# Crossing at nogales



## barbclip

HI/HOLA!
I'm a little confused. I want to cross the border at Nogales and have been told
the best crossing is to take the truck route rather than go through town. I can
not seem to find where the truck route is. Can anyone please help me? Is there
more than one crossing at Nogales? 
Anothe question. Can anyone estimate how much time it usually
takes at customs at K21? I want to get to Los Mochis on the first day out. 2nd
day to Tepic and the third day into Lake Chapala. Does this seem resonalble?? Sure
appreciate the Forum. Sooooooooooo glad I found you all!

Barbara


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## MangoMike

*Crossing at Nogales*

Hola Barbclip,
We will be crossing for the first time soon too. If you look on Google Maps you will see the Mariposa crossing just to the west of town. I looks easy enough. I think I read that it's open at 6 am and I'm wondering if it's best to try to cross as soon after 6 am as possible? We want to get to Mazatlan but plan to spend the night about half way in Navojoa. So, I'm also interested in how long the process takes at Km 21 so we can plan to be in a hotel before dark. And, once we get our FMTs and Car permit there at Km 21, are there any other required stops? Thanks to all in advance for the tips for a successful first trip down.
MM


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## RVGRINGO

There may be checkpoints along the way, but they only take a moment or two. Have a good trip.


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## sparks

here it is


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## sparks

I crossed about 7am and made Navojoa just before dark (3 hotels as you enter town). There may be more military or Federal stops since I was there but customs is just a short ways past KM21. With the new Sonora free zone a few things may have changed


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## barbclip

*Border Crossing at Nogales*



sparks said:


> here it is


You just made everything so clear and understandable by that photo!

Bless you heart!!! I feel it's all so clear now!!

Mil Gracias

Barbara


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## telcoman

Pretty hard to miss. If you do end up in town in Nogales AZ, the turn is before the Wal Mart up on the hill to your right. You can't really miss Km 21 either, it is well marked. you will go through a Mexican checkpoint a few km south of the border first. Also you will need some pesos for the toll booth just south of the border. They no longer take US dollars. 100 will be plenty.

KM 21 will take about an hour if you try & hit it before 9AM. If you get there later it could be a lot longer but there won't be a lot of RV's going south this time of year to hold you up. Copy your drivers license & registration & passport before going south, that will speed things up and after you get your tourist visa in the first building stop at the copy booth and get a couple of copies of that before going to the window to get the vehicle permit. Forget that & you could stand in line for 30 min then be sent back & have to start over. Make sure you have all the originals with you (registration, etc). Even though you have copies for them they want to see the originals.


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## barbclip

Thanks so much for the info..........especially to copy the tourist card before standing in line for the
car permit!
I appreciate your reponse.It was very helpful.

Many thanks, Barbara


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## michelle.montreal

The truck route is also called the Mariposa. We crossed the border at Nogales in January and had absolutely no problem identifying the right route. I believe the check point closes at 10 pm and opens at 6 am.

Many of my friends in Hermosillo -who frequently cross at Nogales- suggested me to avoid the other way (the one that goes through the city), especially after sunset.


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## barbclip

Thanks so much.......


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## MangoMike

*Paying Fees*



telcoman said:


> Pretty hard to miss. If you do end up in town in Nogales AZ, the turn is before the Wal Mart up on the hill to your right. You can't really miss Km 21 either, it is well marked. you will go through a Mexican checkpoint a few km south of the border first. Also you will need some pesos for the toll booth just south of the border. They no longer take US dollars. 100 will be plenty.
> 
> KM 21 will take about an hour if you try & hit it before 9AM. If you get there later it could be a lot longer but there won't be a lot of RV's going south this time of year to hold you up. Copy your drivers license & registration & passport before going south, that will speed things up and after you get your tourist visa in the first building stop at the copy booth and get a couple of copies of that before going to the window to get the vehicle permit. Forget that & you could stand in line for 30 min then be sent back & have to start over. Make sure you have all the originals with you (registration, etc). Even though you have copies for them they want to see the originals.



OK, let's see if I have this right for stuff to do at KM21:
Go to Customs building first to get FMM
Go to Copy booth next to copy FMM
Then go to Aduana building for vehicle permit?
What about going to the bank to pay fees for the FMM & Vehicle permit? Do it at the same time or individually? Is the bank right there? And lastly, is the red/green light check point before or after this?

Thanks,
MM


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## sparks

Aduana is Customs - different stop after the visa and permit. You go to Banjercito to pay the auto permit and I believe Immigration takes your FMM money $25+/-

At least this is the case in Nogales KM21


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## circle110

I just crossed at Colombia (near Laredo) a few days ago and for the first time they did not take my money for the FMM there. They told me that I have to go to any bank in the interior and pay. Previously, they had always taken the FMM payment at Banjercito there at the border along with taking the money for the vehicle permit. They would ask me if I wanted to pay for the FMM along with the auto permit. This time they didn't ask so I questioned and they told me that they no longer can accept FMM payments at the border.


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## ReefHound

That doesn't make any sense to me. Doesn't mean that isn't how they are doing things now, though. 

Did they stamp it as valid even though it had not yet been paid? If not, I wonder how that is going to go over when you are asked for it at a checkpoint? If so, then what's the difference between a paid or unpaid FMM?

So, did they give you any kind of time deadline to pay it? If not, and they already stamped it as valid, I think a lot of people will just blow it off and not pay at all.


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## circle110

It didn't quite make sense to me either, but...

What I did notice is that when I left the country two weeks before and turned in my FMM, they insisted on seeing the receipt of payment before they would accept it. I think that is their new check. The new FMM I have is stamped and valid for 180 days. I guess that if you don't pay, you won't be able to turn it in upon leaving since they want the receipt. I have no idea how it would work if you arrived by air and left by land... you wouldn't have the receipt since the FMM fee is payed when you buy your ticket.


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## ReefHound

I think it varies by country if it is paid by the airline. It is from the US and Canada. I've heard people from UK say it is not for them. Or maybe it's the airline that is the variable.

So they went through all the business of entering the data in the computer for the FMM, they just wouldn't collect payment? It seems I recall in the past it was the Banjercito window that did all the data entry.


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## circle110

At Colombia you go first to the immigration window and they check your passport, enter the data and give you the FMM slip. Next you head 50 feet to the Banjercito window and they do all the "tramites" for the vehicle, including payment. In the past, when they charged you for the vehicle permit they would ask if you wanted to pay now for the FMM as well, which I always did. Now they won't take your FMM money.

I'm sure that there's a new "jefe" somewhere upstream who decided to "improve" things.

That's one interesting thing about Mexico... it never ceases to cause you to ask yourself "What the heck???". You just do your best to learn the new system and get on with things.


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## sparks

Some crossings have a Banjercito (Federal bank) and others don't. In Nogales they are both the bank and the permit issuer. If there is no Banjercito where you cross ... you can pay for your FMM at any bank and they will stamp it. When you get an FM3/2 you can pay at any bank or the Banjercito ... more or less the same


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## circle110

I'm not clear on what your saying, Sparks.
How is it that they already stamped my FMM without payment?
Why is it that the Banjercito (there is one at Colombia) would accept may FMM payment previously but not now? They told me it now has to be paid at a bank in the interior. They had previously been both bank and permit issuer but now they are only the bank for auto permit payments not for FMM payments.


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## ReefHound

Circle, sounds like the same steps as I recall except the immigration officer didn't enter anything, just checked passport and issued the form. 

So I guess you cannot get a FMM if you aren't going to the interior. What happens if you must abort your trip for some reason, i.e. car trouble. I guess you're screwed, you can't pay for it in the border zone and you can't cancel it out with the payment receipt.

It just seems odd to me that a document is valid before you have paid the required fee for it. But it must be or else you're in a bona fide Catch 22. To cross into the interior you need to have a valid FMM. To get a valid FMM you need to cross into the interior.

But I do like it if this is the new rule. It will really shorten my time at the border since waiting in that Banjercito line has always been the bulk of the delay. I can get my car permit online, get the FMM form from the immigration officer, and get out of there.

It doesn't sound like a good way to get people to turn in their visas though. If they wouldn't turn them in for free why would they turn them in and pay? A real incentive would be to charge you $50 for the FMM up front and give you $25 back when you turn it in.


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## MangoMike

*Km markers?*



sparks said:


> Aduana is Customs - different stop after the visa and permit. You go to Banjercito to pay the auto permit and I believe Immigration takes your FMM money $25+/-
> 
> At least this is the case in Nogales KM21



Is there a logical method to the Km markers? I'm assuming that KM21 could be 21 Km into Mexico on that Hwy after crossing the border. Is that right?

MM


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## ReefHound

MangoMike said:


> Is there a logical method to the Km markers? I'm assuming that KM21 could be 21 Km into Mexico on that Hwy after crossing the border. Is that right?
> 
> MM


I don't know all the rules, or even if there are rules, but in my observations it seems the KM markers are based center of town to center of town (or border), so yes I would expect it to be about that depending on where the highway began. 

In the U.S. the mile markers are generally based on state lines.


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