Forums > General > Traveling Mexico

clausont

Feb 15, 2010, 5:26 AM

Post #1 of 8 (3203 views)

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Tourist Visa in Advance?

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Reading some of the posts on traveling to Mexico, I get the idea that it is possible (and perhaps advisable) to get tourist visas and temporary vehicle import permits in advance. Does anyone have any information on this?
Also - as I understand it, we need only passports for ourselves and our children to enter Mexico and exit again to the US. Some have said though that we will also need birth certificates for our children. What is the accurate answer to this one?
Thanks

chinagringo

Feb 15, 2010, 6:16 AM

Post #2 of 8 (3197 views)

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Re: [clausont] Tourist Visa in Advance?

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No children - so I cannot answer your questions in that regard.

Vehicle Permit: Can be ordered online in advance: http://www.banjercito.com.mx/site/imagenes/iitv/instruccionesIITV_ing.html. We also have received our vehicle permit by going to the Mexican Consulate here in Albuquerque - about a 10 minute process.

FMT (Tourist Visa): While I have heard that SOME Consulates do issue FMT's - ours here in Albuquerque does not. We always obtain ours at the border crossing. Generally doesn't take all that long.
Regards,
Neil
Albuquerque, NM

Rolly

Feb 15, 2010, 7:22 AM

Post #3 of 8 (3177 views)

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Re: [clausont] Tourist Visa in Advance?

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Mexican Consulates in the following cities are authorized to issue permits: Albuquerque, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, and St. Paul. There may be others because these things change, so ask at your consulate if you are interested.

Some may not want to issue an FMT, as Neil said of Albuquerque.

Passports are needed, birth certificates are not.

Rolly Pirate

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Reefhound

Feb 15, 2010, 8:00 AM

Post #4 of 8 (3166 views)

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Re: [clausont] Tourist Visa in Advance?

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We also typically get our vehicle import online. Costs about $20 more (~$50 online versus ~$30 at border) but we feel it is worth it to have that one logistical hurdle out of the way long before we arrive at the border. I once had to wait in a 2 hour line to get one at the border, lots of paper shuffling, copying, etc. Never again. (Yes, also available at a consulate, also a surcharge.)

Tourist visa (FMT) is another story. A few years back I searched high and low for a way to get it done online in advance. It would be so nice to just cruise past the border without stopping. Nothing at all available online, not even to get a blank form. Some consulates may do it but we avoid ours (Houston) like the plague. It's always busy, people start lining up at 6am for the opening, and when the numbers run out no more are allowed in. Doesn't make sense to waste a day getting them in advance when it takes 15 minutes at the border. Heck, it would be nice to just have some blank forms to have already filled out. I've heard you might get some at a travel agency but haven't checked.

U.S. passports are all you need. We have copies of birth certificates available just in case, you never know what snafu will arise. (Actually, we don't take them but have scanned all our important papers (passports, bcs, insurance, car title, etc.) and have them online where they can be accessed if needed.)

If just one parent will be crossing the border or being in Mexico with the kids, you will need a notarized permission letter from the other parent. Call us paranoid, but we both make such letters just in case, for whatever reason, one of us needs to return early.

jerezano

Feb 16, 2010, 11:14 AM

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Re: [Reefhound] Tourist Visa in Advance?

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Hello,

I just picked up my tourist visa (FMT) the other day. Although my planned entry date in Mexico was the 28th of February, and
I told the agent this several times, he gave me a tourist visa for 180 days, sent me to Banjercito to pay for the FMT and when I got back
and showed him my payment receipt, he picked up the Permission Granted Stamp which was dated with that days date (some 15 days
before my planned entry) and stamped the visa. Thus cutting some 15 days off my 180 day permit.

So, I would agree. Get your FMT when you cross the frontier. If you are worried about long lines, and they can be long,
cross somewhere where there isn't much traffic. Piedras Negras for example.

Hasta luego. jerezano.

see saw sallie

Feb 16, 2010, 11:28 PM

Post #6 of 8 (3064 views)

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Re: [clausont] Tourist Visa in Advance?

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Take the birth certs just in case. Rolly is correct in that they aren't needed to cross IN to Mexico, but what if you decide to stay longer and will need to get a different visa? I had to show my kids' birth certs. for my visa process.
Then later, hubby had to return to the states alone...leaving me alone to travel with the kids months after him back to the states. We were thoroughly investigated at the immigration office in the airport. I had hubby's letter to "permit" my American kids to go back to USA...and their birth certs were asked for by the agent. I was glad I had everything with me. You just never know.

sparks

Feb 23, 2010, 6:22 AM

Post #7 of 8 (2977 views)

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Re: [clausont] Tourist Visa in Advance?

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There are a few clubs like Discover Baja that you can get prepaid FMTs from .... but you still have to have them stamped at the border. They also have a membership fee which may not be bad with a family and insurance thru them

http://www.discoverbaja.com/

Sparks Mexico - Sparks Costalegre

Papirex

Feb 23, 2010, 10:31 AM

Post #8 of 8 (2948 views)

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Re: [clausont] Tourist Visa in Advance?

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You no longer need a birth certificate. A few years ago, before passports were required, you did need a birth certificate to re-enter The US. I found that out a few years ago the hard way. When I was still living in Alaska, my wife used to need to go home to México once per year for medical treatment, and I was going to México to meet her and travel back home with her,

My original passport had expired a couple of years earlier and I didn't find out until it was too late that at that time it was possible to renew a passport by mail if it had been expired for no more than one year. Anyway, I had reservations on Alaska Airlines, but when I got to the airport, they refused to issue my ticket because I had forgotten to bring my birth certificate, I needed it, or a passport, or they would not issue a ticket to fly to México.

Fortunately, I went to the airport 2 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. The folks at The Alaska Airline counter said they would keep my bags and I had the time to take a taxi home to get my birth certificate.

If some people haven't flown internationally since The Department of Homeland Stupidity started requiring passports to re-enter The US, they may still think that birth certificates are still required. Children also need passports. You don't need a US passport to enter México, but you do need a visa, tourist or FM. If you are flying here, it is simple to get a tourist visa. The price is included with your ticket, and the forms in English or Spanish are given to you on the airplane. The visa is issued to you when you arrive in México.

A passport supersedes a birth certificate as proof of identity.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo