BajaNomad - So- what's in YOUR wallet (when traveling SOB)?

So- what's in YOUR wallet (when traveling SOB)?

Whale-ista - 2-20-2015 at 10:39 AM

In 2014 I bought two 180-day FMMs for my travels south, even though, in actuality I was only there for about 6-8 weeks total. So, I spent $50 mas o menos for travel, or a tank of gas, or a whalewatching outing with Shari.

This year, I've decided to experiment and get the free 7 day passes for my shorter trips.

According to Google maps, my house is 1 marathon away from the San Ysidro crossing, and the redesign makes it quick/easy to get an FMM. Usually I can just run in, complete the paperwork and continue with a 7-day freebie (unless a gaggle of tour busses has arrived just before I do...).

So far this year it has worked fine- to a point. A few discoveries/pointers:

1) DISCARD the previous FMM before requesting a new one.
I made the mistake of leaving an expired one in my passport. (Actually, there were two- I need to do some housecleaning...) The employee saw it, removed it, and told me: "I could fine you $2000 pesos for not returning this to us when you returned north."

I asked: "Do I need to come back to this office to return it each time?"

He said: "Yes."

I think that's rather unmanageable, but... whaddyagonnado?

I thanked him for being "amable" and not imposing a "multa," and gratefully took the free 7 day FMM.

2) If the parking lot is full of busses and there is a huge group of travellers searching through their bags outside the FMM office, walk in like you belong there anyway.

I did this as an honest mistake- the people in the group seemed so disorganized, I couldn't tell what they were doing. So I walked up to the "aduana" doorway as an employee was heading out to bring in the next person. "Que quieres?" he asked. "Un FMM" I said in my best "effay emmay emmay" accent, waving my passport- and in we went. The process was done and I was on my way before the bus people had found their paperwork.

3) Keep the FMM handy- even though you will never be asked to produce it.
In all my decades of travelling south I have never been asked to produce a travel document. Well, maybe at an airport... but of course, now that I'm writing this, I will probably be asked to show it on my next trip... so I always keep it with my other travel documents, which leads to...

4) How many travel documents/ID cards/keys to the kingdom do YOU travel with?
I travel with the following, and feel rather foolish when I consider them all:
a) a current CA drivers license
b) an expired CA drivers license. (I keep this handy in case I'm stopped for a bogus "violation." If we can't come to an agreement, and they insist on keeping it, I can move on without losing much.)
c) Passport card: because, well... Readilanes? Cuz I paid for it, and one day want to use it for something? Guess I'm not sure about why...
d) SENTRI card: because it's really nice when it actually works and there is only 1 car ahead of me in line
e) Passport: because
... I might need to fly home unexpectedly, and/or be emergency airlifted, and the other cards aren't accepted for air travel, or
... the FMM office people prefer that vs. the passport cards, or
... I like the red & green, nearly illegible stamps that the aduana employees slap on random pages so I can track my comings and goings, if I have a good magnifying glass, or
....Maybe- all of the above?

So-- what do you carry? And how do you handle the FMM issue? Do you get the 7-day freebies at the start of each trip, or pay the 180 day rent and have it done with (unofficially), or have you just decided it's easier to become a MX resident or even a citizen?

David K - 2-20-2015 at 10:51 AM

There is an address that has been posted here many times where you can mail back the FMM before it expires, because there is NO drop off box for them in the line heading out of Mexico.

Obviously by providing such a mail back service they are well aware it is near impossible to drive to the INM office on the day you are returning home in traffic at the border and that you are hanging on to your FMM for the majority of the time you paid for (180 days).

From Discover Baja Travel Club... The people who KNOW about travel to Baja:

Before your Tourist Visa expires, return it in person to any Mexican Immigration Office OR mail to:
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE MIGRACION
PUENTE PUERTA S/N
COLONIA FEDERAL
TIJUANA, B.C. MEXICO C.P. 22310

wilderone - 2-20-2015 at 10:56 AM

A general comment - I carry copies of documents with me. Originals are kept elsewhere for safekeeping. So far not a problem at checkpoints. In years past, when I traveled long distances by bus, I had a fake wallet with expired cards and plastic cards of various types in case of a hold-up, but haven't done that recently. I only carry enough cash for the day - hide cash in various places. Once I had forgotten I put cash inside a peanut can and thought it was lost or stolen, then found it later - nice surprise. Once I had forgotten I put $200 between my seat cover and car seat, and found it when I replaced the seat cover a year later. Point being to remember where you stash the cash. I don't bother with 7-day freebies - nobody knows how long you've been within the "free zone". Getting the 180-day will be in effect when you actually need it than getting it at a time when you don't need it.

Whale-ista - 2-20-2015 at 11:00 AM

Thanks David-

If you get a 7-day FMM, and stay the full week, do you still need to mail it to this address when you get home- even though it has expired?

Or is this mailing ONLY for returning 180 day FMMs, when you have not been SOB the full time?

And do they actually track this in a database, or is just paper/pencil documentation?

Quote: Originally posted by David K

There is an address that has been posted here many times where you can mail back the FMM before it expires, because there is NO drop off box for them in the line heading out of Mexico.

Obviously by providing such a mail back service they are well aware it is near impossible to drive to the INM office on the day you are returning home in traffic at the border and that you are hanging on to your FMM for the majority of the time you paid for (180 days).

From Discover Baja Travel Club... The people who KNOW about travel to Baja:

Before your Tourist Visa expires, return it in person to any Mexican Immigration Office OR mail to:
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE MIGRACION
PUENTE PUERTA S/N
COLONIA FEDERAL
TIJUANA, B.C. MEXICO C.P. 22310

Whale-ista - 2-20-2015 at 11:10 AM

Good points Wilderone- I have made copies and exchanged them with travel partners, hoping in case of loss/theft at least one person would have a set.

I also stash money away, and forget where... sort of an unintentional savings plan for future trips, I suppose...

Documents

durrelllrobert - 2-20-2015 at 11:15 AM

My Canadian wife has a Permanent Resident card for Mexico and a permanent Resident card for the US and she caries both of these as well as her Canadian Passport and DL. Uses the PP for air travel, the Canadian DL when driving, the US PR card for the ready lane crossing north bound but when asked what she was doing in Mexico she has to be very careful to never say that she lives there or to let them see the MX PR card or Canadian PP or DL. You just can not be a PR in more than 1 place.

sancho - 2-20-2015 at 11:49 AM

I've got the free7 day fmm
at the Downtown crossing the last few times, they were very direct in saying they wanted
it back, so I drop it off on exit, I don't for a second think it
matters though. In my experience, or reading posts , I don't
ever remember anyone having any repercussions on not
returning an fmm. But it is Mex, so who knows what could
happen in the future

elgatoloco - 2-20-2015 at 02:38 PM

Sentri card works in the Ready Lane. Now you can leave one doc at home. :biggrin:

danaeb - 2-20-2015 at 03:48 PM

Quote: Originally posted by sancho

I've got the free7 day fmm
at the Downtown crossing the last few times, they were very direct in saying they wanted
it back, so I drop it off on exit, I don't for a second think it
matters though. In my experience, or reading posts , I don't
ever remember anyone having any repercussions on not
returning an fmm. But it is Mex, so who knows what could
happen in the future

Where, and how, exactly, do you drop it off "on exit"?

David K - 2-20-2015 at 03:57 PM

Walking back north, easy to drop off at INM office... driving north, not even close!

David K - 2-20-2015 at 04:11 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Whale-ista

Thanks David-

If you get a 7-day FMM, and stay the full week, do you still need to mail it to this address when you get home- even though it has expired?

Or is this mailing ONLY for returning 180 day FMMs, when you have not been SOB the full time?

And do they actually track this in a database, or is just paper/pencil documentation?

Quote: Originally posted by David K

No tracking I have witnessed yet... They want American tourism, so punishing us on the next visit with a fine for not returning the thing would be so counter-productive... almost as bad as when they began charging for tourist cards 15 years ago... and tourism has declined ever since.

Tourism and business leaders need to seriously get involved with INM on this screwy tourist card stuff. Make things consistent. As it is now, every INM official you talk too is likely to tell you a different rule, based on his interpretation of the vague laws.

One trip you may hear a tourist card is not needed for under 7 days, or that San Quintin is when you need to have one... or the whole state of northern Baja is in the border zone (first check for FMMs is in Baja Sur, after all, and that isn't even always open).

It is the lack of consistent, set rules that makes following them a joke to many. How many never go on the Internet and just drive south? There is not one billboard along Hwy. 1 or Hwy. 5 saying what tourists are required to have before going further or staying longer.

There was back in the 60's and 70's at Maneadero... and there was a little shack where a old comandante in uniform would stamp or issue tourist cards... and then ask for a tip ("if you would like to give one").

sancho - 2-20-2015 at 04:35 PM

Excuse the omission of the word Mexicali, that is where I
cross, when returning, while waiting in the vehicle line, the
wife drives while I hop out and return fmm' s to Mex Imm,
a very short walk. I can't imagine trying to return one at
the San Ysidro ped crossing, technically possible but not
not at all realistic

wilderone - 2-21-2015 at 09:25 AM

"...stash money away, and forget where... sort of an unintentional savings plan for future trips"
HA! and true

Gold Card

bajaguy - 2-21-2015 at 09:34 AM

Never leave home without it

greengoes - 2-21-2015 at 10:21 AM

I bought a business card of Carlos Slim on Ebay and wrote on the back -

"No molesta esta persona, Gracias." Carlos

mtgoat666 - 2-21-2015 at 10:23 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Dk,
You make it sound so dramatic, so serious, so dire, extreme, sky is falling!

I really doubt the tourist card fee had any effect on tourism numbers. And if $20 blows your budget, I doubt you are spending much in Mexico anyhow.

I see no problem with Fmm inconsistency, change in rules, etc.,... Crossing the border is part of the adventure of going to mexico. If you want it to be predictable, stay home and vacation in Vegas, baby!

MMc - 2-21-2015 at 04:06 PM

Mtgoat666, why are you on this thread, you don't go to Baja :lol:

You have zero need for paper work :?:

I get peeed when people come to my country without it. When I go to their's I get what is required. If some don't comply, then shame on them.
The passport, sentri, the A.M and the visa cards always go south with me.

Marc - 2-21-2015 at 07:20 PM

For SOB:
Baja, one credit card for emergencies and coin of the realm enough for the whole trip. USD - maybe a few hundred, and of course my passport.
Mainland Messico, mucho pesos, one credit card. Passport and color copies of it. Multiple copies of auto registration, drivers license, auto insurance for USA & Messico.
My phone is always on international roam (calls from home to Asia tend to come at 2AM local time!)