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Do Permanantes have to file FMM at GDL before leaving?


kimanjome

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For those who are Permanante and leave Mexico for a temporary trip elsewhere, is it true you have to go to a room/office before your flight and fill out an FMM?  You keep a copy with you in your passport and then have it stamped upon your return to Mexico?  (This question is for US and Canadian passport holders).

If this is true, where at the GDL airport is the office?  Online it says the office is open only a few hours.  What if you flight is outside of those scheduled open office hours?

 

 

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Go to the INM counter at GDL (it's next to United Airlines counter).   We often have early AM flights and the counter has always been open, sometimes as early as 5AM.

Some key entries/info: 

The INM agent at GDL will give you a blank form.  You will have to step aside and fill it out.

On the top part of form:

Box 7, enter Mexico

Box 8, enter RP number (from the back of your RP card)

Box 9, enter OTRO for purpose of trip

Write "Residente Permanente" at very top of the from and again below the perforation on the lower portion of form.  

The rest of form is straight-forward.  After you complete it, return to the INM window so the agent can stamp it.  Hand him your passport, your RP card and your boarding pass.  He will give the stamped  FMM back to you.  Agents normally separate the form at the perforation and put the lower (smaller) portion in our passport with our boarding pass, knowing this is what the airline expects to see.  Keep the upper larger portion.....you will need it when you return to MX. 

The lower shorter part of form is collected by the airline before you depart, usually at the gate just prior to boarding, but the counter agents will want to see it; if you don't have it they will send you to INM.

Again, keep the upper larger portion for your return to MX.  .  

When you return to MX do not fill out the blank FMM form the airline staff hands out on the plane (but take one and keep it for your next trip so you can fill it out before getting to GDL for your next trip out of MX).

When you return to MX, enter the arriving flight info on the upper portion of the FMM that you kept when you left Mexico.  When you approach the INM desk at GDL arrival area, show him/her your RP card FIRST and say, "Soy Residente."   Then hand over your FMM and passport.  The INM agent will keep the FMM form and you will leave their desk with only your RP card and passport.  

FYI, if you are leaving GDL during a holiday time or a weekend, give yourself some extra time.  We have stood in the line for up to 30 minutes (and we always bring our own forms).   

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Another thing:  If your itinerary from GDL makes a stop at another Mexican airport before you leave Mexico, sometimes (???) the GDL INM staff will stamp you out of Mexico, sometimes they will tell you to get stamped out at the other airport.  Last time we were told by GDL INM to go to the INM counter at MEX Mexico City Airport as that was our departure airport to outside of Mexico.  In a few weeks we have a flight GDL-MEX-GUA and will see if we have any luck getting stamped out at GDL.  

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1 minute ago, Bisbee Gal said:

Another thing:  If your itinerary from GDL makes a stop at another Mexican airport before you leave Mexico, sometimes (???) the GDL INM staff will stamp you out of Mexico, sometimes they will tell you to get stamped out at the other airport.  Last time we were told by GDL INM to go to the counter at MEX Mexico City Airport.  In a few weeks we have a flight GDL-MEX-GUA and will see if we have any luck getting stamped out at GDL.  

I flew from GDL to Tijuana and used the Cross Border Bridge to San Diego. Realized on the plane that I had automatically gone to INM and checked out. No one had said anything to me. When I got to Tijuana I told the guy I had made a mistake and checked out in GDL. Smile and a wave. No problem. You just never know. 

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Best advice is in Bisbee Gal's post.  Ask for extra forms when you are leaving, fill them out at home for future trips & save yourself a lot of time at the counter.  We have been doing this for many years & always feel sorry for  people searching for their flight info., documents, a pen.   Flying is stressful enough!

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I can never feel sorry for people who cause me delay with their unpreparedness. It isn't just their concern for the petty small talk in which they persist while waiting in line; it is that that petty small talk  is indiciative of their character of disrespect for others in the world arounf them.

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You have the form stamped at the airport from which you leave Mexico; not when you leave Guadalajara.  Often this will be from Mexico City.

If you keep spare forms at home then you do not have to do anything when you leave Guadalajara on your domestic flight. Fill it out at home and present it for stamping in Mexico City.  Do nothing in GDL.

 

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Bisbee Gal, what a great description of a very important process. Thank you for explaining it so well. A couple of years ago people started having their immigration status changed from RP or RT to a tourist visa (6-month limit on stay) because they did not do what you have described above.

 

Folks, please do exactly as Bisbee Gal says and get to the airport early enough as you must visit the INM desk before you can check in for your flight. And be sure to tuck the larger portion of the form in a safe place so you can retrieve it once you are ready to return. Your residency status in Mexico is at stake.

 

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On 12/29/2018 at 7:33 AM, NLU said:

I can never feel sorry for people who cause me delay with their unpreparedness. It isn't just their concern for the petty small talk in which they persist while waiting in line; it is that that petty small talk  is indiciative of their character of disrespect for others in the world arounf them.

Getting through lines (or getting through traffic lights, or getting through life) as fast as humanly possible is not a part of the culture in every part of the world.

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OK.   One more time.   You get form stamped by Immigration from the city in Mexico that from which you are flying out of the country.  Yes, if you do go to Immigration in Guadalajara even though you are not leaving the country from there they will probably stamp it.  They assume you know what you are doing and are not looking at where you are flying to.  You do not get your form stamped by Immigration when you are getting on a domestic flight in Mexico.   Let's pretend that you are flying from Guadalajara to Queretaro and then to Mexico City from which you are flying to the USA.   Are you going to get your form stamped in Guadalajara and Queretaro and then Mexico City?

 

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The only problem with this is that the last two times I left GDL, at the window they kept the larger portion of the form.  Of course the Airlines keeps the smaller portion.  Which means I have to fill out a new form to return.  So far no problem with a new un-stamped form upon return.  Luck?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/31/2018 at 2:32 PM, Floradude said:

OK.   One more time.   You get form stamped by Immigration from the city in Mexico that from which you are flying out of the country.  Yes, if you do go to Immigration in Guadalajara even though you are not leaving the country from there they will probably stamp it.  They assume you know what you are doing and are not looking at where you are flying to.  You do not get your form stamped by Immigration when you are getting on a domestic flight in Mexico.   Let's pretend that you are flying from Guadalajara to Queretaro and then to Mexico City from which you are flying to the USA.   Are you going to get your form stamped in Guadalajara and Queretaro and then Mexico City?

 

FYI.   We are RP's and flew on Tuesday from GDL to Guatemala via MEX. We went to INM at GDL and they stamped our FMM's.  We turned in the smaller portion of the FMM at the gate in MEX.

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Same here. I am an RP and will turn in the small or bottom portion of that form in a couple of hours right before I board international flight to Seattle via DFL (to the ticket agent at the boarding gate)

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On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 7:33 AM, NLU said:

I can never feel sorry for people who cause me delay with their unpreparedness. It isn't just their concern for the petty small talk in which they persist while waiting in line; it is that that petty small talk  is indiciative of their character of disrespect for others in the world arounf them.

Sometimes the unpreparedness is due to the fact it is the first time flying out of Mexico and they do not know the routine. Also sometimes the form changes so one has to take time filling out a new one. Petty small talk? Would you like deep conversations or that everyone become silent?

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On 12/29/2018 at 8:33 AM, NLU said:

I can never feel sorry for people who cause me delay with their unpreparedness. It isn't just their concern for the petty small talk in which they persist while waiting in line; it is that that petty small talk  is indiciative of their character of disrespect for others in the world arounf them.

I find myself behind those same people in the Walmart check out....like if they are on a different planet

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https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/664549

God and the Saber-Toothed Tiger: Pay Attention

Not one of the three people in front of me was paying enough attention to their present task to be ready to pay the grocery store cashier after their purchase had been rung up. Each of them in turn appeared as a startled dear in headlights when the cashier announced the price of their purchases. It was only then that each of them reached into their pocket or purse to extract either money or a checkbook so that they could pay their bill. This was in spite of the fact that we were all in the Express Check-Out line.

At least the two who paid cash didn’t delay the rest of us any longer. The one who paid with a check, of course, had to fill it out while the rest of us waited.

It doesn’t do any good to point out to these people the errors of their ways.

If one has the bad sense to try to do so, what one would get in return is a “Mind your own business!” or a “What? You in a special hurry or something?”

That’s if you’re lucky. It is quite possible that you would receive a vulgarism or even an offer to enter into a physical confrontation.

A “This is my business!” retort to the first and a “Why do you think I am in the Express Check-Out lane?” to the second does absolutely no good.

There’s little one can do if the latter two possibilities occur.

It is just best to grin and bear it in the first place.

It isn’t much different in the aisles.

There are many shoppers who seem to have taken a course in how to abandon their shopping cart exactly in the middle of the aisle slanted in such a manner while they meander looking for, I am sure, they know not what. Such a clever maneuvering of their abandoned shopping cart makes it impossible to push your cart forward on either side of the one that has been so abandoned.

Any mention of this by you to them is more than likely to receive a response similar to the ones already mentioned.

Again, it is just best to grin and bear it in the first place.

Now that we have cell phones to make already horrible drivers even worse, to enable them to drive as poorly as if they were intoxicated, defensive driving has become more of a chore than it already was.

Walking behind an obtuse threesome stretching across the entire sidewalk has always been a problem. Walking towards that threesome who seem to be enjoying themselves and each other so much that even when they look up and see someone approaching them, they still continue on their path as if it had been preordained that they should be allowed to do so and the approaching party should be obliged to merge with the wall of the adjacent building.

Now, one has to practice defensive walking like never before. Not only young people, a goodly proportion of them walking like they’re drunk, looking down instead of ahead. They’re not only texting or receiving one, they are deaf as well due to their headphones which enable them to either talk to a third party while texting or be listening to music loud enough to prevent them from hearing an “Excuse me!” Worse yet, they probably couldn’t hear a car horn warning them that they were about to be disenabled.

The first time I saw someone talking to themselves like that I suspected that it might well be a person with an addled brain. Now, I am sure of it!

Still waiting in that Express Check-Out line, there was an announcement over the store’s speaker system. The voice was reminiscent of George Burns, the actor.

“Attention! Attention, please! I suggest that you all pay close attention. This is God speaking. I have been watching all of you, and I have come to the conclusion that the ability to pay attention seems to have been bred out of almost all of the members of the human race. That is not the way I created you. I intend to correct this evolutionary flaw. At exactly noon Greenwich Mean Time tomorrow, I will be releasing several millions of saber-toothed tigers around the world. They will be wandering this planet of ours for the next seven days. For the next seven days, I suggest that you all pay close attention.”

“I repeat!”

“At exactly noon Greenwich Mean Time tomorrow, I will be releasing several millions of saber-toothed tigers around the world. They will be wandering this planet of ours for the next seven days. For the next seven days, I suggest that you all pay close attention.”

I was sure that a goodly number of people weren’t paying attention and didn’t hear the warning. Maybe next week, I would not have to pay so much attention to those who didn’t pay attention.

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