BajaNomad - Yes, more FMM questions! :)

Yes, more FMM questions! :)

mrfatboy - 6-9-2013 at 12:17 PM

I thought I understood this whole FMM business but after reading some conflicting info on a travel forum I thought I would come here and ask the Nomad gurus

Two weeks ago my wife and I went to Cancun for a week. We did the Delta Parking, Taxi, TJ airport thing. We bought our FMM's at the TJ airport for $295 pesos each. They were stamped and marked for 180 days as well as a stamp in our passport.

From the time we bought the FMM's to the time we landed back into TJ airport from Cancun NOBODY asked or checked our FMM's or even passports. We landed, had carry-ons and made a bee line to the taxi to take us to the border. We still have the FMM's.

Now I am reading that were supposed to turn them in somewhere and there is a $5/day penalty for every day pass the expiration date. I take it that we would have to pay the penalty the next time we bought a FMM since they will look that info up in the computer?

We are going to Puerto Vallarta for a week in Sept (well under the 180 days of the original FMM). So here are my questions.

- Can I reuse the same FMM for my Puerta Vallarta trip since it's within the 180 days when it was issued?

- Do I need to turn the FMM in? If so, where?

- anything I left out?

sancho - 6-9-2013 at 01:54 PM

Has to be one of the top 2 debated topics here, on top
of that Mex Imm will give conflicting info, technically
you are supposed to turn in an fmm, when you leave Mex,
they usually collect fmm's upon departure from Mex on
an International flight, often/never on a domestic flight within Mex, like yours to TJ. I turn mine in as it is about
to expire, after maybe 2-3 times across the border.
But I personally don't believe it matters a bit if you turn it
in or not, they have computer records of your entering,
but seems it has never been an issue, there is no one I
have ever read being denied another fmm if the previous
one has never been turned in, I too have read the $ per day
fine info, if you are overly concerned there is an address
to mail in an fmm, I think Discover Baja has it, I've never heard of
an actual fine, but it is Mex, so who knows on an individual
case basis or what is to come in the future. If you are going to PV within 180 days, I would use it again, all they can
do is make you buy another

[Edited on 6-9-2013 by sancho]

mrfatboy - 6-9-2013 at 02:10 PM

Googling around I found a guy that forgot to turn his in and when he went to get another a year later or so he had to cough up a $600 fine.

I'm not so worried about it because I'm going back within 180 days to PVR. But I certainly would not want to get caught up in mexican red tape a year from now.

From what I saw they certainly didn't care if I had one or not but maybe I was traveling on a lazy staff day

Does anybody know where to turn them in at the tij airport?

David K - 6-9-2013 at 05:53 PM

Say you mailed it in (the address is posted on here and Discover Baja)... can they prove you didn't... do they want to kill future trips to Mexico with such a fine?

vandy - 6-9-2013 at 06:03 PM

The only fines I've heard of occurred when the official sees the expired FMM, usually wedged inside a passport, when a person gets another.
I worry about this every time I get another FMM (2 or three times per year), but so far, so good!

mrfatboy - 6-9-2013 at 06:43 PM

I just found the major FMM thread here from 3 months ago. Very interesting. I agree that you should not get caught with an expired FMM. Other than that, I just don't see how they can prove you have been coming or going multiple times. The whole mail it in afterwards seems ridiculous also.

DENNIS - 6-9-2013 at 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
can they prove you didn't...

You know, David, proof is a US thing........not Mexico. If they say you didn't........well, you didn't. They won't even care if you can prove you did.

bajagrouper - 6-9-2013 at 08:48 PM

I was in Ensenada last weekend and tried to turn in an FMM and the Immigration officer would not take,he laughed and said just destroy it .......

David K - 6-10-2013 at 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajagrouper
I was in Ensenada last weekend and tried to turn in an FMM and the Immigration officer would not take,he laughed and said just destroy it .......

Love it! Thanks for that laugh.

It really is just a receipt that you paid a tax to travel in Mexico for 180 days.

Fmm

J.P. - 6-10-2013 at 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

Originally posted by bajagrouper
I was in Ensenada last weekend and tried to turn in an FMM and the Immigration officer would not take,he laughed and said just destroy it .......

Love it! Thanks for that laugh.

It really is just a receipt that you paid a tax to travel in Mexico for 180 days.

MAYBE , on a Sunday morning as we were headed North at the check point in Guerrero Negro the agent there demanded to see the OFFICAL RECIEPT and showed us in fine print on the back of the fmm where it sad the fmm was not valid without the OFFICAL RECIEPT. He then demanded we pay him 20dls. on the spot. I said no then he showed us a mimeograph copy of a form that was clad in plastic that stated because it was a holiday and the bank was closed he was authorized to collect the 20dls.
It just goes to show you some days your best thinking is not good enough.
Later I found out he had Quite a Scan Going

[Edited on 6-10-2013 by J.P.]

[Edited on 6-10-2013 by J.P.]

sancho - 6-10-2013 at 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vandy
The only fines I've heard of occurred when the official sees the expired FMM, usually wedged inside a passport, when a person gets another.

Have heard of an expired fmm falling out of a Passport,
where people usually fold them up, then having to explain
it to the Mex Imm Official. If they were in the habit of
handing out fines, don't you think there would have been
dozens of incidents posted here over the yrs. stating
such? I've never read a one, but who knows, maybe in
Mex Imm regs they have the authority to levy fines

Alm - 6-10-2013 at 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
Say you mailed it in (the address is posted on here and Discover Baja)... can they prove you didn't... do they want to kill future trips to Mexico with such a fine?

They don't want to kill the tourism, but if the sh-t hits the fan some stupid or greedy border agent may try this, and "lost in mail" is a poor excuse if you don't have a mail sender's receipt. I wouldn't worry about this.

vandenberg - 6-10-2013 at 11:57 AM

Before I became permanent, I always kept the expired FMM's in the glove compartment. Lots of toilets lack toilet paper. :biggrin:

but .....

durrelllrobert - 6-10-2013 at 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajagrouper
I was in Ensenada last weekend and tried to turn in an FMM and the Immigration officer would not take,he laughed and said just destroy it .......

under the 'old" system you had to turn in a tourist visa when you first applied for your FM3 and I think that under the "new' system you have to turn in a FMM or FM#/FM2 when you apply for the Residente Temporal.

David K - 6-10-2013 at 04:14 PM

I scanned and shared both sides of my stamped FMM here on Nomad, from last July... Does anyone want to look at the fine print again?

Alan - 6-11-2013 at 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
can they prove you didn't...

You know, David, proof is a US thing........not Mexico. If they say you didn't........well, you didn't. They won't even care if you can prove you did.

Personally I have never turned in a FMT or now a FMM except when I fly and they simply take it and it has NEVER been an issue.

Computerized records? :lol:

Proof is not just a US thing. The difference is who has the burden of proof. Mexico is based upon Napolianic Law where everyone is "guilty until proven innocent". In the US, the burden of proof rests with the prosecution.

David K - 6-11-2013 at 07:39 AM

If there wasn't just a little thrill or hint of danger, would any of us go to Mexico? The rest of Americans think we are crazy to go into such a 'dangerous' place! Right?

mrfatboy - 6-11-2013 at 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
If there wasn't just a little thrill or hint of danger, would any of us go to Mexico? The rest of Americans think we are crazy to go into such a 'dangerous' place! Right?

I agree. It's a about the adventure.

sancho - 6-11-2013 at 11:40 AM

I'm all for the adventure, but I don't consider abiding
and carrying the required paperwork in Mex as part
of the adventure, 25 yrs. ago, that was a different
story, no Mex insurance, beer between my legs to La
Paz. It is often not clear as to what Mex Imm requires,
and straying off topic a bit, the new Mex Insurance
SUGGESTIONS regarding the amount of libility one should
have is another example items that are not clear,
Bajabound it suggesting the max libility on policies,
that is $500,000, up until the first of the yr., $50,000
would do it, I'm not partial to ambiguity

David K - 6-11-2013 at 02:16 PM

I have never driven in Baja without insurance and never avoided an immigration checkpoint... since 1974 when I began driving south. So my comments are not intended to have anyone break any laws.