to USA homeland security, Mexico immigration customs is a cake walk!
So be grateful!
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DavidT
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Posts: 494
Registered: 4-9-2005
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AT BUSY CROSSING, PEDESTRIANS NEED PASSPORTS TO ENTER MEXICO
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Walking into Mexico at the nation's busiest border crossing with the United States is no longer an uninterrupted stroll for
foreigners.
Pedestrians and motorists have generally entered Mexico unencumbered along the 1,954-mile border with the United States.
Now, pedestrians going to Tijuana from San Diego at the San Ysidro crossing must choose between a line for Mexicans who walk through unchecked, and a
line for foreigners who must show a passport, fill out a form and - if staying more than a week - pay 322 pesos, or roughly $20, for a six-month
permit.
Travelers have long followed similar protocol at Mexican airports, but the procedure marks a big change at land crossings that weren't designed to
question everyone and fully enforce that nation's laws.
"This is about putting our house in order," said Rodulfo Figueroa, Mexico's top immigration official in Baja California which includes Tijuana.
The switch went without a hitch on its first full day of operations Thursday. About a dozen foreigners stood in line, directed by English-speaking
agents to six inspection booths. It took about 10 minutes from start to finish.
About 20 people were denied entry during a six-hour stretch because they had no passports. Agents exercised discretion to let others through with a
warning to come prepared next time.
Susan Cox, who took a bus from Las Vegas to San Diego and walked across, was surprised but understanding.
"The more security, the better," Cox said as she headed to see her fiance, who was deported from the U.S. and lives in Tijuana. "Maybe they'll stop
people coming into Mexico who are on the run, people who are a threat."
Others disapproved. Jesus Reynosa, a Tijuana taxi driver who caters to pedestrian crossers, said he has struggled for American customers after the
2001 terror attacks led to heightened U.S. border security - and longer lines - to return to San Diego and a spell of drug-fueled violence several
years ago spooked tourists.
"We used to have thousands of Americans, now we have few. Soon we'll have even fewer," he said while waiting for customers.
Motorists will see no change, and if lines get too long, officials say they will also wave pedestrians through.
The changes, which have been in the works for years, came as Donald Trump has surged to the top of the Republican field in the U.S. presidential race.
He has insisted that Mexico sends criminals to the U.S. and he pledges to build a border wall at Mexico's expense.
For Mexico, it is a step toward closing an escape route for American criminals who disappear in Mexico. Border inspectors will tap into international
criminal databases.
More than 120 Americans expelled from Mexico this year while living in Baja California had arrest warrants in the U.S., according to Figueroa,
delegate of the National Migration Institute. Some ordered to leave last year were on the FBI's most-wanted list.
But authorities say the benefits extend beyond stopping unwanted visitors. A recent hurricane stranded twice as many Americans in Cabo San Lucas than
U.S. authorities thought were there, Figueroa said, and registering as a foreigner would have made it easier to identify those who needed help.
Figueroa said Mexico can initially process about 1,000 foreigners daily, up from about 50 currently.
"If the line becomes clogged up, we will just let everybody through," Figueroa said. "If we can't check everybody, we won't."
Figueroa said San Ysidro is believed to be the first U.S. land crossing to have a separate line for foreigners to show passports and that it will
serve as a model for others as they are upgraded.
Aurora Vega, a spokeswoman for the National Migration Institute, referred questions to other departments. Officials at the Foreign Relations
Department and Mexican Embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MEXICO_CHECKS_FORE...
David
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
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SFandH
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 8-5-2011
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Please explain what you said above. Are you saying that if you buy a 6 month FMM you can avoid completing a form on your next walk across entry? That
you can use the FMM for multiple entries?
For folks who don't know, a new Mexican immigration and customs building has opened at SY that southbound pedestrians must walk through to enter
Mexico. They're performing more rigorous ID inspections on foreign pedestrians than they do on foreign drivers. It will be a real mess if/when they
start the same procedure with drivers.
They are certainly making it more time consuming for Americans to walk across, completing forms, asking questions, and are requiring a passport.
Here's a news article with photos.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/19/mexico-...
[Edited on 8-21-2015 by SFandH]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64480
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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What's to prevent Americans (who are people of all races) from simply walking in using the Mexicans only line? I have seen blond and red haired
Mexicans, in Mexico as well. Maybe if we have a colorful shirt on and a camera around our neck, we would be caught in that line?
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15937
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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just tell them, in your best Cajun accent that you are a citizen of the world!
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sancho
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2524
Registered: 10-6-2004
Location: OC So Cal
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| Quote: Originally posted by SFandH |
Please explain what you said above. Are you saying that if you buy a 6 month FMM you can avoid completing a form on your next walk across entry? That
you can use the FMM for multiple entries?
[Edited on 8-21-2015 by SFandH] |
That is my ? too, OP, are you under the impression you can
pay for a 180 day fmm, then use it for a return trip to Baja?
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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Just dress up and do your very best Cheech and Chong imitation and walk right through the Mexico line. I swear it will work.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64480
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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sancho, I documented it here when I bought my tourist card in 2012, in Tijuana...
The federal INM officer told me (when I asked) of course I can return to Mexico next week on the same card I just bought (i.e. a second entry into
Mexico) for my next trip across the border.
Before it expires, you can return it to them in person or by mail... as reported here recently by another Nomad who saw it happen, when they get it,
it is wadded up and thrown in the trash!
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sancho
Ultra Nomad
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| Quote: Originally posted by David K | sancho, I documented it here when I bought my tourist card in 2012, in Tijuana...
The federal INM officer told me (when I asked) of course I can return to Mexico next week on the same card I just bought (i.e. a second entry into
Mexico) for my next trip across the border.
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DK, with all due respect, I mean that, quoting an incident from 3 yrs back is not applicable, the new ped crossing Imm build at
SY appears to be enforcing the long unenforced Mex Imm regs, so info you got from a particular Imm officer you dealt with yrs ago may not apply. My
question to the OP is if he believes he
can walk across again with his previously paid for fmm, present it to
Mex Imm and be allowed into Mex with his days/weeks old fmm
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SFandH
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6926
Registered: 8-5-2011
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Sancho, yes, that is the question. I hope the OP clarifies what he said.
When I had the FMM multiple entry answer wrong, another bajanomad pointed out to me, and I'll quote the FMM verbatim since I have an unexpired one in
front of me:
On the back, in English under the word "Important", which is in red and capitalized it says:
"During your stay in Mexico you must retain this immigration form and surrender it upon leaving the country."
So who knows what is going on.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15937
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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OP might not have an opinion on the matter. MexMigra is notorious for not knowing their own regulations (or not enforcing them) so until each of us
walks across twice on the same FMM nobody's version of reality is worth any more than what has already been presented.
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SFandH
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6926
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True, but I'm asking the OP to clarify what he said, which doesn't make any sense:
"plus to avoid in the future I had to purchase a 6 month tourist visa for 20.50."
to avoid what?
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15937
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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Mood: Everchangin'
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i'll just keep driving....
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rayfornario
Nomad
Posts: 169
Registered: 2-23-2007
Location: Imperial Beach, Ca
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| Quote: Originally posted by SFandH |
Please explain what you said above. Are you saying that if you buy a 6 month FMM you can avoid completing a form on your next walk across entry? That
you can use the FMM for multiple entries?
For folks who don't know, a new Mexican immigration and customs building has opened at SY that southbound pedestrians must walk through to enter
Mexico. They're performing more rigorous ID inspections on foreign pedestrians than they do on foreign drivers. It will be a real mess if/when they
start the same procedure with drivers.
They are certainly making it more time consuming for Americans to walk across, completing forms, asking questions, and are requiring a passport.
Here's a news article with photos.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/19/mexico-...
Yes, they said it is good for 6 months and multiple entries. The free 7 days are no good because because you have to renew them every week and I hate
lines.
[Edited on 8-21-2015 by SFandH] |
Even a bad day in Baja is better then a good day somewhere else!
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rayfornario
Nomad
Posts: 169
Registered: 2-23-2007
Location: Imperial Beach, Ca
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| Quote: Originally posted by SFandH | True, but I'm asking the OP to clarify what he said, which doesn't make any sense:
"plus to avoid in the future I had to purchase a 6 month tourist visa for 20.50."
to avoid what? |
To avoid standing in a line to be questioned and have to fill out a customs form every day I go in to TJ. The lines are problematic because of the all
the day trip foreigners their in line filling out a customs form
Even a bad day in Baja is better then a good day somewhere else!
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SFandH
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6926
Registered: 8-5-2011
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Thanks for answering. So with a valid FMM the entry process is quicker.
[Edited on 8-21-2015 by SFandH]
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