My 7 day tourist visa

2 days ago I did finally cross into Guatemala, at the Frontera Corozal border crossing, after I visited the Yachilan archeological site. Then I took a boat across the river and entered Guatemala.

I paid the 500 pesos, which seemed like a routine matter to the Mexican INM official. I´m not at this point sure if I could have avoided paying 500 pesos by attempting to take care of the matter within 7 days. The immigration officials in Ciudad Juarez in fact told me that I´d need to pay $500 when exiting the country, at the time they stamped my passport. What I failed to grasp was that the $500 pesos was connected to the 7 days they allowed me on my FMM permit.

With so many posts, I´ve lost the essential facts. Would you mind telling us where you met the INM officer: was that before you crossed the border with Guatemala? And what was the response of the officer to your expired FMM? And what was the total you paid for your stay in Mexico: 500 or 1000 MXN?

Sure seems like a lot less drama than some folks on here were hoping for! Who knew?

All I was hoping for was that the OP would let us know how it turned out. Nobody knew how that would be. We figured the odds were in the OP’s favor, but it could have gone badly as well.

I check my FMM as soon as they give it to me, and also make sure I get my payment receipt as well. When exiting at the El Ceibo crossing, I would have had to pay 500 pesos again, if I hadn’t had my receipt to show…and the INM agent in TJ who gave me my FMM didn’t want to give me my receipt!…I had to gently ‘demand’ it.

Nobody knew how that would be.

Riiiight, this drama-free outcome was impossible to predict.

but it could have gone badly as well.

You could say this about literally every day you get out of bed. As for this FMM stuff, it's just how Mexico deals with business... the fact that it is deeply upsetting to certain random internet forum people simply doesn't factor into the real-life outcome. Sorry.

deeply upsetting to certain random internet forum people simply doesn't factor into the real-life outcome. Sorry.

Not at all.

Being cavalier is all well and good, but I would rather have my papers (FMM) in order. Why not? It’s so easy to do. You improve your chances that way.

Why not?

This was covered earlier in the thread.

With so many posts, I´ve lost the essential facts. Would you mind telling us where you met the INM officer: was that before you crossed the border with Guatemala? And what was the response of the officer to your expired FMM? And what was the total you paid for your stay in Mexico: 500 or 1000 MXN?

The total I paid to Mexico was 500 pesos, not 1000 MXN. The immigration officer who recieved the payment was in Frontera Corozal, 1/2 km from the river crossing, on the Mexican side of the river, of course. The immigration officer who first told me I'd need to pay 500 MXN was at the bus terminal in Ciudad Juaraz, since the bus terminal or the airport are the only way to get an entry stamp in CJ.

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