Flying back in Mx with Permanente card

[Zanadu44]

My husband and I both have permanente cards however have been out of Mx for about 11 months. We still own a house in Mx and are in process of selling it. My husband is flying back into Mx, for a few weeks however he does not have the right side of the immigration form when he flew out. What side of the form does he fill out then he flies back into Mx?

[Tomas]

Just get a new tourist card while on the flight and fill in the top half of the card, when arriving in Guad. he can go thru the line for residents and present the permanente card, his passport and the tourist card with" PERMANENTE "printed on the top...they will scan his permanente card and passport and keep the tourist card and return the rest. He can then head for luggage and aduana and on his way. On his return he will go to the immigration window near the arrival end of the lobby and get a new tourist card and fill out the bottom part and again print "PERMANENTE" at the top and give it along with his passport and RP to the person there . They will stamp the bottom portion that will be turned at the ticket counter when receiving his boarding pass. He can keep the top half for his next trip or get a new tourist card the next trip...makes no difference. Have done it 5-6 times in the last year..

[mudgirl]

Tomas's information is correct, except for confusing the issue by calling the FMM a tourist card. The FMM cards you receive on the airline to fill out are not tourist cards- they have boxes to check for tourist, and residents as well.

[Tomas]

Mudgirl is correct...they are offically FMM, but since that is what they use for all the tourist that is how I refer to it ..that is what they give to all the foreigners on the flight.

[RVGRINGO]

If a visa holder were to fill out an FMM as a tourist, and the error is not caught by the INM agent, one could lose his visa.

Best to call it an FMM, for that is what it is; a multi-purpose form (Forma Migratoria Multiple)

[snowyco]

RVGringo is reporting what Spencer warned of ( http://www.chapala.com/wwwboard/webboard.html ) problems when foreigners who have residents cards don't follow the rules, and try to come back in as a tourist or a new FMM, without the other half of the previously stamped card.

The OP wrote: " My husband is flying back into Mx, for a few weeks however he does not have the right side of the immigration form when he flew out. What side of the form does he fill out then he flies back into Mx?"

The FMMs come in 2 formats: side-by-side and top-bottom halves. INM rules are for Residente Temporales and Permanentes to fill out both sides, using the Departing Mexico half to describe the trip we are making that day, and use the Entering Mexico half to describe our anticipated return.

INM has computer systems that now report to the INM agent when a foreign resident has an "open" half of a card (for the return "Entering Mexico" trip) that has not been used. A friend got flagged for this last month in Cancun, and she had to do a bunch of explaining, and they gave her a $400 peso fine for losing the "Entering Mexico" half.

Note that since INM stamps the "Entering Mexico" half of our FMM cards as we fly out of Mexico, it really can backfire to try to fill out a bogus "Entering Mexico" half to replace the lost ½-card, if the INM agent is paying attention.

According to INM rules, when a resident loses the "Entering Mexico" half of their form, they should tell the INM agent what happened when they return, and the INM agent has the discretion to scold them, fix the problem (in the computer), and then either charge the fine or waive the penalty.

Since I do not always know that I will be on the return-to-Mexico flight printed on my itinerary, I asked INM agents in DF (Benito Juarez Terminal 2) and in Cancun airport what to do. All 3 times they said to fill in the airline name, but then said it's OK to leave the date and flight open. They also said to leave the signature date blank open on the "Enter Mexico" half.

As RVGringo advised, also write :"RESIDENTE PERMANENTE" boldly across the top of each half. This procedure worked out great on all of my last 4 round-trips - as I breezed past other Americans who did not follow procedures - as they were waved off to the side to re-do their FMM forms.

[Tomas]

I read and understand what you spell out, BUT, we have traveled to and from Guad 5-6 times within the past year without an issue from immigration either going or returning. There are 2 issues in play here...the 1st is the bottom half of the FMM card that you have stamped when departing Mexico that is given to the airline an attached to your departing ticket stub and collected at boarding..This is used to allow the airline and Mexico to collect the fees attached to your ticket, while the man/woman at the immigration has only stamped the bottom part of the FMM and then entered you RP info into their computer system...There is NO stamping done on the top portion which could be utilized for your return trip to Mexico..we have found that there has not been any issue with filling out a new FMM on our return... It is the computer scanning and logging of your RP bar code IN and OUT that is the record of your travels.So we will continue our travels and will learn if there are any issues and not depend on what someone heard or assumes is the ONLY way...After 28 years of back and forth several times a year we are adaptable.

[snowyco]

I read and understand what you spell out, BUT, we have traveled to and from Guad 5-6 times within the past year without an issue from immigration either going or returning. There are 2 issues in play here...the 1st is the bottom half of the FMM card that you have stamped when departing Mexico that is given to the airline an attached to your departing ticket stub and collected at boarding..This is used to allow the airline and Mexico to collect the fees attached to your ticket, while the man/woman at the immigration has only stamped the bottom part of the FMM and then entered you RP info into their computer system...There is NO stamping done on the top portion which could be utilized for your return trip to Mexico..we have found that there has not been any issue with filling out a new FMM on our return... It is the computer scanning and logging of your RP bar code IN and OUT that is the record of your travels.So we will continue our travels and will learn if there are any issues and not depend on what someone heard or assumes is the ONLY way...After 28 years of back and forth several times a year we are adaptable.

I just flew out of Mexico 2 weeks ago, and returned last week, and the "Entering Mexico" half of my card was definitely stamped.

Gringos who did not have their "Entering Mexico" halves filled out correctly were sent off to the side to re-do their cards.

I'm very glad that your approach worked for you, but others may want to know and follow INM rules.

Also: " This is used to allow the airline and Mexico to collect the fees attached to your ticket "

As an Residente Permanente, there have been zero fees collected on my last 3 sets of international flight tickets.

INM says that they use this data to track our movements and to "collect statistical data".

INM also has Mexican Citizens fill out their own version of the "Departing Mexico" form - so, neither Residente Permanentes nor Mexican citizens have INM fees added to their tickets, which means it really is a tracking and statistical data collection effort.

Fortunately, I had my stamped half of my foreign Residente Permanente "Entering Mexico" form, and my wife's computer records showed she had filled out the Mexican citizen "Exiting Form", allowing us to fly through the INM checkpoint at Benito Juarez, when we returned to Mexico just last Thursday.