Forums > General > Traveling Mexico

shoe

Jul 4, 2003, 6:28 AM

Post #1 of 16 (2639 views)

Shortcut

Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

I will be crossing the border in a couple of weeks (finally), at Laredo and have read on here someplace that I need copies of my passport and other documents. I don't remember what papers and how many of each I need. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I have left Kentucky and am now in Florida visiting grandkids on the way to Ajijic.

Thanx, shoe

Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so.
-St. Thomas Aquinas

jennifer rose

Jul 4, 2003, 6:43 AM

Post #2 of 16 (2631 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] Border Crossing

Can't Post |

To import only your body, your current passport is sufficient. No copies are needed of that.

To temporarily import your motor vehicle, you'll need the original and a copy of your car title and driver's license. If the car is not registered in your name, you'll need an affidavit of permission of the registered owner. If the car is not lien-free, you'll also need an affidavit from the lienholder. And the credit card.

shoe

Jul 4, 2003, 6:53 AM

Post #3 of 16 (2627 views)

Shortcut

Re: [jennifer rose] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

Thank You.

The truck and I will be just fine then. Will have Mexican Insurance and be ready to drive on down. Truck is loaded to the brim.

Thanks for you help, shoe

Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so.
-St. Thomas Aquinas

jerezano

Jul 4, 2003, 7:02 AM

Post #4 of 16 (2622 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

Hello Shoe,

You will have no problem crossing your body into Mexico. All you will need, if you are an American citizen, is your passport. No copies are necessary. Whether you will need to pay an entry fee I don't know. For a time Mexico was collecting one, then they were making it payable at an immigration office inside Mexico, and then they weren't collecting it at all. I don't know about this as I am not a tourist anymore. However, it was less than $20 in the past.

Your big problem, if you are driving, will be your car. It must be your own car free of all leins, if not, then you need a notarized letter of permission from the owner or the lein holder to take your car into Mexico. You will need the ORIGINAL of the title. You will need Mexican insurance. You will need a driver's license and you will also need a credit card. The fee for the importation permit is, I think, somewhere in the neighborhood of $12. I'm an FM3 holder and its been a long time since I paid the fee. But it must be paid by a credit or debit card. The entry process is in two steps. You and your Tourist permit (FM1) for your body. Your car and its temporary importation permit.

You as an American citizen can ask for 180 days entry. Be sure and do so, otherwise you may only get 30 or 60. The car permit is for the same period as your own entry. Be sure and get an exit document (constancia) for your car when you leave Mexico. Otherwise you may possibly never be permitted entry with another car.

Your immigration permit and your car permit are obtained in different offices, usually in separate locations. I don't know about Nuevo Laredo.

All copies necessary, and it varies usually from 2 to 3 of all documents can be gotten right there where you get your car permit, as sometimes can the car insurance.

Good luck and enjoy your trip to Mexico. Jerezano

Don

Jul 4, 2003, 7:13 AM

Post #5 of 16 (2614 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

With all the advise you have received, you should have no problem getting yourself and your vehicle across the border. What you may have to be concerned about comes from one of your statements: "Truck is loaded to the brim." Have you checked to see what you are allowed to bring in on a tourist visa?

shoe

Jul 4, 2003, 7:25 AM

Post #6 of 16 (2611 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Don] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

Yes, and I am prepared to pay duty for the things that I have that will have duty on them. I will have more than the normal limit as I am going to stay down there so I guess they may get me for more, I will just let them charge me what they will and pay it. I have kitchen items, and linens, and all that sort of stuff along with personal clothing and personal items. TV is bigger than what they allow. I hope to just pay and go on. I have some tools and I will check this stuff with US customs also. Think that I have it covered but don't know. Guess I will find out.

I am thinking about buying a new desktop and bringing that along and paying the duty on it. Just because I want to.

Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so.
-St. Thomas Aquinas

Uncle Jack

Jul 4, 2003, 7:42 AM

Post #7 of 16 (2608 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

From the responses here and your answers, it appears that you know pretty much what to expect. I have but one suggestion, cross at the Colombia/Amistad Bridge a few miles west of Laredo and not in downtown Laredo/Nuevo Laredo. It will make your trip a lot easier.

Don Adams wrote a couple of articles that maybe you should read:

http://www.mexconnected.com/.../dasieriesindex.html

Buen Suerte, and look us up if and when you get here.

uj

jennifer rose

Jul 4, 2003, 7:45 AM

Post #8 of 16 (2605 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] Border Crossing

Can't Post |

To make things easier, prepare a manifest of everything you're bringing in, preferably in Spanish. It's no guarantee that you won't have to unload, but often it helps.

shoe

Jul 4, 2003, 6:54 PM

Post #9 of 16 (2564 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Uncle Jack] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

I have read those articles and the only problem with that bridge is I think it opens at 8 AM in the morning and I hoped to get a earlier start than that. Daylight or earlier is when I hope to cross, just in case it takes me a long time to get through customs.

Will look you all up.

cya, shoe

Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so.
-St. Thomas Aquinas

shoe

Jul 4, 2003, 7:07 PM

Post #10 of 16 (2562 views)

Shortcut

Re: [jennifer rose] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

I agree with you that making a list of everything would be nice. One problem would be getting it in Spanish. No idea how to do that. Another problem is that the truck is already packed and I would have to unpack it to make the list. Might just as well wait and see if they make me unload. That way I will only have to do it once.

Think I will just play like a bobbing head doll on the dashboard and smile and bob my head a lot and see what happens.

cya,shoe

Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so.
-St. Thomas Aquinas

lbc

Jul 4, 2003, 8:17 PM

Post #11 of 16 (2555 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

it seems like you are h..bent in continuing with your direction. Just do it. I did it 4 weeks ago and I had lots and lots of stuff in my Explorer they "should have" discovered, like my used but very powerful desktop, my cappuccino machine like Sophia Loren's etc.... I crossed at Reyonosa around 10PM, did all that with the car and passed the other two check points, one even with the red light. But the guy got so side-tracked with the bobbing, flirtatious Mexican chatter box I had accompanying me in a second car, so that he just waved me through. However, I do have what they call a "menaje de casa", the visa to bring in my belongings in Spanish and English. It was a small nightmare to get it from the consulate in Kansas City, Missouri. I had to make 2 five-hour trips. The first one, they rejected my poor Spanish because I called bandejos-- pendejas (sp?)--a..holes instead of pots and pans. But they gave me the import visa with a smile the second time because I deleted the English column and found more appropriate idioms. The senora shook hands with me, "tschu are zo locky." I felt lucky. Just in case, you want to see this list because you could construct one from memory of what's on that truck, e-mail me and I will send you mine. But I haven't used it since I "smuggled" so many items from that list already. On July 7, I am planning to go across the border to my storage unit and get some stuff like duct tape, Silicone caulking, Parmesan cheese and dog food, etc--all items that are very expensive where I live. I have 6 months to find a truck and a place where I want to be sure to plop and then get the rest of my belongings. Sorry for this long ramble. But your idea of smiling and doing the dashboard nodding triggered my memory of my pretty companion and her tactics. And I know it was her smiles and charms that got me across the border so easily. So, go for it, Shoe. p.s. what do you mean the TV has a certain size? Is there a rule for that, too??

johanson

Jul 4, 2003, 11:29 PM

Post #12 of 16 (2546 views)

Shortcut

Re: [cornick] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

Each time I fly into Guadalajara from the states I'm handed a form by the flight attendant. On the back of the form is a list of that which you can bring in, one of the things they mention is a TV with a screen smaller than I think 12 inches. Whatever the measurement is, it's not very big. I hope there is someone else out there who has a better memory than I

shoe

Jul 5, 2003, 7:37 AM

Post #13 of 16 (2534 views)

Shortcut

Re: [cornick] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

Yup, I believe that I read that the TV isn't supposed to be over 20". Mine is 32". I assume that I will have to pay on it too or give it up. Pay is the assumption. Maybe they won't care. I put it right where they can see it.

The list idea is all well and good but I really don't know what is in some of the tubs. My ex wife packed the stuff when she split up our stuff and labeled it kitchen, linens, and the like and that is all I know. I haven't opened them. The are labeled on the outside for all to see. I have labeled the rest that I packed the same way. I just figure that if they want to look at everything they can and will and I will be all to willing to go through it. I don't plan on doing it again so it will just be another one of those once in a lifetime things. I am too laid back these days to let them really get to me as long as they don't put me in jail and I don't have anything that is that kind of offence. TV and desktop (less than three weeks old) is all and I am willing to pay.

I don't break the laws in this country (other than speeding) so why break them there. I will pay the duty. I figure that it is part of the move.

Reading this site and fora for the last 8 months and asking questions has given me a little knowledge and I hope that I have some of it right. The rest is hope and be gosh.

I have made contact with people through this fora that also have helped me in more ways than one.

cya,shoe

Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so.
-St. Thomas Aquinas

Marlene

Jul 5, 2003, 6:36 PM

Post #14 of 16 (2494 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

Oh you must let us know how you make out. Let's hope your ex didn't give you any surprises in the packed containers! LOL We had some friends ship all their belongings from England and to make a long story shorter, the customs clearance point ended up being near Manzanillo. Aduana actually seized some of their items because they "looked" new. Duty was heavily administered, (in the thousands of dollars) but the shipping company in England reimbursed a lot of it for them. I guess the timing being just before Xmas didn't help matters either.

Another lady we know personally recently, crossed in Nogales and had to pay $2000.00 pesos just to speed her position in the inspection line along. They were checking everyone that day it seemed to her and the prospect of staying overnight in line didn't appeal to her. Other people just breeze through! I am pulling for you! Drive safely!

Georgia

Jul 6, 2003, 2:19 PM

Post #15 of 16 (2449 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

Not to muddle things, but unless your parting with your ex-wife was extremely amicable, it would seem not too prudent to bring in to a foreign country boxes you did not personally pack and label. Awfully trusting! I hope there are no surprises in those boxes.

shoe

Jul 7, 2003, 10:40 AM

Post #16 of 16 (2408 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Georgia] Border Crossing

Can't Post | Private Reply

The items in the boxes were just the every day stuff that we were using in the house. She put some in her boxes and some in my boxes. I was doing some of it for her in the workshop. We got along pretty through the whole process. Still do. I stayed with her for about three months (paying rent) after we separated and helped her buy a house.

I don't think that there will be any unknowns. She is storing some of my stuff at her house while I am gone. Using some antique furniture that she loves.

shoe

Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so.
-St. Thomas Aquinas