flyinmike - 6-2-2009 at 01:14 AM
I know that tourist cards are required, but I have never been asked for one. Has anyone been checked and/or turned down and not allowed to continue on
to Bahia De Los Angeles because they didn't stop and get the tourist card?
Thanks for the info.....I haven't had one in years and have NEVER been checked!
fishbuck - 6-2-2009 at 03:22 AM
Are you "flyin" there? If you do and you go to any aeropuerto of entry they will make you buy one.
If you are driving... I've never been asked for one.
But now I have an FM3.
It's easy to get an FMT driving in at the border. 
woody with a view - 6-2-2009 at 05:54 AM
your vehicle insurance (you do have insurance, right?) will be void if you are in the country illegally. spend the $20 for at least the driver. less
than 7 days it's free.
Paulina - 6-2-2009 at 06:51 AM
What Woody said plus if you have any reason to go south to Guerrero Negro (bank, hospital, etc.) you'll need one to cross the state line.
fdt - 6-2-2009 at 09:33 AM
Am i missing something here?
I often see questions like this about the tourist card, others that ask how to avoid paying customs fees and more like how to avoid military check
points or what to tell an inspecting soldier whan he is searching a personal bag, and so on and so on.
I think that Mexicans or citizens of any other nationality even US citizens, entering the USA if at an inspection like secondary or even at a
checkpoint up the road are asked to step aside from the vehicle while beeing searched and if you were to even try to tell them anything as to how to
do their job, would be in for some trouble. I don't think foreigners (that entered legaly) that require a visa to be in the USA because he/she has
traveled beyond the limit was not to get one because he/she has never been asked would not have one (and they are expensive).
Bajahowodd - 6-2-2009 at 10:17 AM
Matter of fact, does anyone know of any time someone paid the bank, got the FMT stamped and was refused by the immigration officer? I only ask this
because when the shoe is on the other foot, be it a visa or border entry card, Mexicans have to pay a non-refundable $131 (last I checked) with no
assurance the visa will be issued.
sancho - 6-2-2009 at 01:35 PM
There are 3 classfications for tourists
ANYWHERE IN BAJA, #1 down for 72 hrs
or less no tourist card required,
and staying north of the mythical
line, which is a little so. of Ensenada across to San Felipe,
#2 down for more than 72 hrs, you technically
need a tourist card, as Woody mentioned,
a free tourist card is issued for 7 days,
#3 longer than 7 days need to buy the $20 dollar card,
on the back of some/most Mex Auto Ins Policies
it often states the Insured must be in Mex Legally
for the Insurance to be valid, persoanlly I think
it foolish to run the risk of an adjuster being able to invalidate
one's Mex Ins Policy, simply for the lack of spending
$ on a Tourist Card, beside I think it
is common courtesy to abide with Mex Immigration
Laws
Bajahowodd - 6-2-2009 at 04:17 PM
I resoundingly second that. Especially when our country has its panties in a bundle about Mexican immigration, we need to take the high road here. And
as I previously noted, Mexicans pay much more for visas to the US than we do to MX.
David K - 6-4-2009 at 01:03 PM
Big difference is many in Baja benefit from Americans going south... the tourist cards were FREE before 2000. Paying wouldn't be so bad IF you could
pay when you got the card, where you got the card.
The bigger issue is that they do not have a cashier open the same hours as the border, at the border... Finding an open bank teller, then returning to
the INM office with the paid stamp is the problem.
The local tourism departments are also not on the same page as the federal authorities. I heard state tourism people say ALL of Baja Ca (the northern
state) was in the border zone and stays of 7 days or less didn't need a tourist card... this was on Mexico Ted's Baja Talk Radio show.
The problem is that the state doesn't make those rules, and all federal publications say 72 hours and no further south than Maneadero. Longer stays
anywhere or further south for any time need an FM-T tourist card.
A trip anywhere in Mexico of 7 days or less now has a free tourist card available.