BajaNomad

Passport needed to cross into TJ?

makana.gabriel - 10-7-2015 at 07:21 AM

Been away for a long time so not up to date on the new rules. Do we need passports to cross into Tijuana from San Diego now?

David K - 10-7-2015 at 08:04 AM

According to posts here on Nomad and the local news stations: By foot, yes... in a car, maybe... but not, likely as you have to actually pull over and park at the Mexican border to walk in to get a tourist card, which requires a passport. Stopping every U.S. plated car has not happened yet.

wilderone - 10-7-2015 at 08:43 AM

"By foot, yes... " Si, there is a new building where everyone has to go through, with lines for locals and foreigners, and you will need to get a visa, although they are free. Birth certif. should suffice if you don't have a passport. Driving should be the same, except that there is a new X-ray station, and if you get the red light, you have to pull out of line, and put your stuff through the X-ray table. Report back your experiences.

SFandH - 10-7-2015 at 09:01 AM

I got the red light driving across at SY last week. They just looked in the trunk, no x-ray, no request for ID. No problem.

sancho - 10-7-2015 at 09:32 AM

Quote: Originally posted by wilderone  
and you will need to get a visa, although they are free. Birth certif. should suffice if you don't have a passport.








DK has it about nailed. The 7 day fmm is apparently still free,
the 180 day $22, or so. Is the above post suggesting an
fmm will be issued with a birth cert? That would be new,
Mex Imm has wanted a passport/ pazsport card for 6 yrs?

BigBearRider - 10-7-2015 at 10:07 AM

Importantly, you need a passport or passport card to get back to the US. (I've crossed back with Global Entry/Sentri card recently, without being asked for passport, but always carry both the passport book and card.)

Does anyone have experience getting an FMM using a passport card only?

SFandH - 10-7-2015 at 10:10 AM

Quote: Originally posted by BigBearRider  


Does anyone have experience getting an FMM using a passport card only?


Yes, it works, I've done that a few times at the San Ysidro crossing.

BigBearRider - 10-7-2015 at 10:24 AM

Thanks.

As an aside, a friend of mine realized he had forgotten his passport at home when we headed south last year, but crossed into Mexico anyway. He got a copy of his birth certificate e-mailed to him. He crossed back to the US and showed the copy. He received some questioning about US history from the Officer, and was told not to cross without a passport again. He's probably on some list now that it's better not to be on.

Interesting comments - Border Zone myth debunked

bajaguy - 10-7-2015 at 11:08 AM

“The notion of a zona frontera [border zone] was never a law,” Figueroa said. “All people who are not Mexican citizens must have travel documents, like in any other country. Mexican citizens must show proof of their citizenship.”

Mexico considers travel documents as a passport or a passport card, and Mexican citizens can use their voter-registration card or even a copy of their birth certificate. Many visiting Tijuana and other northern border cities were once told that they were permitted to remain within 25 miles of the border — the zona frontera — sans a visa or a passport, but according to Figueroa that was never federal law.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/oct/07/citylights-bo...

[Edited on 10-7-2015 by bajaguy]

BigBearRider - 10-7-2015 at 01:38 PM

This link, posted elsewhere here, indicates that you need a passport (or passport card) in addition to your Global Entry or Sentri card, because the Mexican authorities do not recognize the card as identification.

http://www.discoverbaja.com/wp-content/uploads/October-Newsl...

David K - 10-7-2015 at 02:02 PM

If it was a myth, it was in effect for 50 years before this post!

Baja California always had different rules than the mainland of Mexico...

Mostly because it is almost an island and for it to get more resources from the (once rich) neighbor to the north. California, USA was more closely connected to the peninsula than Mexico City ever was. These exceptions were to help the flow of dollars into Baja California.

Perhaps now with highways and Internet this is no longer the case? Let's hope Mexico City returns more of the revenue it has been sapping from the peninsula, to benefit the peninsula!

PaulW - 10-7-2015 at 06:21 PM

BTW, when going north a passport is not required. All you need is proof you are a US citizen. Sigh - I have tested that because I forgot my passport a couple of times and just gave him my drivers licence. The guy at the border said "try to not forget" and gave me the handout that explains what kind of ID proves you are a us citizen then he waved me on - bypassing secondary. All the usual items are listed in the handout, especially the US driver license.

makana.gabriel - 10-8-2015 at 08:11 AM

Thanks everybody!!

joerover - 10-9-2015 at 08:56 PM

Card is good going south by land.
card is bad at mexico city airport.
Tj migration says 180 day fmm is good for multiple entry all over MX
mexico city airport says esta lado NO
by land into Guatemala it is a $10 tip for a card
by land from gracious a dios into MX it is a 20 hour weight with card only, only non corrupt port in mx.

explain this ¿ by air from Colombia to mx city airport I got 180 days without paying ¡??=

is there a way to set the spell check to english no matter where you are

[Edited on 10-10-2015 by joerover]

JoeJustJoe - 10-9-2015 at 10:41 PM

Quote: Originally posted by bajaguy  
“The notion of a zona frontera [border zone] was never a law,” Figueroa said. “All people who are not Mexican citizens must have travel documents, like in any other country. Mexican citizens must show proof of their citizenship.”

Mexico considers travel documents as a passport or a passport card, and Mexican citizens can use their voter-registration card or even a copy of their birth certificate. Many visiting Tijuana and other northern border cities were once told that they were permitted to remain within 25 miles of the border — the zona frontera — sans a visa or a passport, but according to Figueroa that was never federal law.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/oct/07/citylights-bo...

[Edited on 10-7-2015 by bajaguy]


I would not exactly call the "San Diego Reader" a Beacon of Truth, since most of those articles in the "reader" are from unknown bloggers, and some dubious. I just don't want anyone to confuse the "The San Diego Reader" with the "San Diego Tribune."

That's said, I would say that article is fairly accurate, but in practice, I haven't witnessed what the article's writer talked about with Mexican Nationals.

For example, I recently crossed, and if you're a Mexican National, or go into the Mexican National line, the Mexican officials do no checking, they just walk right though. I suppose, they might ask for those documents at another day, but I didn't see it, and those who I talked to haven't seen it either.

It's the foreigners that have to jump through the hoops, fill out forms, show a passport, and in some cases like mine, get their passport stamped! Wow, I'm a world traveler now, I have six or seven stamps now including the green Mexican stamp. Lets just hope they don't stamp my passport for every one day visit.

Now lets say there are some deadbeats here, who don't have and can't get a Passport, or passcard, because they own back child support, and they still want to visit Tijuana or Baja. How to get around this pedestrian check?

You go to the " Otay Mesa Border" they are not doing the pedestrian check at this time.

You can still drive into Mexico through the San Ysidro border, because they are not set up to check all the cars that enter into Mexico yet, although some here, mentioned the "red light" but I don't know any American that have been denied entry driving into Mexico, and didn't have a passport.

On the way back to the USA, you are suppose to have your passport or passcard, but US Customs, haven't really changed their polices in practice, and you can still walk in or drive back to the USA, with only your drivers license, and birth certificate. You will not be denied entry back to the USA. And no you will not be sent to secondary, unless you're suspicious looking and would be sent to secondary, regardless of your paperwork.







[Edited on 10-10-2015 by JoeJustJoe]

wilderone - 10-10-2015 at 08:01 AM

"...most of those articles in the "reader" are from unknown bloggers,"
Most are long-time contributors - the Reader has been around for 40 years. E.g., Don Bauder was a financial writer for the UT - a weekly contributor for the Reader.

xolotl_tj - 10-10-2015 at 09:04 AM

I don't know who this Figueroa guy is, but around here we say "zona fronteriza", not "zona frontera". Maybe that was just the Reader getting their facts right again. Or maybe Figueroa is a phantom spokesman.

The excursionist FMMs at Tijuana's Eastern Gate was called a "pilot program" by the INM official I spoke with there. If it proves successful, it will be implemented formally in April 2016 and rolled out to the other land ports of Mexico. She also said that the vehicular entrance to Tijuana "lacks the infrastructure" to apply the same program. (Translation: pedestrians only.) The cross-border shuttle, Tourismo Express, will be collecting excursionist FMMs from their passengers but I doubt they will be insisting on passports.

Excursionists, as distinguished from tourists, are people entering under their own power and staying within the border zone for less than a week. Mexican law does not require a visa of these people, but many branches of the increasingly greedy government have been wanting to keep tabs on them. Rumor has it that this pilot program was the work of our local SAT boss (translation: tax collectors).

What I've seen happen at the Eastern Gate when a gringo shows up without a passport is that the INM official becomes flustered, then hands the non-conforming gringo off to an INM supervisor standing outside of the offices on the south side of the area, then the supervisor explains in gentle, reasonable words the importance of following the rules, then the non-conforming gringo enters Mexico.

Since this is a pilot study, we might all register our dissatisfaction in ways that can lead to scrapping the program. Grousing about "muh Murikan rites" is not enough: they need to know that you're the only one to make the trip because all your friends cancelled when they heard about the extra red tape. And then there's Gandhi's tactic: just because you have a passport doesn't mean you should to show it to them.

elgatoloco - 10-10-2015 at 09:22 AM

Quote: Originally posted by xolotl_tj  
I don't know who this Figueroa guy is, but around here we say "zona fronteriza", not "zona frontera". Maybe that was just the Reader getting their facts right again. Or maybe Figueroa is a phantom spokesman.


He appears to be 'somebody'? Maybe you can stop by his office and validate?

"We’re currently working on Otay,” said Rodulfo Figueroa Pacheco, the federal delegate in charge of the international border in Baja California.......
.......... He and his team are responsible for the six land entries in their various forms, along with four airports and six seaports in Baja California. The plan is that eventually all ports of entry will comply with what has been Mexican law for many decades."

xolotl_tj - 10-10-2015 at 09:52 AM

Quote:
Maybe you can stop by his office and validate?


Not worth the time. He's probably in Aguaje de la Tuna.

So now either the Reader got its facts "right" again or this Figueroa guy is a Carmen Salinas appointee. There's something hinkey with the citation because frontera is a noun.

The term zona fronteriza is what is used in federal law, both for Customs and for Immigration even though the two disagree on the area involved.

SFandH - 10-10-2015 at 03:58 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  


Let's hope Mexico City returns more of the revenue it has been sapping from the peninsula, to benefit the peninsula!


The new roads and bridges from the new Tijuana border crossing to Los Cabos over the past ten years has been impressive. The modernization of the TJ police force too. New officers, new cars, new headquarters, new high tech equipment.

[Edited on 10-10-2015 by SFandH]

SFandH - 10-10-2015 at 04:04 PM

As far as required documents go, if everyone had RFID IDs the northbound traffic would move quicker. All Americans should get a passport with a passport card.

[Edited on 10-10-2015 by SFandH]

wilderone - 10-11-2015 at 08:12 AM

I gotta say that the new rules, or whatever rules I would be confronted with, I can handle. New rule every week - OK with me. The fact that there is so much, and so many types of crimes passing between the San Diego/San Ysidro border concerns me. Guns, money laundering, drugs, child abductions for sex trade, illegal immigration of terrorists and refugees, auto theft - all of which probably affect San Diego, and not in a good way. Though, it doesn't seem that Mexico is focusing on this aspect.

SFandH - 10-11-2015 at 08:52 AM

Quote: Originally posted by wilderone  
I gotta say that the new rules, or whatever rules I would be confronted with, I can handle. New rule every week - OK with me. The fact that there is so much, and so many types of crimes passing between the San Diego/San Ysidro border concerns me. Guns, money laundering, drugs, child abductions for sex trade, illegal immigration of terrorists and refugees, auto theft - all of which probably affect San Diego, and not in a good way. Though, it doesn't seem that Mexico is focusing on this aspect.



There is only one new rule, and it is being implemented as a trial at only one border crossing, San Ysidro, and affects only pedestrians. It is the requirement to obtain a tourist card (FMM).

SFandH - 10-11-2015 at 09:01 AM

Quote: Originally posted by soulpatch  
Quote: Originally posted by SFandH  
As far as required documents go, if everyone had RFID IDs the northbound traffic would move quicker. All Americans should get a passport with a passport card.


My family and I all have chipped ID's and when we crossed after flying into TIJ in the scanners wouldn't read them.

All new passports are chipped so you don't need the card. I have both and neither worked.

Our friend was driving us over and his wouldn't work, either. ID's have been issued over various times in the last decade to 5 years.

We asked the guard and he said the scanner software doesn't work for most chips.

Maybe or maybe not accurate but that is what we were told.


Hmmm, interesting. When I cross north driving at San Ysidro I hold my RFID card up to the scanner. It signals it has read it. When I get up to the both I get asked only one question, the customs question, "what do you have from Mexico"? I see other people in front of me handing papers back and forth and conversing with the guard, answering multiple questions I assume.

When walking across using the "Ready" line I place the card on the reader and the agent calls me by name. It obviously had read the card. Although sometimes, not most, the scanner isn't working.


[Edited on 10-11-2015 by SFandH]

durrelllrobert - 10-11-2015 at 10:00 AM

Quote: Originally posted by SFandH  
As far as required documents go, if everyone had RFID IDs the northbound traffic would move quicker. All Americans should get a passport with a passport card.

[Edited on 10-10-2015 by SFandH]

Govenonor Brown just vetoed adding them to CA DLs which would have also been acceptable.

durrelllrobert - 10-11-2015 at 10:04 AM

Quote: Originally posted by SFandH  
Quote: Originally posted by soulpatch  
Quote: Originally posted by SFandH  
As far as required documents go, if everyone had RFID IDs the northbound traffic would move quicker. All Americans should get a passport with a passport card.


My family and I all have chipped ID's and when we crossed after flying into TIJ in the scanners wouldn't read them.

All new passports are chipped so you don't need the card. I have both and neither worked.

Our friend was driving us over and his wouldn't work, either. ID's have been issued over various times in the last decade to 5 years.

We asked the guard and he said the scanner software doesn't work for most chips.

Maybe or maybe not accurate but that is what we were told.


Hmmm, interesting. When I cross north driving at San Ysidro I hold my RFID card up to the scanner. It signals it has read it. When I get up to the both I get asked only one question, the customs question, "what do you have from Mexico"? I see other people in front of me handing papers back and forth and conversing with the guard, answering multiple questions I assume.

When walking across using the "Ready" line I place the card on the reader and the agent calls me by name. It obviously had read the card. Although sometimes, not most, the scanner isn't working.


[Edited on 10-11-2015 by SFandH]


My wife has a US permanent residence card with the RFID chip and the scanner always reads it. However it never is able to read the RFID in my US passport card

sancho - 10-11-2015 at 10:04 AM

My understanding is no passport books issued 5 yrs ago, or
recently qualify for the Ready Lane, that only passport cards
along with other doc's. Was in the ped line at SY a few months
ago coming back, a sign at the door going into the CBP build
stating what ID's can be used for the ready lane, in this case
the ped ready lane, included Green Cards issued to Mex
Nationals, along with BCC, Border Crossing Cards, issued to
Mex Nationals. Mex Imm can easily implement the regs for
peds going in, but even they acknowledge, doing the same
for vehicle traffic going into Mex would be a cluster and
impractical







[Edited on 10-11-2015 by sancho]