# Returning to mexico



## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Once your 6 month visa runs out how soon can you return to Mexico once you leave


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

siobhanwf said:


> Once your 6 month visa runs out how soon can you return to Mexico once you leave


Immediately, although some suggest waiting a day. It is at the discretion of the immigration officer. Lots of people leave, then turn around and come right back. Incidentally, it is 180 days, not 6 months.

Is your son planning to continue on in Mexico?


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

You actually do not have to leave Mexico at all, the KM21 immigration office 21 km south of Nogales on Highway 15, you could drive /bus to it, walk in and get another 180 day FMM.......


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

chicois8 said:


> You actually do not have to leave Mexico at all, the KM21 immigration office 21 km south of Nogales on Highway 15, you could drive /bus to it, walk in and get another 180 day FMM.......


Good reminder, but Nogales 21 might be unique. Are there any similar migra checkpoints that far inside the country? Also the OP doesn't specify the mode of travel or where they plan to hang out 180 days. I've done the quick turnaround at the border, only spending an hour for lunch outside the country and it worked, but that might be luck or the indifference of the agents. I'm not aware of nor have I ever seen any rule written down regarding how much (if any) time must be spent out-of-country before INM will issue another 180 day visa. Anybody have some solid info and an official source?


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

As Tundra mentioned there is no law or rule in the Mexican Immigration law only that the INM official in front of you has the authority to determine "If", and How Long" [up to 180 days] you will be legally allowed to enter and remain in Mexico and approves your filled out FMM tourist card, stamps it and registers it into the INM data base. 

A rule states you have to turn in the FMM tourist card to the INM officials when you leave Mexico. [In the case of boarding an international flight the arlines will hand in your FMM card to INM officials shortly after you board a flight out of Mexico for you]. 

At a border crossing your are responsible to find the border crossing INM office and hand the FMM tourist card into them, which in some/most cases means parking your vehicle and walking into their office or when walking across backtracking a short way to the INM office - an inconvenience but never the less an obligation you agreed to when filling out and accepting the rules when getting a FMM tourist card.

A new rule only for and only when travelling or staying/living long term in Baja California Mx. since Sept. 2016 states they will issue foreigners a 180 day tourist FMM card and it is good for multiple exits and re-enters up until it expires when you hand it in and then need to buy another. The head of INM in Baja practically/actually/insinuated stated back to back 180 day FMM tourist cards are OK to use there in a press release I read in a TJ newspaper.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

AlanMexicali said:


> A new rule only for and only when travelling or staying/living long term in Baja California Mx. since Sept. 2016 states they will issue foreigners a 180 day tourist FMM card and it is good for multiple exits and re-enters up until it expires when you hand it in and then need to buy another. The head of INM in Baja practically/actually/insinuated stated back to back 180 day FMM tourist cards are OK to use there in a press release I read in a TJ newspaper.


Years ago, just after becoming permanente, got a Retorno Seguro and drove my Canadian-plated, Japanese-made CRV back to Canada to sell (broke my heart). I took the ferry from the mainland to La Paz to visit family there before driving up the Baja to Tecate. When I got to the border, I told the Aduana agent I needed to have the TIP sticker scraped off and the receipt that I had removed it, saying that I could no longer have a foreign plated car in Mexico, as I now had permanent residency. 

He asked me "Where did you hear that?" I pointed at the Aduana embroidered symbol on his shirt and said "From your jefes in Mexico City". He said he had never heard of such a thing.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

Why does that not surprise me! The only 'consistency' in Mexico is of the "in-consistency" type.
Having said that, you said that that was 'years ago'. It could be that this was at the beginning of the new immigration rules (2012-ish) and if so it would not surprise me that he did not know.

Once, shortly after one could obtain temporary vehicle permits (TIPs) ONLINE, I acquired one that way. A week later when I actually crossed the border into Mexico at a small crossing and was getting my Visatante card, the agent asked if I did not need a TIP. I said 'no I already have one'. He did not understand how. I said, "online". He was nice but just did not believe me so we walked out into the parking lot and I showed him the sticker and paperwork. He was incredulous and walked off shaking his head.


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