Spoken like a true efficient-thinking first-worlder. It's not surprising for here, not at all. I know INM agents who think they "have a web site" because they have a hotmail email address, they are not a technical bunch. In fact one of their IT people made one of the biggest technical blunders I've seen in my 24 years in the tech industry. Impressive ignorance. Regardless, now the link is found and out and will get read by those agents who bother to read...
A Mexican neighbor of mine, owner of one of the largest engineering companies in Mexico, uses the term "creative incompetence". I think that sums it up nicely.
Interestingly (well, I think so), the US Government is sending officials here to train INM in detection of false US Visas. Given the new procedure of allowing entry to Mexico to anyone with a Visa for the US this makes sense. I find high security documents really interesting, I think it's fascinating that you can detect if certain passports are fake just by touching the outside of them, or by smelling them.
So today is a Saturday, and it's the first full day of the new changes in INM policy. Not surprisingly the Cancun Airport INM checkpoints are a total disaster today. The new interview process is slowing things down on the busiest day of the week. Passengers are waiting more than 2 hours to get through. Old ladies are fainting. Kids are sleeping on the floor. INM agents are so grumpy that they don't want to work quickly, and with the new policies they can't work that quickly anyway. The predicted hell has broken loose. I feel badly for anyone coming to Cancun on vacation today, their welcome to Mexico leaves much to be desired.
It's gotten worse. People at the airport are saying that they've never seen such terrible conditions at the INM checkpoint. All kinds of people are fainting. Fistfights are breaking out. People are screaming. Lots of people are lying down because they can't take standing for so long. The new FMM forms are so poorly designed that passengers are making tons or errors filing them out, which slows down the lines immeasurably. It's a disaster! Mexican Government Fail!
A local friend that came in yesterday afternoon (guess they started early) said the new FMM form that was handed out on the plane was ONLY in Spanish.... and it was about 2 1/2 hours to get through immigration...
The law was supposed to go into effect yesterday, but agents didn't get all their new instructions or their new stamps until today. So today is the first full day under the new rules with the new gear. The line is now over 3 hours long. People are close to rioting. INM may need to call the police in to keep order. (What they really should do is do what they do when the computer system goes down, just let people in without inspection.) The local INM management has completely failed to manage this properly. And the federal government has blown it with their roll out of the new changes. This is worse that predicted, much worse. The only thing left to go wrong is for the a/c to fail.
Mole and TJ, I think that I just filled out the form letter you're both referring to. It's called "Permisso de Salida y Entrada". This form is 99% identical to the FM3 Renewal form - which is now in their "capable" hands. After showing the form letter to the clerk at IMN, I was told by her that I had to go and pay $28.75 US at any nearby bank (Bancomer behind ADO) then return to her with 3 copies of the bank receipt. All tolled, it was about an hour - and a crazy return trip across`Av. Tulum.
