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fmm= 180 days


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just been told can't return with new 180 day visa,

must go to guad. told this in Nvo Laredo, customs.

anyone been told anything different, I believe I can renew

as long as I leave the country, which I did but then told

not to do that again, But why guad and where?

yet immigration says we can now renew unlimited times,

and even leave our car while out the country,any help

much appreciated.

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You're going to have to fill in some detail. Are you here now and on an FMM? Who in NV told you that you couldn't do it? Is it your intention to stay on an FMM by going to the border every 6 months? Stuff like that will help to understand your situation. But, like you I've heard you can go up there every 6 months just like we always have and get a new one any number of times.

When you consider those who fly, even with a Temporal etc. you still have to get an FMM and I flew to CAL in March, got the FMM, turned it in when I returned, but if I had wanted to fly back out a week later I'd have got another FMM.

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Be careful with the FMM. It is a Forma Migratoria Multiple, with multiple uses. There have been reports of people filling it out incorrectly and actually causing their visas to be cancelled. Write your visa type clearly across the top of each section to avoid this.

You do not want to fill it out as a tourist would.

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Who knows what 'immigration paperwork' you might have in your possession BUT..... an FMM is a one-shot Tourist card. While it will allow you to 'live' in Mexico for up to 180 days, it CANNOT technically be renewed. You turn it in at a border before 180 days. THEN, you get another one, unrelated to the first, good for another 180 days. Thus, doing this border dance, one can 'live' in Mexico for an indefinite length of time... 180 days at a whack.

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Who knows what 'immigration paperwork' you might have in your possession BUT..... an FMM is a one-shot Tourist card. While it will allow you to 'live' in Mexico for up to 180 days, it CANNOT technically be renewed. You turn it in at a border before 180 days. THEN, you get another one, unrelated to the first, good for another 180 days. Thus, doing this border dance, one can 'live' in Mexico for an indefinite length of time... 180 days at a whack.

And don't forget that it's 180 days NOT 6 months. So if you're taking it right down to the line, you take the date it was stamped, add six months, and subtract either 2 or 3 days from the date to get your actual last day of validity (it varies depending on how many 31 day months are in your period of stay.) I know someone who got caught two days over because of disregarding this quirk of the calendar and had to pay the fine at the airport INM office before boarding her plane.

The new FMM is now used by everybody, filled out the usual way by 6 month tourists (complete both parts upon entering, give back the stub when leaving.) Temporary (RT) and permanent (RP) residents fill out the stub only upon leaving, keep the larger half blank and then fill it out upon returning with the return flight info.)

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You know phxfunguy you bring up an interesting thought. I never get an FMM unless flying even though you're supposed to. But, next month my FM3 expires on the 9th at which time I'll be in NV to turn in my TIP and FM3. What if I get an FMM on the way out the door and my FM3 expires that day or next, is the FMM still good? And, I'm going to get a new Temporal probably in San Antonio and so I'll be coming back in with an FMM and a 30 day Temporal stamp on my passport.

Now, let's assume for some reason I don't get the Temporal, is the FMM in my hand still good? It's only an outgoing stub, is that different than an incoming FMM? As I say, I never get FMM's when driving so don't know how that works.

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The FMM in what category? If you have a currently valid visa, you cannot use the FMM as a Tourist Permit, since you cannot have two INM documents in force at the same time. Note that you DO NOT have an FM3, you probably have a No Inmigrante card, and it sounds like you have a 3 or 4 on the back. Why not go to Residente Permanente? If it is just because of a car, you may regret letting your opportunity pass. You can get it now, with no financial qualifications, and be done with INM in the future.

So, be careful how you use the FMM. If you do wish to cancel your current visa, definitely, you must do so at the border and not complete an FMM on the way out. If you come back in with an pre-approval in your passport, that is your single entry document.

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I never do things the easy way, so bear with me. Yes, of course it's a No Inmigrante with a 4. I'm not going permanent because I won't nationalize and I'm leaving in another year, so that's my solution to never dealing with INM again. I simply don't want to screw with it or them and they're ever moving "target of compliance", so the need for a new Temporal.

Now, back to the FMM. I understand not having two docs, but they do force you into it by technically (and for sure when you fly) into getting an FMM when you leave so you have two. Is the "leaving MX" FMM different from the "entering MX for 190 days" FMM?

So, for discussion sake, I get the FMM at the border on my way out, and a few days later am at the Consulate in TX and turn in my NO INM - and FMM Also? I realize some of this is technical and hypothetical, but I'm looking at all scenarios. Like if I can't get a new Temporal in a reasonable length of time (few days) I'll have to come back in on an FMM.

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Depends on who you talk to, I agree with you, but many folks dutifully drudge in/out of the INM getting them - and paying for them. I still have my original TIP which is 6 years old. But whatever trips their trigger. As I said, one, maybe two more trips to the border and then I'll not have to deal with it again - unless I eventually come back and you can bet things will have changed again - ha.

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The way it was explained to me was this: The new FMM is only a tourist visa when coming in; you get it by air (cost is included in your ticket charges) or if driving/walking across, you get it at the INM office on the other side of the border either right there or at Km 20 which is your last chance. There's more to the process with walking/driving across as you fill out the form, go to another area to pay something like $450 pesos, then return with the form and the receipt to the original office to get it and your passport stamped. You of course don't need one if you're only staying within the "no hassle zone" but you DO need one for driving further south. The main use for these stubs is to tabulate the fees collected by the airlines for the FMM. As a tourist you need to have the larger part to prove you are legally in the country south of Km 20. They don't care if you turn in the stub if driving/walking out as they already got paid directly when you came in. The airlines are also charging RT and RP fliers the same charge as tourists pay for their visa and collecting the fee for the INM as you have to get a stub before you fly out to give at check in. They don't differentiate your immigration status when you buy an airline ticket. You do not have to pay this when walking/driving across with a resident card.

It may not be the correct way, but if walking/driving out and returning by the same method AND your current FMM has enough time on it to get you to your next planned trip out, you don't have to bother getting another one as they don't check your papers going either way. We did it the correct way once at Tijuana (one FM3 and one FMM) and they looked at us and chuckled like we didn't have to be there. It was a big hassle to lug our bags over the overpass bridge twice, then leave our US drivers licenses at a little hut just to get up to the INM office, then upon exiting trying to get the licenses back from a now different guy sitting there who didn't seem to know where the candy box with the licenses had been stored...scary moment! No stamps put in the passports or scans done into the computer. The next time we skipped all the hassle and no problems. (If you're going out on a travel letter, however, you WILL have to do this exercise at the border to get it stamped.)

The other use for the new FMM form is for statistical purposes for resident card holders. That's why it's used by RT's and RP's in reverse; hand in the stub when leaving by air (so not needed if by land,) that way airline check in works the same for everybody and the fees are tallied up for INM. Hand in the larger part when returning by air, filling it out with the RETURN flight info, not the original flight info you put on the stub when you flew out. This one is used purely for statistical purposes. Anyway, that's my understanding of the process after completing three round trips during this present transition and listening to two lawyers. And as Spencer has posted below, DON'T let them give you a stamped tourist FMM when entering on a current FM2, FM3, or a new RT or RP. That will automatically be avoided when you hand them only the larger part with the stub missing. If you don't have the piece left over from when you left, just take a new form and tear the stub off before completing and handing it to them.

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I can relate to the "what me care?" attitude at the border. The first time I had my FM3 at the border I was proud, went in and got it stamped as leaving the country, came back in a week later and again wasted time and asked the guy to stamp it and he looked at me and almost laughed "you don't need no stinkin' stamp" and that was the last time I darkened the doors at Bridge #2 INM, since I laugh as I drive by.

My neighbor for 5 winters decided she had had enough of MX and didn't return this year and today asked why I would go to all the trouble, hassle and cost just to stay one more year? - I said "tequila?" - didn't have a better excuse. I survived 5 years with my first wife Jaws, I can do another here, but only one, NO MAS!

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There have been many issues lately with the FMM cards, I will try to write an article about it, even the people at immigration do not know or apply it all wrong and I have seen people in jeopardy of losing their temporary and permanent documents due to following instructions of people at immigration.

For now, the ONLY people who should have an FMM form that is good for 180 days are tourists, NOT PEOPLE WITH TRAVEL LETTERS, NOT PEOPLE WHO HAVE A PREAUTHORIZED VISA FROM A CONSULATE, NOT ANYBODY WHO HAS AN FM2 OR FM3 OR A TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT RESIDENT CARD. You need to be proactive and fight right there, if they tell you to clear it up in Guadalajara that is a lie and nobody here will help you and then you are screwed.

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Hmm, when you fly they charge you for an FMM on incoming flights and give you the document form, in March I got one going out and they stapled the stub to the boarding pass and I didn't think to get it back, so coming back I got another and handed it and my No INM to the Aduana at the airport? So, all these folks who have been getting FMM's shouldn't have? Wow, just when you think you have all this mess figured out, it gets worse.

Ok on the Bridge #2, I thought that was where, I was with a friend who turned in a TIP last Nov there and I assumed they'd take the FM3 or whatever as well.

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FYI, if you have a temporary or permanent residency the airlines will re-imburse or deduct the Mexican tourism tax on your ticket. You have to phone the airlines' customer service desk. Some airlines have forms to fill out for this at the boarding gate, in which case your credit card will be re-imbursed, Westjet just deducted the tourism tax when I booked my ticket.

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Hmm, when you fly they charge you for an FMM on incoming flights and give you the document form, in March I got one going out and they stapled the stub to the boarding pass and I didn't think to get it back, so coming back I got another and handed it and my No INM to the Aduana at the airport? So, all these folks who have been getting FMM's shouldn't have? Wow, just when you think you have all this mess figured out, it gets worse.

Ok on the Bridge #2, I thought that was where, I was with a friend who turned in a TIP last Nov there and I assumed they'd take the FM3 or whatever as well.

You don't get the stub back when you're not a tourist, no one ever does, that's how they keep track of the fees due INM. When you re-enter, you only need to fill out the larger part, throw the blank stub away. I am glad tyo hear there is a way to get them to refund those fees that non-tourists don't need to pay. I guess you just have to ask each airline how they do it.

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The FMM in what category? If you have a currently valid visa, you cannot use the FMM as a Tourist Permit, since you cannot have two INM documents in force at the same time. Note that you DO NOT have an FM3, you probably have a No Inmigrante card, and it sounds like you have a 3 or 4 on the back. Why not go to Residente Permanente? If it is just because of a car, you may regret letting your opportunity pass. You can get it now, with no financial qualifications, and be done with INM in the future.

So, be careful how you use the FMM. If you do wish to cancel your current visa, definitely, you must do so at the border and not complete an FMM on the way out. If you come back in with an pre-approval in your passport, that is your single entry document.

FMM is an INM FORM - as described above. FMM is not a permit.

The "180 day permit" is actually a Visitante (visitors) permit from INM. The FMM is the form used to apply for that Visitante permit.

I have Residente Permanente, and I had to fill out FMMs when flying out of Mexico the last 2 times even as a Permanent Resident, just like all other foreign Mexican residents fill them out.

The airport INM officials hand wrote "Residente Permanente" across the top of both top and bottom halves of the FMM form, so the advice to write your actual INM immigration category across the top of them, fits exactly what INM officials do.

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