BajaNomad

Leaving Mexico As A Permanent Resident

tmtuttle - 11-14-2021 at 08:44 PM

My wife and I recently received our Mexico permanent resident cards. In researching how we will exit and re-enter Mexico, it's not as clear cut as I thought it would be. I assumed we'd show our cards along with our passports and be waived through immigration. But, as I understand it, we still have to fill out a FMM upon our exit and then return the bottom half when we return to Mexico. The part that worries me is if the INM agent marks us as "visitors" it will void our permanent resident card all of our work and $700 US in government fees will be down the drain.

Any words of wisdom as to how to make sure we fill out the FMM correctly and make sure the INM agent logs us in correctly when we leave and return?

Also, if we drive, is it better to just skip the whole FMM process?

TIA

[Edited on 11-15-2021 by tmtuttle]

dtbushpilot - 11-14-2021 at 09:33 PM


When you fly out you first go to IMM show your RP card and fill out a FMM form. The agent will write RP on the form and you go to your departure gate and give them half of it with your boarding pass. When you return you give the other half back when you check back in. When you come back you can skip the long line and go to the MX resident line.

When driving out and back you are technically supposed to go to the IMM office at the border and do the same thing but I think most people skip that process. Once you are back in the country they really don’t know if you were ever out of it. The border crossing guards aren’t IMM and they don’t care about that stuff.

BigWooo - 11-15-2021 at 06:01 AM

We've had permanent resident cards since their inception. Flying out/in you do as bush pilot said.

Driving out/in there's really no way to follow the same procedure. We go to the U.S. on average twice a year. We (and I believe most all card holders) just drive out and drive back in. Most of the time, returning to Mexico, we have items to declare and entering secondary we've been asked for our immigration ID many times, by IMM, military, and customs. They check our permanent resident card and send us on our way.

PaulW - 11-15-2021 at 09:39 AM

Driving south in the last few years we have to show our RP card about 90% of the time. Just for one of us always. Never a sugestion about an FMM.
Never ever had to show RP to customs or military - ever.
Once off the main highway at a Navy check the officer asked me for my PP and I showed him my US drivers liscense and he sent me on my way.

Going north The US does not care about RP card - just need a US PP or equalivlent.

karenintx - 11-15-2021 at 01:06 PM

If/when you fly out or into a Mexican airport just be sure the IMN agent checks the correct boxes.  This article will explain how some R/P & R/T have lost their residency card due to IMN agents putting the incorrect information in the "official box".  Always pay attention and double check their work.

http://www.banderasnews.com/1704/vl-expats-risk-losing-resid...

At the SJD airport the IMN agents are very friendly and helpful.  Once a "rookie" IMN agent checked our departing IMN forms as R/Ps but then wrote 180 days in the box.  I questioned her but of course she wouldn't admit she did anything wrong.  Fortunately, another IMN agent that knows me walked up and after a short discussion in Spanish we were told to fill out two new forms.  Boy, was she mad for being wrong!
 
Since then, we always write the R/P (ourselves) in the top right corner of both of the top & bottom forms.  We also check the R/P box that is in the grey "official" box (again ourselves) and have never had an IMN agent say a word to us for doing that.  Upon our return flight to SJD we use the Mexican citizen line however a few years back I was told by friends that live in Cozumel they are not allowed to use the Mexican citizen line..."that is for Mexican passport holders only" according to their IMN officials.  After hearing that I asked my IMN buddy if all airports allow R/P & R/T to use the Mexican citizen line.  He replied...each airport makes their own decision.  Of course this makes sense as Mexico is never consistent in their procedures!!

gnukid - 11-15-2021 at 01:52 PM

I've never been asked to present the other half of the departure form on return to Mx and when I try to offer it they don't accept it on entry back into Mexico. On entry or exit by land there is no process to complete and INM says none is required?

The departure form option for resident may state resident of Mx or your home country(USA), but they want to check resident of MX by default. It would be helpful to know what the implications are though it seems it is only statistical?

If you want to track your time in Mexico for purposes of qualifying for Citizenship requiring more than 18 months in a 24 month it's your personal responsibility to maintain a travel diary.

karenintx - 11-15-2021 at 02:51 PM

Quote: Originally posted by gnukid  
I've never been asked to present the other half of the departure form on return to Mx and when I try to offer it they don't accept it on entry back into Mexico.


Are you saying when you have flown into a Mexican airport from a foreign country the INM agents didn't want to see a FMM form? All INM agent we have dealt with always ask for a FMM form when entering Mexico from a foreign country, at least that is our experience. We have flown out of SJD back to the USA then into other Mexican airports before flying domestically back to SJD.

The hubby misplaced the "top portion" of his returning FMM form once. The INM agent at the SJD airport was not happy about that but did tell him...don't do that again and let him go through. After he got to our home in Cabo he found it in the bottom of his suitcase...oops!

tmtuttle - 11-15-2021 at 05:18 PM

Thanks for the info.

I will write 'residente permanente' at the top of both part one and two of the FMM and will also check 'tarjeta de residente permanente' boxes and I'll also make sure they don't write "180" anywhere on our FMM.

Hopefully that will keep us out of trouble.

gnukid - 11-15-2021 at 08:13 PM

Quote: Originally posted by karenintx  
Quote: Originally posted by gnukid  
I've never been asked to present the other half of the departure form on return to Mx and when I try to offer it they don't accept it on entry back into Mexico.


Are you saying when you have flown into a Mexican airport from a foreign country the INM agents didn't want to see a FMM form? All INM agent we have dealt with always ask for a FMM form when entering Mexico from a foreign country, at least that is our experience. We have flown out of SJD back to the USA then into other Mexican airports before flying domestically back to SJD.

The hubby misplaced the "top portion" of his returning FMM form once. The INM agent at the SJD airport was not happy about that but did tell him...don't do that again and let him go through. After he got to our home in Cabo he found it in the bottom of his suitcase...oops!


Yep, for Permanent or Temporary Resident for quite a long time now, they never ask or accept the half form on return at entry in SJD. They state clearly they don't want the half form on entry by air or by land.

I understand and accept that some people have different experiences based on POE, agent and other personal factors...

karenintx - 11-16-2021 at 10:42 AM

gnukid, thanks for the explanation. Things have definitely changed @ SJD since we received our FM-3 back in 2005. We are just glad the SJD airport allows R/P & R/T to use the Mexican citizen line.

Actually we automatically put our US passport, Mexican R/P and the top portion of the departing FMM form on the INM agent's counter without them asking so maybe the next trip I will do a little test by only putting my US passport & Mexican R/P on the counter just to see if the agent ask for the departing top portion of the FMM form.

It's funny, when we are flying out of SJD we go to the INM office in the lobby of the SJD airport. Once you walk into their small office there are boxes stacked everywhere. The contents are batches of FMM forms with rubber bands around each batch. How they match the top to the bottom of all those forms is mind blowing. Maybe with their new computer system they will be able to enter the info then the computer can match-up things for them...or may the stacks of boxes will continue to grow.


karenintx - 11-16-2021 at 10:45 AM

Quote: Originally posted by tmtuttle  
Thanks for the info.

I will write 'residente permanente' at the top of both part one and two of the FMM


Actually you only need to write the letters R/P or R/T...that is how the INM agents do it.

surabi - 11-17-2021 at 10:12 PM

Quote: Originally posted by karenintx  




The hubby misplaced the "top portion" of his returning FMM form once. The INM agent at the SJD airport was not happy about that but did tell him...don't do that again and let him go through. After he got to our home in Cabo he found it in the bottom of his suitcase...oops!


If you lose or misplace the top half of the form when you are out of the country, you simply fill out a new one when they hand them out on the plane. It's no big deal. Theoretically it's supposed to match the same bar code as the one you filled out when you left, but INM doesn't care in the least.
What you don't do is what you did- arrive at the INM desk without any top half.

karenintx - 11-18-2021 at 01:34 PM

Quote: Originally posted by surabi  
Quote: Originally posted by karenintx  




The hubby misplaced the "top portion" of his returning FMM form once. The INM agent at the SJD airport was not happy about that but did tell him...don't do that again and let him go through. After he got to our home in Cabo he found it in the bottom of his suitcase...oops!


If you lose or misplace the top half of the form when you are out of the country, you simply fill out a new one when they hand them out on the plane. It's no big deal. Theoretically it's supposed to match the same bar code as the one you filled out when you left, but INM doesn't care in the least.
What you don't do is what you did- arrive at the INM desk without any top half.


Since he was traveling without his "external hard drive"...which is me, he just walked up to the Mexican citizen line then told the agent what happened. He said the agent looked his name up in the system and since that was the first time this had happened the agent just said...do not do that again. Not a big deal for the agent or the hubby.

Now he paperclips the form to the inside of his US passport...just like me. Hasn't misplaced the form again...see he is trainable!:lol: