Job Discussion Forums

[Phil_K]

As I haven't left Mexico since I arrived, I was surprised while looking for something else on the Immigration website to see a tr�mite for "Permiso de salida y regreso del pa�s" which costs $260. As I plan to take a vacation in the USA in November, please tell me this is for special circumstances, not for short trips. I couldn't stand yet another trip to immigration.

[notamiss]

In my experience it's what you need if you have to leave the country & return, but you don't have physical access to your visa because you've submitted it for some tr�mite such as getting a replacement after its being lost or stolen, or you're in the process of becoming an inmigrado. I experienced the latter; they kept my visa for about 6 months before I got it back with inmigrado status, and I did have to leave the country during that period so I did it with one of those permisos. I don't remember it being so expensive though (it was 4 or 5 years ago).

But don't take this as the final word, of course; there may be some other catch I don't know about.

[Phil_K]

Thanks for the reply, that makes sense.

I suppose the question is (and as I've never left the country, I don't know) when you do take a vacation you just leave and enter with your (in my case) FM2 - most people on the forum have travelled, so please could you confirm this.

[MELEE]

Yes there is a page for the airport INM officials to stamp your enterance and exit. You are allowed to come and go as you like, but on an FM2 there is a limit to the total amount of time you can be out of Mexico during the 5 years of your FM2 (I believe it's 18 months, so for just vacationing you should be fine)--also after you've been here for two years you can apply for citizenship as a spouce and never visit our friends at INM again!

[Phil_K]

Thanks MELEE, I received a PM from an old friend of the forum who's no longer posting, with the same information. I asked my wife, who's a travel agent about the form, and she said that, yes, it's the same for Mexicans, except for foreigners the form is red. It must seem a strange question for someone who's been here as long as I have, but as I said, I've never left the country except for a visit to the US Republic of Canc�n

I have the advantage by remaining British of not needing a visa for the USA.

[MELEE]

No one ever said anything about giving up your British citizenship, you can have both!

[Samantha]

melee wrote:

[notamiss]

Yes, you might have to "renounce your citizenship" for purposes of acquiring Mexican nationality, but Britain will not recognize the renunciation.

[Phil_K]

[GueroPaz]

Maybe this is not the same, but in 2000 I had a non-working rentista type of one-year visa, and my entry and exit stamps (salida y regreso) had to be entered in a special book that was not my passport. I didn't pay for a special tramite that I recall, but I paid for the special book. I had to progress backward through a queue in Cancun to get stamped out of Mexico to go to Miami. I don't recall if I was on an FM2 or FM3, but some category slightly below the regular no-inmigrante.

[guty]

Phil,
be careful about thinking you dont need a visa for the US. That is only true if you have a newer style passport. It has to be machine readable, which means it has a kind of bar code thing on your personal information page. The old blue UK ones, and the first red euro ones didn't have this, but most issued in the UK for the last 5 years or so do. If you get a new passport abroad, it depends on the demand on how quickly they use up their stock.

[Phil_K]