INM

[Oatsie]

Is it possible to leave Mexico with a valid Permanente Visa and re-enter and get a 6 month tourist visa?

[giltner68]

Don't think so, you can only have one visa at a time. Not sure why you would want to do that?

[JRPJR]

What "giltner" says is correct and if you wished to return on a tourist visa you would have to first cancel your Permanente Visa as they do not expire.

[giltner68]

And from my minor experience two weeks ago turning in my FM3 - the Permanente would take forever. I spent 20 minutes trying to convince INM at Bridge #1 to take my visa which was expiring the next day so I could go to the Laredo Consulate that afternoon and get a new Temporal. They were nice, but seemed mystified as to why I would do that, it was my chuckle for the day.

[cbviajero]

Not sure why you would want to do that?

Maybe trying to circumvent the aduana laws on foreign vehicles?

[Oatsie]

Maybe trying to circumvent the aduana laws on foreign vehicles?

Exactly ! ! !

[giltner68]

Yes, I was trying to avoid the obvious. I bit the bullet, dragged a mostly empty trailer both ways, jumped through all the hoops, paid the new deposit (I didn't have before) and returned just to keep my Temporal another year and not deal with the car junk. As I said 2 years ago when they started the new deposit thing, that was the first shoe to drop, then they had to design a way to milk the rest of us, well, here it is in spades, pay us through several orifices to nationalize, or you leave the country and return and you can pay us then - if you're gringo that is - of course when I was driving to/from Laredo I didn't see convoys of Chocolates going N to "get legal" - in fact, I didn't see but one NOB plate going either direction.

[cbviajero]

Exactly ! ! !

Why not just bite the bullet and abide by the laws of the country that granted you permanent resident status?

I'll be nationalizing my Tacoma next year,not thrilled about the 30 thousand pesos it's going to cost me but that's just the way it is.

[Intercasa]

Yes it is possible, and they will cancel your permanente if you enter as a tourist.

[bmh]

Thanks

[Irish Gal]

I'm filling out the FMM for in preparation for going NOB. The top part is Entry Registration and the bottom section is Departure Registration. Where on this form do I write the words "Residente Temporal" ? Thanks.

[Oatsie]

Yes it is possible, and they will cancel your permanente if you enter as a tourist.

Spencer... Thanks for the concise and straightforward answer. Is there a "fine" or "fee" for cancelling the "permanente" status at the land border?

[Betsy]

I'm filling out the FMM for in preparation for going NOB. The top part is Entry Registration and the bottom section is Departure Registration. Where on this form do I write the words "Residente Temporal" ? Thanks.

All foreigners fill out an FMM when leaving Mexico and there is no where to indicate your actual immigration status on it. Consider the FMM to be an application that will be rejected when you present your immigration card That is just how it has always been done. If you tried to renter Mexico without your immigration card then your FMM would be granted and your Temp or Prmanente status would be canceled.

I don't understand why upu would need to make any special effort to cancel your residente permanente status...all you have to do is not use it when you return and *poof* you are back to FMM ...a tourist.

[giltner68]

You can't have 2 visas when you're inside MX. He doesn't want to nationalize his car and so is willing to give up Permanente and stay with FMM. You only fill out the FMM when you fly, not drive.

[valbogyo]

Regarding the FMM card (as it applies to a Permanent Resident):

I did notice that the INM agent crossed out something on the top of my FMM form and wrote Permanente. I fill in the form before I get to the Mexican airport, present it along with my passport and PR card. then the INM agent does his stuff. they take the bottom in Guadalajara and I return with the top of the form that is presented when I go through INM in Mexico as a returnee.

I would guess, if I were leaving the country by car.... I would stop and do the same thing as I would at the airport. I did have to do that as a tourist. I don't see why I would do anything differently when driving. Am I missing something?

[giltner68]

I don't believe driving you need the FMM, of course I never have done it and not even sure who you would give it to. But you will also notice that only when you fly does US Customs stamp your passport, never when you drive and you always give it to them.

[snowyco]

All foreigners fill out an FMM when leaving Mexico and there is no where to indicate your actual immigration status on it. Consider the FMM to be an application that will be rejected when you present your immigration card That is just how it has always been done. If you tried to renter Mexico without your immigration card then your FMM would be granted and your Temp or Prmanente status would be canceled.

I don't understand why upu would need to make any special effort to cancel your residente permanente status...all you have to do is not use it when you return and *poof* you are back to FMM ...a tourist.

The Immigration officials sometimes make mistakes when filling out their part of the FMM form. When you return, the INM mistakes can cause us problems when the INM fills out their part as if we were a Visitor. The easiest way to stop this problem is to write "Residente Temporal" or "Residente Pemanente" across the top half and bottom half of your FMM. Spencer wrote a good article on the INM agent problems about 2 months ago, and a reader explained INM's solution of writing your visa type across the top and bottom halves of the FMM.

[snowyco]

I don't believe driving you need the FMM, of course I never have done it and not even sure who you would give it to. But you will also notice that only when you fly does US Customs stamp your passport, never when you drive and you always give it to them.

If someone thinks they might be applying for Naturalized Citizenship in the future, it is important to fill out the FMM and get your passport stamped. SRE requires that we not be outside of Mexico too much to qualify for citizenship, and that requirement is most easily met if we have our passports stamped every time we leave Mexico. Otherwise, there is probably no reason for turning in an FMM.

[giltner68]

Then if you looked at my passport there is no evidence I ever left the country.

[snowyco]

Right, if we drive out without stopping then there are no stamps for the exit. When we return and they stamp our passports for entering Mexico, our passports only show half the records, and SRE can presume that we were outside of Mexico for the entire period between entry stamps, (since we could have slipped out of Mexico undetected at any point after our entry). They then can, and sometimes do, decide that we have been outside Mexico too long to qualify for naturalized citizenship.

[giltner68]

"When we return and they stamp our passport"? - when and where does that happen, I have no entry stamps ever from driving in.

[snowyco]

They stamped our passports at Nuevo Laredo, downtown bridge #2 crossing's INM office the last time we came in, but I am interested in naturalized citizenship, so I have been dotting "i's" and crossing "tees".

[giltner68]

Ah, but even a couple of weeks ago when I came back in at #2 to get my 30 day FMM and TIP they didn't stamp the passport. Of course with the Temporal approval sticker in there it's obvious I was out of the country. About 5 years ago now when we had the FM3 books I tried to get them to stamp me back in and the guy flat refused to do it, so until the other day I've never bothered to go back.

[Joco]

Ah, but even a couple of weeks ago when I came back in at #2 to get my 30 day FMM and TIP they didn't stamp the passport. Of course with the Temporal approval sticker in there it's obvious I was out of the country. About 5 years ago now when we had the FM3 books I tried to get them to stamp me back in and the guy flat refused to do it, so until the other day I've never bothered to go back.

I don't think your passport is stamped unless you ask them. U.S. and Canadian citizens legally don't need anything to visit Mexico. Traveling by land one can use a passport card which is impossible to stamp.

You don't need a passport to visit Mexico but you do need a passport or passport card to enter the U.S.