Passport control, and customs, are stress producing experiences for travelers so we don't want to or need to make these processes any harder than they need be. If the privilege we are discussing here is available to permanent residents, as has been my experience and that of my wife, let me mention a scenario which may help understand it in a positive way. Suppose you're in line at immigration and the desk reserved for diplomats has no customers; the agent motions to you to come to his desk, will you shake your head, silently mouthing, "I'm not a diplomat," or will you respond to his invitation and let him serve you? Now, another real case, suppose you have status in Mexico- granted officially by the Mexican Government- as a permanent resident. No one is in the line for designated for Mexicans and you get in that line. You wait for one of the agents to motion you forward, not moving until they do. You have your documents ready and greet the agent in Spanish, and say simply that you are a permanent resident. By motioning you forward, he has already demonstrated that he is ready to deal with you. Leaving the agents free to decide whether to summon you or not relieves you of much of the anxiety and all but guarantees they will deal with you in a courteous way. It is now more than two years since I first reported the availability of this option for permanent residents of Mexico. Based on what my wife was told (see the second post in this thread) it is now more imbedded in the system than ever.
Here's a recent report from another holder of permanent residency about their experience in dealing with immigration at the airport. I would just add that when you're standing in the line for Mexicans the immigration officers have no way to know- from a distance- you're a permanent resident and can easily assume you're a tourist; hence, the response, initially, to "wave you away." In this case the poster's persistence, and the fact they were permanent residents made the difference. __________________
Arrived in Cancun again today. The plane touched down at 3:10. I was out of the plane at 3:20 (carry on luggage only) and, by 3:30, was through immigration and customs. I got in the Mexican line at immigration and waited to be called: the agent asked me if I lived in the U.S. or Mexico and I told him Mexico (I have no other home). At customs I presented my permanent resident card, and no passport. He too asked where I lived. I told him Mexico, now for six years, and he told me to press the button. "Green" and I was on my way. What could be easier.
Rudyman, Sorry but owning property is not the criteria for the always shorter line at INM. Permanent Resident status is the ticket. I usually find myself arriving at Terminal 2, as a JetBlue passenger. Often the entrance to the Mexicans Only line is blocked. I have opened it on one occasion. I arrived back last week and was the 3rd passenger off the plane and the other two were Perms as well. So we went to the normal queue and were the first ones there and the first ones finished. We chatted at Baggage Claim, each of us noticing that the others were aware of what we were doing. I commented to them that I would have passed them on the walk from getting to INM from the plane, but knew they would not hold me up a bit. A nice couple from Canada.
New experience I arrived today at what is possibly one of the worst times to get here- Saturday afternoon- and hundreds of tourists were in line. I went as usual to the "Mexicans" line; but, today there was a new wrinkle- there were personnel there checking documents before letting anyone into that line. I showed my permanent resident card to them, along with my FMM, and they waived me forward. At that point there was just one person ahead of me in the line and I was through in minutes.
My takeaway from what happened yesterday (see previous post) is that this privilege is now more firmly established in the practice of the Immigration Officials at the Cancun Airport than ever.
The "new wrinkle" I spoke of earlier was experienced in the same way by my wife, when she arrived yesterday. As is often the case, hundreds of arriving tourists were in the line for their immigration check. She went to the "Mexican" line where she was greeted by two people who were checking the credentials of those who went to that line. They took one look at her Permanent Residency card, and her FMM, and waived her forward. There was no one ahead of her in the line.
