From today(?) Mexicans will also need a visa for Canada if I didnt misread..? I second Kayak.com - have found some great deals.
Thanks for all the suggestions, spent about 5 hours yesterday checking things out. I booked American Airlines to Miami and then British Airways to Heathrow return for £564 each which isnt too bad. The site I used in the end was terminala.co.uk
Yes you have to go to Merida, you book an appointment and fill in the forms online pay at the bank and take supporting documentation with you. They only really looked at my and Dani's passports to see we are British and then looked at Jannets to see she had been in and out of the UK many times to realise she was well intentioned. They do turn down a lot of people though. People were turned down for not speaking English well enough. Cost for the Visa is 2000 pesos, which you pay at the bank but when you add in petrol, toll fees, overnight hotel in Merida, dinner, breakfast and lunch you're probably looking at over 6,000 pesos for the whole gig. Hence why I called it the Merida slog. I guess your kids will also need a US visa too if they dont have a British passport - unless they get included on your wifes. But remember you do not need to return to the UK to get them a British passport you can get one via the British Embassy in Mexico City, and get the forms from the British Consulate at the Royal Sands (I think) it's all done via DHL and takes about a week. With a British passport visiting the US you just fill in the online visa waiver and it automatically approves, at least mine did yesterday.
Seems to be the case: http://www.visabureau.com/canada/ne...uire-a-canadian-visa-to-travel-to-canada.aspx
It's too bad that Canada is asking for VISAs from Mexicans. There should be VISA reciprocity. Canadians can enter Mexico with no VISA and with just a birth certificate. Too bad Canada is being uptight. I nearly always use Travelocity to book flights to the US, no idea how they are for travel to the UK though. Every time I use another booking service something goes wrong with my reservation, or the price changes, or something. Travelocity has been consistently good for me for over 10 years.
Thanks Steve, i had no idea we could apply for a UK passport here, i will get William one in that case, Sofia already has one from before we came here to live. The consulate is in the Royal Sands, what in the hotel lobby or something, sounds a bit odd! That will save getting my son a visa, just need one for the wife... Ingrid's always on about going to Merida Zoo and visiting the place so it could be a perfect excuse, we're also planning on taking the kids to Disney World in a couple of years so she'll need a visa anyway and then at least we have the option of flying via the US or taking holidays there whenever we want to. It does suck about the Canadian visa, when we moved here, we came via aircanada and had no problems, i think that will stop a lot of Mexicans flying routes via Canada because surely if your going to make the effort to get a Visa you'll get a US one because it's closer and there are more flight options.
I might be wrong (and often am) but I thought it was the Mexicans fault for putting in fake applications for refugee status in Canada? I thought it was a case of a few Mexicans trying to pull a fast one has ruined it for the vast majority who don't go there to take advantage of the system, just go for a vacation.
Sam, The cost of the US Visa for adults and I believe kids 9 and older is $131.00 US. You pay at Banamex AFTER you have your appointment and take the receipt to the appointment. This is a 10 year Visa. For 8 and under it is a 5 year Visa and is like $34 US. You pay in pesos of course and Banamex tells you the cost based on the exchange rate. The Visa is actually a page in your passport. It is about the size of a credit card, complete with color photo. In a recent case that I know of, the old passports were replaced with new ones BUT the expiration dates on the old passports were the same, inasmuch as the US Consulate has nothing to do with Mexican or other non-US passports. Hotels reasonably close to the Consulate are Fiesta Americana, Hyatt and Holiday Inn.
Cheers for the info and good to finally meet you the other night! At that price for the kids visa, i think it's probably going to be cheaper than getting him a UK passport and just getting him put on his mums Mexican passport, then that way we can travel to the UK, the US and then anywhere else that allows Mexicans in for a holiday without a visa. So just to clarify, the US consulate is there and the UK is in the Royal Sands? Is it possible to get the Visa without travelling to Merida and what's the drive like? When my wife got her passport after Wilma (because the Cancun office was closed), she had to travel to Merida and it took something like 11 hours to get there, due to half the main road missing!
