I was reading through some of the posts regarding FMT FM2 and FM3´s and have a few questions. I am here staying with my Mexican husband until August. The immigration officer at the airport would only grant me 80 days, so I know that I will have to get an extension. The office to do that is in Cancun, right? Also, I was reading about people getting in trouble with immigration for living here on a tourist visa. My plan is to leave in August, stay in the US for at least 2 months, and then come back on another 180 day FMT. Will that cause any problems. I ask because I have my daughter traveling with me, and God forbid I got in trouble with immigration with her. Since I am married to a Mexican citizen would it be easy for me to get and FM2? What documents would I need for that? Any links or a point in the right direction are greatly appreciated!
I can't really answer your questions, as I am living here on an FMT for now, but are you sure it's 80 days and not 180? That seems like a really bizzar number. I think they do 90 and 180. The way mine is scribbled on my FMT, the 1 looks kind of funny.
Well, I feel like a complete idiot right now. I didn´t look well enough and thought the 1 was a check on a box, and there is no box! So they did give me 180 days. Thank you, you just made my day! I was not looking forward to getting the extension as I have heard its a bit of a pain!
If you are a citizen of the US or Canada (and a number of other 1st world countries) then they automatically give you 180 days on your FMT. There is no problem leaving and then coming back and getting another FMT. Just don't overstay your FMT, because the fines for that are really high. They give you 180 days and there's no renewal for it, you must leave and come back to get another FMT. If you want to get an FM2 or an FM3 based on marriage to a Mexican you will need to get your birth certificate apostilled. You will need to get an apostille of your marriage certificate too. You will need official translations of both also. We went to Registro Civil here and got our marriage registered in Mexico, so we only have to show the Mexican marriage registration and now never need to show our US-issued marriage certificate. There are other docs you will need to file for an FM2 or FM3, but the birth certificate and the marriage stuff are the tough ones because your docs need apostilles and then translations before you can submit them. If your child is your husband's then she is Mexican by birth, regardless of where she was born. I don't know the hoops you will have to jump through to get her Mexican passport but I absolutely recommend you jump through them. Sometimes children of Mexicans come to Mexico and their parents get them FM2s or FM3s, but that is stupid, it's a waste of your money and denies the child their rights. So be sure you figure out how to get her Mexican passport for her (if applicable). There's an attorney in Cancun who does only immigration and citizenship work. He was a subdelegado in immigration for 6 years. He's very good, he knows exactly how they apply the law here. His name is Mauricio Mendoza. Contact: maurris [at] hotmail.com maurris [at] yahoo.com 998-159-1599 - Mobile 884-0003 - Home
Thanks for all of the help and info. Have you heard anything about the changes to the FMT coming in May 2010. From what I understand it will be a FMM instead of FMT and they will be more scrutinizing when it comes to repeated extended visitor stays?
I've seen the new FMM form. It remains to be seen if the new changes will make things easier or harder. Probably both. The new form is not well designed. I'm hoping they fix it before releasing it. The version I saw is very poorly designed, it's worse than the present one. The law allows you to visit Mexico with FMTs and stay for up to 180 days at a time. It's possible that agents will be directed to crack down on people who essentially live in Mexico on an FMT, but so far that hasn't been announced. And there aren't that many people doing that I don't think. Most people who decide to live here end up getting an FM3 after a year or so, if not sooner. INM's computer system already keeps track of all entrances and exits by foreigners. So if they want to crack down on FMT holders trying to live here they already have the needed data to do so. What would be needed is a policy change. If you plan to live in Mexico then you should get an FM3 or an FM2. The FM2 puts you on track for either Permanent Residency (Inmigrante status) or Citizenship.
I think most people living here on FMT's do so to avoid the hassle of dealing with immigration and don't work, so all that would do is increase the workload of INM and run off/irritate people who would otherwise continue to pump money into Mexico.... that said.. it wouldn't surprise me one bit. Maybe by air, but anyone walking across can do so without any papers, at least at the US border. You're granted 72 hours without an FMT, but really since there is no way to know when you came in, they would have to follow you around for three days to see if you stayed too long in the border cities, unless this has changed in the last year. Also, what does the "M" in FMM stand for?
I agree with you. The people I know here who are living here on FMTs are people of means, who can afford to travel out of Mexico at least every 6 months. None of them are working here, some of them own property here, all of them spend more money here than they take out of Mexico. True, but the number of people in this area who entered Mexico by land is really low. I don't see them cracking down on people staying here on FMTs, they aren't a big problem. The people who come here to hide from the law, and who stay illegally here are a problem, but they will be off the INM radar anyway (won't be in the system). The new FMM is called the Forma Migratoria Multiple, the FMT was the Forma Migratoria Turista. The FMM is supposedly going to be for Mexicans, Diplomats, Flight Crew and Tourists, hence the Multiple. It's lovely that there will be just one form, but the FMM form as it's now designed is just really, really bad. Users of that new form will hate it.
Why am I not surprised?... only in Mexico could you pass off the writing to the one guy in immigration who doesn't speak good English. And have the "licenciado" who couldn't draw a circle design the thing... then have them all printed off without any sort of quality check.... gotta love it :xyxthumbs:
Yep. And user-testing a form isn't hard to do. But will they do it? I seriously doubt it. If I can find the sample FMM I will scan it and post it, not sure what happened to it...it's around here somewhere...
