BajaNomad

What to do with FMTs?

BajaBros - 6-6-2010 at 09:31 AM

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!

bajaguy - 6-6-2010 at 09:40 AM

You are toast!!!!!

Bob and Susan - 6-6-2010 at 09:56 AM

i was just in tj last week...

$22.50 usa

they said they dont want them

so...you're "french toast"

Udo - 6-6-2010 at 10:00 AM

My advice is to give them to the US Border agent...he'll know what to do with it.

bajaguy - 6-6-2010 at 10:06 AM

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" :lol:

sancho - 6-6-2010 at 12:45 PM

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?

Bajahowodd - 6-6-2010 at 12:51 PM

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.

MitchMan - 6-6-2010 at 01:06 PM

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holder of a validly issued FMT issued before May 2010 wherein its the 180 days have not yet expired, that FMT is no longer valid in the Baja at this time even though its 180 day period since original issuance has not yet expired?

RnR - 6-6-2010 at 01:30 PM

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! :biggrin:

Bajahowodd - 6-6-2010 at 02:20 PM

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.

Cypress - 6-6-2010 at 02:30 PM

how 'bout soaking up some oil with 'em.:O

bajaguy - 6-6-2010 at 02:38 PM

Maybe they could install drop boxes on the Mexican side of the border crossing.........na, wouldn't work

sancho - 6-6-2010 at 04:42 PM

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

O.G. - 6-6-2010 at 04:49 PM

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.

BajaBros - 6-6-2010 at 05:23 PM

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.

Riom - 6-7-2010 at 01:04 AM

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]