1

When you entered Mexico, you should have stopped at an immigration office/building and received a tourist/visitor's card/form. The card is called Forma Migratoria Múltiple or simply, FMM. You fill out the card and it gets stamped. Immigration keeps one part of the card and you keep the other part with your passport. OK so far?

The fee for the FMM (294 pesos) is known as DNI (Derecho de No Inmigrante) and it must be paid in certain circumstances before leaving Mexico. The fee can be paid at a bank (make sure you get a receipt as proof of payment), and at SOME border points.

DNI is a fee that must be paid to the Mexican Government by all foreign nationals who enter Mexico by air, road or sea, in the following cases:

1. Tourists staying in Mexico more than 7 (seven) consecutive days.

2. Transit travelers with destination to a third country regardless the time need for their transit. This includes those who enter Subteniente Lopez, Chetumal, by road and whose purpose is to board a flight in Cancun to travel to another country, as well as those arriving to Cancun towards Belize.

3. Holders of the border card FMVL (Forma Migratoria de Visitante Local) that remain more that 3 (three) consecutive days in Mexico. This fee is payable in addition of a sanction for violating the permitted period allowed under the FMVL status. FMVL holders are reminded that they can only stay in Quintana Roo for no more than 3 (three) consecutive days.

Visitors who are exempt from paying the fee include:
1. Visitors who enter Mexico, stay for seven days or less, and return to the country of origin.
2. FMVL border card holders who stay less than 3 days.
3. FM3 and FM2 holders.

When you reach the border on your way back to Guatemala, stop at immigration and hand in your part of the FMM with the receipt. No money should be given to immigration personnel. There is no other departure fee/tax.

If you reach the border and you have not paid the fee, you will either be asked to go away and pay the fee somewhere, or the officer might ask you for money (which will probably go into his pocket). The latter option is often the easiest for most visitors.

2

Thanks very much-this info is very useful. Were you joking or serious about the last point, and if serious, what would you recommend in our situation given we're going to be stung big time with having four kids to pay for as well as ourselves-is it safer to go to a bank and pay up or see what the border holds?It would be pretty annoying to have to retrace with 6 people and go find a bank from the border. Cheers for your info

3

if you can find a bank to receive the money, it need not be at the border. I don't have a form with me, so cannot tell you which banks take the money for FMM. But, most government payments can be taken by many banks. It is assumed you have not read the FMM, right?

4

misterbee, does INM actually post someone to filter out people who cross into Guatemala? I know something like a bus can be boarded and Aduana and INM can go down the aisle checking passengers, "racial profiling" but how about people who just walk across? Is it different now? This has -nothing- to do whether or not someone should have gotten an FMM and paid for it, it has to do with checking those who exit. Thank you, this isn't a troll.

5

No, I wasn't joking. At the Mexico-Belize border, the immigration officer often asks for money from bus passengers. It's a scam. There is a place to pay (banjercito) at that border.

Visitors must pay the fee. I pay at a bank and have a receipt to avoid any hassle at the border. I have been asked for money and refused to pay (only when I know the fee has been paid).

What you do is up to you. I don't know that particular border point -- perhaps someone else can provide some more info about what to expect.

6

Unlike the former FMT, the FMM does not have a list of banks where the fee can be paid.

7

michoacan,
I've only crossed at the Mexico-Belize border, and have never experienced what you described (immigration officers boarding a bus).

At that border, there is a small booth where the immigration officer sits. People departing Mexico stop there and hand in the FMM card, but there is no control and it would be very easy to walk right by the booth and into Belize (in fact, a friend did exactly that a couple of years ago).

Mexico is one of those countries where procedures are not likely to be the same at every border point.

8

"No, I wasn't joking. At the Mexico-Belize border, the immigration officer often asks for money from bus passengers. It's a scam"

"michoacan,
I've only crossed at the Mexico-Belize border, and have never experienced what you described (immigration officers boarding a bus).

misterbee, I am confused. I am trying to find out if I should cross from Guatemala and go shopping, if I will get hammered when I return to Guatemala. Thank you.

9

Cross at whichever border crossing you want. If you stay in Mexico for 7 days or less and return to the country from where you came, you do not have to pay a fee for the FMM. If anyone asks for money, refuse to pay.

If you stay in Mexico for 8 days or more, you'll have to pay the fee.