BajaNomad - FM-3 conundrum

FM-3 conundrum

Hooker33 - 11-19-2009 at 08:38 AM

This question may have been asked and answered but I can't find it. My wife and I always drive to Cabo and have up to date FM-3's, now due to a health issue my wife will have to fly down and I will drive. We have never had our visas exit stamped when returning to the states by car. Question is, should the wife fill out and submit the FMT form on her flight south or use her valid FM-3 to enter the country? My thanks for any advice.

DENNIS - 11-19-2009 at 08:44 AM

Use the valid FM3. Under no circumstances are you to have two visas at the same time.

karenintx - 11-19-2009 at 09:13 AM

It sounds like that in the past when leaving Mexico she has not filled out the "F.M.E. for Foreigners"? This is a one page, carbon copy form which one page is given to the foreigner and the other is kept by IMS.

When using a FM-2/3 and flying into SJD, or any other Mexician airport, the foreigner is required to give this form to the INM agent in order to enter the country...legally!

As far as coming in on a FM-T...rumor is "if" when scanning your USA passport and "if" it matches with a FM2/3 THEN there could be problems.

Just depends on how lucky she feels.

Beuna Suerta

.

[Edited on 11-20-2009 by karenintx]

Tano - 11-19-2009 at 09:34 AM

I’ve noticed that there’s been a lot of talk about visas on this forum lately. Are the forms available on the Net, somehow, officially or otherwise?

mulegejim - 11-19-2009 at 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hooker33
This question may have been asked and answered but I can't find it. My wife and I always drive to Cabo and have up to date FM-3's, now due to a health issue my wife will have to fly down and I will drive. We have never had our visas exit stamped when returning to the states by car. Question is, should the wife fill out and submit the FMT form on her flight south or use her valid FM-3 to enter the country? My thanks for any advice.

I doubt she would have any problem using her FM-3 as is. As Dennis stated above, do not use an FM-T if she has an FM-3 - that can cause problems. Also, most airlines build in the cost of an FM-T in their tickets - ask the airline how to get the money refunded for your wife. Different airlines have different procedures, however, I was always able to either have the cost taken off the price of the ticket or get it refunded later.

DianaT - 11-19-2009 at 10:45 AM

Quote:

Once she starts flying it should be no problem, but it seems like what she needs now is an exit stamp----

If you were closer to San Diego, I would suggest going to Tecate and obtain an exit stamp---but since you are not near here, maybe check with the closest Mexican Consulate.

Paulclark - 11-19-2009 at 12:24 PM

This is the official Mexican Government Immigration web site. - with FAQ in English. Documents can be downloaded.

http://www.inm.gob.mx/EN/index.php

MitchMan - 11-19-2009 at 01:12 PM

This is all very wierd.

After reading all these posts relating to visas over the last couple of weeks, and now reading this post, I thought that I would take a look at my FM3 and review the status of the entry and exit stamps. Well, I have about 11 entry stamps since January 1, 2008 to the present and I have only two exit stamps, both of which were in 2008 and I have been in and out of Baja in 2009 about 5 times so far this year.

The way I travel to Baja is I drive to San Ysidro, leave my car at an overnight parking lot, walk across the border with my luggage in hand, take a taxi to the TJ airport, and get on a Volaris plane to La Paz. I exit Baja by flying out of La Paz airport to the TJ airport, take a taxi from the TJ airport to the San Diego/San Ysidro border crossing, walk across the border and then walk to the parking lot to get my car in San Ysicdro and then drive home.

My experience has been that no one has ever approached me while crossing (walking across) the border into TJ to look at my FM3 visa or to entry stamp it. "Most of the time" the INM agents at the TJ airport place an entry stamp on my FM3 upon taking the flight from TJ to La Paz. Upon arriving at the La Paz airport, rarely have the INM agents (or anyone else for that matter) asked me to show them my FM3. Upon leaving the La Paz airport to take the flight to TJ airport, no one has ever asked to see my FM3. Upon arrival at the TJ airport and upon leaving that airport , rarely does anyone check for my FM3 and even more rarely do they place an exit stamp on it. Actually, my FM3 has only been exit stamped twice out of at least 11 trips. Also, at no time, ever, has anyone asked me to fill out or show them a completed FME for Foreigners form.

Furthermore, since January 1, 2008 I have renewed my FM3 twice and even the agents at the La Paz INM office didn't say anything about the missing exit stamp discrepancy, and they usually make me jump through every other hoop in the world to renew.

The only explanation that I can come up with is, "this is Mexico where rules/laws/procedures/policies are vague, change all the time without much notice, are often illogical in natrure, procedures and enforcement are arbitrarily and inconsitently enforced, and the vast majority of the Mexicans that are responsible for enforcement of the rules aren't as knowledgeable of the details of their own rules as they should be". Or, my experience is unique and I am the anomaly.

But, from now on, I am going to attemp to get my FM3 stamped upon entry and exit. Better to be safe.

[Edited on 11-19-2009 by MitchMan]

Paulclark - 11-19-2009 at 01:25 PM

It is a learning process to come up to speed on how a different country and culture works. In Mexico everyone is required to have an exit and entry stamp or document except in the border zone. In the case of an FMT, you have it stamped on entry and surrender it on exit. All other immigration documents must be stamped for exit and entry. The difficulty is that no document is necessary in the border zone, so no one is asking for documents on entry or exit -- you the holder of an immigration document are responsible to get the document stamped and the entries and exit stamps must match. If they don't you will have problems when you renew.

Don Alley - 11-19-2009 at 04:37 PM

This summer when I flew down, I had no exit paper because I drove to the states earlier in the summer. This has never been a problem in the past, but this time the official at the airport said I would need to get the exit paper next time I left the country. He acknowledged that that's hard to do at the San Ysidro crossing, and said that they could do it at the Loreto office when we leave for the US.

I'm on my second FM3 and the other one was always out of synch as far as stamps go.

Of course, that won't be until July and things could change by then.

YARDSAIL - 11-19-2009 at 04:57 PM

Last May I drove out and flew back in...The people in Cabo told me I should have had one of the slips that you get when you fly with an fm 3. They said " get one next time" I said ok....That was it...No big deal....

karenintx - 11-19-2009 at 06:11 PM

MitchMan...could it be that you are flying "within the country of Mexico"?

When I flew from GDL to SJD I did not have to show my FM3.

osoflojo - 11-20-2009 at 12:06 AM

I have delt with this issue several times over the years with my friends and myself. If you have a 3 and arrive by car and leave by air just go to La Migra and explain thatto them, no hay pedo............If you arrive by air and leave by car you will have a copy of the Migra form for your next entry anyway................bottom line its no big deal...........

MitchMan - 11-22-2009 at 11:53 AM

karenintx, Yes, I fly from TJ airport to La Paz airport. When traveling south, I park my car in San Ysidro, walk across the border, take taxi to TJ airport for flight to La Paz. Follow the reverse process when leaving Baja.

I think that I am going to try to have my FM3 exit stamped at TJ airport when returning home to California.