BajaNomad

Recent On-line FMM Success?

BajaMama - 3-23-2023 at 05:41 AM

Has anyone had recent success obtaining an FMM via the government site?

Whiskey Witch - 3-24-2023 at 07:11 AM

Just get it at the border. You must stop to present your passport for scanning, and get your FMM stamped regardless.

David K - 3-24-2023 at 07:26 AM

Exactly right... There is no advantage to geeting one online since it isn't valid unless you stop at the border INM desk to get it stamped.
Just get it there.

*The online one must be used at the border you pre-selected and on the same day you selected. IF you can't cross on that day or use a different border, it is not valid and a waste of the $34 or whatever the fee is now.

*Another problem people have experienced with the online FMM is that the system may not allow you to print the payment receipt or you forget to bring it to the border desk... The FMM is not valid without that receipt.

[Edited on 3-24-2023 by David K]

AKgringo - 3-24-2023 at 07:36 AM

I got my FFM at Mexicali West and paid with pesos. The agent accepted my cash, and issued the FFM, but it wasn't until much later that I realized that he never stamped it!

Basically, it was worthless, but nobody ever asked me for it.

BajaMama - 3-24-2023 at 07:46 AM

There is one advantage to getting the FMM on line - when I went in October my travel club made an error and had my entry date more than a month earlier. Agent said it was "expired." Had to get a new one. No problem EXCEPT I like to cross early - 7:00 AM - and the bank would not open until 8:00 AM. I had to haggle and beg him to let me pay him. So having the FMM ready to stamp (assuming to errors like previous time) does have an advantage if the bank isn't open. And yes, I'm pretty sure he pocketed the $$.

David K - 3-24-2023 at 08:58 AM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaMama  
There is one advantage to getting the FMM on line - when I went in October my travel club made an error and had my entry date more than a month earlier. Agent said it was "expired." Had to get a new one. No problem EXCEPT I like to cross early - 7:00 AM - and the bank would not open until 8:00 AM. I had to haggle and beg him to let me pay him. So having the FMM ready to stamp (assuming to errors like previous time) does have an advantage if the bank isn't open. And yes, I'm pretty sure he pocketed the $$.


The INM desk has a cash box and does accept payments when the bank teller is not there. You paid a lot extra for the Travel Club's FMM, as well. I hope you got a refund for their error.

David K - 3-24-2023 at 09:01 AM

Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo  
I got my FFM at Mexicali West and paid with pesos. The agent accepted my cash, and issued the FFM, but it wasn't until much later that I realized that he never stamped it!

Basically, it was worthless, but nobody ever asked me for it.


Why it may be good to use a passport book instead of a passport card, so you have a backup proof (by getting him to stamp your book, and thus remembering to stamp the FMM).

BajaMama - 3-25-2023 at 08:52 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo  
I got my FFM at Mexicali West and paid with pesos. The agent accepted my cash, and issued the FFM, but it wasn't until much later that I realized that he never stamped it!

Basically, it was worthless, but nobody ever asked me for it.


Why it may be good to use a passport book instead of a passport card, so you have a backup proof (by getting him to stamp your book, and thus remembering to stamp the FMM).


I only have the passport book. Yes, it was a loss of $40 but sometimes I just don't like to hassle with errors - and it could have been mine when sending in the FMM application to the club.

BajaMama - 4-29-2023 at 08:58 AM

So...I never got an answer to my question. Has anyone had success getting their FMM online? Getting it printed with receipt? Yes, I know I can get it at the border, and yes I know I pay a whopping $5 to my travel club to have them do it, I have a specific reason for asking. We are traveling with group who is crossing early and they have given us the link to get the FMM on line. Most of this group is staying just the 7 days so their FMM is free, we are splitting with them and heading to our shack in PC. Has anyone had luck actually getting it to work on line? My travel club no longer does this because Mexico has made it such a PITA.

[Edited on 4-29-2023 by BajaMama]

mtgoat666 - 4-29-2023 at 09:36 AM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaMama  
So...I never got an answer to my question. Has anyone had success getting their FMM online? Getting it printed with receipt? Yes, I know I can get it at the border, and yes I know I pay a whopping $5 to my travel club to have them do it, I have a specific reason for asking. We are traveling with group who is crossing early and they have given us the link to get the FMM on line. Most of this group is staying just the 7 days so their FMM is free, we are splitting with them and heading to our shack in PC. Has anyone had luck actually getting it to work on line? My travel club no longer does this because Mexico has made it such a PITA.

[Edited on 4-29-2023 by BajaMama]


Tried it once online, won’t ever do that again, for a family it took longer to type info online than it took to stop at the border. Easy peasy to get it at the border.
Odd experience when we crossed last month at Mexicali. We got the free <7 day fmm, they scanned passports and recorded info in computer, stamped passports, but said they no longer give fmm form and the stamp in passport was all we needed (maybe they were just out of forms). They also said we were in the computer, so no need for paper form.

Even if you print online in advance, you still have to enter imm building and get paperwork stamped, so you don’t save appreciable time getting online in advance.


[Edited on 4-29-2023 by mtgoat666]

surabi - 4-29-2023 at 09:47 AM

Not "odd". You just haven't been keeping up with the news. They started phasing out the forms in certain areas a year and a half ago. Started at some major airports, but now I guess it's catching up everywhere. Only stamp passports now, for tourists as well as residents.

mtgoat666 - 4-29-2023 at 09:53 AM

Quote: Originally posted by surabi  
Not "odd". You just haven't been keeping up with the news. They started phasing out the forms in certain areas a year and a half ago. Started at some major airports, but now I guess it's catching up everywhere. Only stamp passports now, for tourists as well as residents.


At Mexicali in January, they handed out fmm paper. In April, no paper given out.
The stamps in passport are generally faint and illegible. I was thumbing thru past Mexico entry passport stamps and I could only read the date on less than 1 in 20 stamps.

David K - 4-29-2023 at 10:01 AM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaMama  
So...I never got an answer to my question. Has anyone had success getting their FMM online? Getting it printed with receipt? Yes, I know I can get it at the border, and yes I know I pay a whopping $5 to my travel club to have them do it, I have a specific reason for asking. We are traveling with group who is crossing early and they have given us the link to get the FMM on line. Most of this group is staying just the 7 days so their FMM is free, we are splitting with them and heading to our shack in PC. Has anyone had luck actually getting it to work on line? My travel club no longer does this because Mexico has made it such a PITA.

[Edited on 4-29-2023 by BajaMama]


I think the answer has been made pretty clear, even from the goat: Do not get it online because all of you who do, still need to get it stamped when you enter Mexico... Which means parking, walking, stamping... Just like when you don't get it online.

The paying (if for more than 6 nights in Mexico) is the only extra thing and that is quick, either at a nearby teller or to the INM agent directly. No chance of paying twice as the online system often doesn't let you print the mandatory receipt, we have heard. You also must use the border you selected online and on the day you selected, otherwise, you will pay again if your travel plans change.

David K - 4-29-2023 at 10:04 AM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666  
Quote: Originally posted by surabi  
Not "odd". You just haven't been keeping up with the news. They started phasing out the forms in certain areas a year and a half ago. Started at some major airports, but now I guess it's catching up everywhere. Only stamp passports now, for tourists as well as residents.


At Mexicali in January, they handed out fmm paper. In April, no paper given out.
The stamps in passport are generally faint and illegible. I was thumbing thru past Mexico entry passport stamps and I could only read the date on less than 1 in 20 stamps.


Makes you wonder how you will be allowed to pass a surprise immigration checkpoint, 100+ miles down the highway? Do they have secret glasses to read he missing ink? LOL

mtgoat666 - 4-29-2023 at 10:24 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666  
Quote: Originally posted by surabi  
Not "odd". You just haven't been keeping up with the news. They started phasing out the forms in certain areas a year and a half ago. Started at some major airports, but now I guess it's catching up everywhere. Only stamp passports now, for tourists as well as residents.


At Mexicali in January, they handed out fmm paper. In April, no paper given out.
The stamps in passport are generally faint and illegible. I was thumbing thru past Mexico entry passport stamps and I could only read the date on less than 1 in 20 stamps.


Makes you wonder how you will be allowed to pass a surprise immigration checkpoint, 100+ miles down the highway? Do they have secret glasses to read he missing ink? LOL


Their problem if they can’t read the stamp. And if they scan your passport and put you in computer, you should be good.
Never seen an immigration checkpoint…

David K - 4-29-2023 at 11:15 AM

A checkpoint in the middle of the desert, out of cell range, wouldn't be able to check online... unless they get Star link!

They never seem to have fresh ink in their stamps...

Neither have I, but I haven't had a close encounter of the second or third kind, either!

surabi - 4-29-2023 at 12:04 PM

Mexicans like to use cheap ink to save a few centavos. Most of the receipts I file away are blank pieces of paper a year down the road.

elgatoloco - 4-29-2023 at 03:29 PM

On 4/6 we stopped at SY IMM and it was 15 minutes from car to car to get forms filled and paid for.

Right after stamp stamp a bus with about 40 folks was disgorging into the 'office'.

YMMV :saint:

RnR - 4-29-2023 at 04:38 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666  

Never seen an immigration checkpoint…


I never had either until about a year ago!

There was a purely immigration checkpoint between Santa Rosalia and Mulege. Vehicles with foreign plates were motioned into the checkpoint and Mexican plates were waved on through.

There were four of us in the vehicle. Two permanent residents and two tourists with FMM's.

The INM officer scanned the barcodes on the passports, resident cards, and FMM's one person at a time. Took about five seconds after the scan to get a beep on his phone and a smile from the officer before he moved on to the next person.

To be honest, I was more worried about the Guardia Nacional officers that were there in support of the INM officer. We were two permanent residents driving a US plated vehicle on a Federal highway. However, they never even looked up from whatever they were doing. Non - issue!

Obviously, there is a first time for everything. (And this was after 70+ border to La Paz trips spread over many years.)

surabi - 4-29-2023 at 05:39 PM

Immigration officers don't have the authority to deal with the issue of permanentes driving foreign-plated cars. That falls under the purview of Aduana.

BajaMama - 4-29-2023 at 05:43 PM

Again, the group requested we get our FMMs in advance. And what a PITA that was. Never again (well maybe, doesn't cost more and heck now I have an account). I can see why it is so confusing - even after going through the process for my husband, we still had to jump a million hoops when doing mine. Will be nice when they stop doing this. I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to collect $35 bucks a person as the price of admission when tourists cross the border w/o all the silly paperwork?

mtgoat666 - 4-29-2023 at 05:48 PM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaMama  
Again, the group requested we get our FMMs in advance. And what a PITA that was. Never again (well maybe, doesn't cost more and heck now I have an account). I can see why it is so confusing - even after going through the process for my husband, we still had to jump a million hoops when doing mine. Will be nice when they stop doing this. I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to collect $35 bucks a person as the price of admission when tourists cross the border w/o all the silly paperwork?


It is part of travel. You cross a border, you do the routine. Not a PITA, is just what it is. If your a frequent X-border commuter, you probably got a visa and don’t need to stop/pay.

It’s easier to do it all in the building, the online thing is silly. Your group that did online still needs to go to the same desk in the building… sounds like your group leader is loco.

surabi - 4-29-2023 at 06:07 PM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaMama  
I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to collect $35 bucks a person as the price of admission when tourists cross the border w/o all the silly paperwork?


They do. Isn't Mexico's fault your group wanted to do it the hard way.
And as far as I'm aware, all countries require "silly paperwork" for foreigners to enter their country. A lot of it much more of a PITA than what Mexico requires.

David K - 4-29-2023 at 07:01 PM

Quote: Originally posted by surabi  
Quote: Originally posted by BajaMama  
I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to collect $35 bucks a person as the price of admission when tourists cross the border w/o all the silly paperwork?


They do. Isn't Mexico's fault your group wanted to do it the hard way.
And as far as I'm aware, all countries require "silly paperwork" for foreigners to enter their country. A lot of it much more of a PITA than what Mexico requires.


Correct, you park and walk in to pay...
If you payed online, you STILL have to park and walk in (to validate it)!
Since many or most cars are returning Mexicans or people with a still valid FMM, you can't be stopping every car to check... the wait to get into Mexico would be many times longer than the worst wait to get into the United States!

What Mama didn't do was 'splain it' to the group, who obviously thought doing it in advance online would eliminate the stopping and walking-in part.

RFClark - 4-30-2023 at 10:31 AM

We were stopped twice last year a couple of months apart and at the same place north of San Ignacio. The National Guard was checking FMMs and passports.

No problems, we had both. We always go to Mexicali West. 7 weeks ago they were still doing them the old way. Received a stamped paper form and a stamp in the passport.

BajaMama - 5-19-2023 at 07:33 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Quote: Originally posted by surabi  
Quote: Originally posted by BajaMama  
I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to collect $35 bucks a person as the price of admission when tourists cross the border w/o all the silly paperwork?


They do. Isn't Mexico's fault your group wanted to do it the hard way.
And as far as I'm aware, all countries require "silly paperwork" for foreigners to enter their country. A lot of it much more of a PITA than what Mexico requires.


The group knew exactly what it was doing - they wanted to make the process quicker so all 20 people didn't have to fill everything out, go pay for it, then go back to get it stamped.

Correct, you park and walk in to pay...
If you payed online, you STILL have to park and walk in (to validate it)!
Since many or most cars are returning Mexicans or people with a still valid FMM, you can't be stopping every car to check... the wait to get into Mexico would be many times longer than the worst wait to get into the United States!

What Mama didn't do was 'splain it' to the group, who obviously thought doing it in advance online would eliminate the stopping and walking-in part.


Group knew what it was doing - 20+ peeps would take a long time to complete paperwork, go pay for FMM, come back to get it stamped. Having it printed/paid for was significantly quicker for a group. Getting the FMM on line did not cost even a penny more but it was a little confusing at first. To get the 7 day free FMM would be a lot simpler - the payment process was the confusing part. Interestingly the length of time and port of entry did not appear on the printed form, so we could have crossed anywhere. We requested and received 180 days.
Surabi: I have entered many foreign countries in my lifetime, Mexico at least 30 times, and so far, Mexico is the only one requiring something akin to an FMM although Australia required an electronic VISA to be applied for prior to entry. The only exception was during the pandemic when proof of vaccination was required by most European countries.

David K - 5-19-2023 at 07:59 AM

Great to hear... and as long as the website allowed to to fill it out and pay for it, and get the payment receipt... then it works to speed things at the border INM desk, agreed. However, so many times it was reported that the receipt would not print at the end of the process (or they didn't know the online FMM was void without the receipt, and didn't bring it with them).

You said that it no longer asks for the border crossing location. How about the day of your crossing, did you need to include that?

How was the experience at the border/ INM desk? Or, did your group not leave yet?
Thanks for the intel on the experience!

BajaMama - 5-25-2023 at 07:54 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Great to hear... and as long as the website allowed to to fill it out and pay for it, and get the payment receipt... then it works to speed things at the border INM desk, agreed. However, so many times it was reported that the receipt would not print at the end of the process (or they didn't know the online FMM was void without the receipt, and didn't bring it with them).

You said that it no longer asks for the border crossing location. How about the day of your crossing, did you need to include that?

How was the experience at the border/ INM desk? Or, did your group not leave yet?
Thanks for the intel on the experience!


The trick with printing everything is to go back to the FIRST email and click on the link. Everything went smoothly, no problems. If I remember correctly the entry date was on the form, but not the number of days (we wanted 180 days, not free) or ent port of entry. When my travel club used to do them for me ( I know, a a $5 fee but worth it to me) the entry date, entry location & number of days were always on the FMM.

geoffff - 5-25-2023 at 10:23 PM

I did my FMM online back in February of this year, just to try it. It saved me a few minutes -- the short walk over to the bank and back. Probably not worth the hassle, and the risk of changing plans to enter on a different date.