Legal Services in Mexico

Should I keep my FM-3 in my car? 

Unless you are travelling, you should keep your original FM-3 in a safe place at home.   It is not an easy process to obtain a replacement should yours be lost or stolen.  Always keep a copy of your FM-3 in your car, along with a copy of your passport.  For further validity, you could get a Mexican notary public to certify the copy, although many people do not choose to do so.  Some people make reduced and colored copies that are the same size as the FM-3 document to always carry in their purse or billfold.

If I am going to travel to the U.S. at least every 6 months, is it necessary to get an FM-3 or can I live here with only my tourist visa? 

Theoretically, a foreigner could enter Mexico with a tourist visa and live for an extended period of time, renewing every 6 months, however doing so does not comport with the intent of Mexico's immigration law.   In addition, Mexican law requires tourists to return their FMT tourist card upon leaving the country, which means that every time you cross the border (shopping in McAllen, air travel to visit your relatives, for example)  you would have to turn in your FMT card and reapply upon returning to Mexico.  Also, the duration of the tourist card is discretionary, and there is no guarantee that the immigration officer will grant entry for the full 6 months.  FMT cards only allow you to bring a very limited amount of goods into Mexico (one computer, clothes, and similar items).  Finally, if you bring down a U.S. car with an importation permit tied to an FMT, you will have to take your car to the border and obtain a new sticker each time that you are issued a new FMT.

Can I travel out of Mexico without turning in my tourist visa card?  No one at the Monterrey airport ever asks for my tourist visa when I leave. 

Mexican law requires visitors to return their tourist card (or the FMN for business visitors) upon leaving the country, subject to fines or other penalties.  However, as a practical matter, it can be fairly difficult to return a tourist/business card at the Monterrey airport, as there is no longer an immigration checkpoint to pass through on the way to the boarding gates, even though an immigration office is open around the clock in the arrival area.  In other cities within Mexico, however, an immigration officer is posted outside the gate area and will not let travelers exit to their boarding gates unless they relinquish their FMT/FMN or submit another type visa (FM-3 or FM-2) to be stamped.

Similarly, the congestion and confusion at the bridges between Mexico and Texas all but prohibits a tourist from returning their FMT/FMN card there.  The best place to deal with immigration matters is at the 26 kilometer mark and not at the border itself.  If you leave the country with the FMT/FMN still in your possession, you can mail it to a Mexican consulate in the U.S.  (See www.sre.gob.mx for links to individual consular web pages.)

What about exiting the country with an FM-3 visa, do I need to have it stamped each time I leave Mexico?

An FM-3 visa holder (and an FM-2 visa holder) must have their visa stamped by an immigration officer each time that they exit or enter the country.  This requirement is difficult to perform at the Monterrey airport, as the immigration checkpoint's location at the downstairs arrival area is not easily accessible for departing passengers.   Nevertheless, the step is necessary, especially when the FM-3 traveller intends a return flight into Mexico, where he will certainly receive a related entry stamp.  For every exit, you should be able to show an entry stamp, and vice versa.   While Monterrey airport is currently quite lenient with the stamps, other airports within mexico have a stricter application.  The immigration officers at the Cancun airport for example will apply fines and more stringent punishments if they examine an FM-3 of an international arriving foreigner that does not contain an exit stamp.  

While driving across the Mexico - Texas border, the stamps are most easily obtainable at the 26 kilometer mark, and not at the actual border.   If you are driving a car with Mexican plates, it is common that the border guards will wave your car through and not ask to see your documents.  Albeit contrary to the immigration rules, this allows foreigners to leave and return to Mexico by car without having their FM-3 stamped.

Is it necessary to have a notarized letter if one parent travels alone with children?

Several years ago, an international treaty required a parent to have a notarized letter of consent to travel between the U.S. and Mexico with his or her children.  Many U.S. citizens experienced being stuck at a U.S. departure point, often with unhappy young children in tow, because we forgot to get a notarized permission letter from the other parent to travel into Mexico (even though we were residents of Mexico).  The requirements of that treaty are no longer in effect.

Although the law is no longer valid, kidnappings by estranged parents and bad guys are a concern at an international border.  Many international parents continue to travel with a permission letter signed by the other parent, simply to avoid added scrutiny and confusion at the border crossing.  Parents employ similar letters if their minor children are to travel internationally with other adults. 

Likewise, there is no such rule to travel alone with your children within Mexico.  However, because international families are subject to heightened scrutiny, many parents who travel alone with their children prefer to always take permission letters.  For the interior, documents that are signed and notarized under the authority of the U.S. must technically go through the apostille process to be valid in Mexico.  www.visasmx.com/apostille.html.

Internet Sources:

The law on importing vehicles: Mexico's Procedure Manuel for the Temporary Importation of Vehicles (in Spanish)  

See this website for the official Mexican customs law and rules.  Aduana Mexico 

The Newcomers Club of  Monterrey Mexico is a group of about 150 international women, living in Monterrey.  www.newcomrsofmty.org