# Is a passport absolutely required for Mexico?



## Organic D

Is there any way to travel to and/stay in Mexico without a passport?


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## RVGRINGO

No. You will need a passport in order to get a visa. Without a visa, you would have to leave Mexico every 180 days. Where could you go without a passport? Not even back to the USA!


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## La Osita

You can't even get on a cruise ship which leaves US waters without having a passport anymore. I pretty much think that anywhere outside of US territory requires a passport, if not to leave the US, then certainly to get back in.


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## TundraGreen

itnavell said:


> You can't even get on a cruise ship which leaves US waters without having a passport anymore. I pretty much think that anywhere outside of US territory requires a passport, if not to leave the US, then certainly to get back in.


You can definitely leave the US going into Mexico without a passport. The problem is getting back to the US. One time standing in line to cross the border from Tijuana to San Ysidro, I talked to a woman from Seattle who hadn't realized that the procedures had changed. She had just moved to San Diego and came to Tijuana to go to the dentist. She didn't have a passport. She had to do a lot of talking to get back into the US. I don't know how long it took. I assume she made it eventually.


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## Isla Verde

TundraGreen said:


> You can definitely leave the US going into Mexico without a passport. The problem is getting back to the US. One time standing in line to cross the border from Tijuana to San Ysidro, I talked to a woman from Seattle who hadn't realized that the procedures had changed. She had just moved to San Diego and came to Tijuana to go to the dentist. She didn't have a passport. She had to do a lot of talking to get back into the US. I don't know how long it took. I assume she made it eventually.


Don't you need to show some sort of ID to go from the US into Mexico, even in the border area? How can you prove your nationality without a passport?


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## TundraGreen

Isla Verde said:


> Don't you need to show some sort of ID to go from the US into Mexico, even in the border area? How can you prove your nationality without a passport?


I have crossed on foot from San Ysidro to Tijuana, from Calexico to Mexicali, and from El Paso to Ciudad Juarez. I was never asked to show a passport. Only once in about 7 or 8 crossings did anyone ever say anything to me. Once they looked at my Mexican visa. You are supposed to stop at Mexican Migracion and there they would want to see some ID if you didn't have a visa. I haven't been in the habit of doing that, but comments on this board have convinced me I should so in the future I plan to. But by the time you stop at Mexican Migración you are already outside the US and will have difficulty going back without a passport.


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## Isla Verde

TundraGreen said:


> I have crossed on foot from San Ysidro to Tijuana, from Calexico to Mexicali, and from El Paso to Ciudad Juarez. I was never asked to show a passport. Only once in about 7 or 8 crossings did anyone ever say anything to me. Once they looked at my Mexican visa. You are supposed to stop at Mexican Migracion and there they would want to see some ID if you didn't have a visa. I haven't been in the habit of doing that, but comments on this board have convinced me I should so in the future I plan to. But by the time you stop at Mexican Migración you are already outside the US and will have difficulty going back without a passport.


It sounds like crossing the border on foot no one seems to care who comes or goes. Odd.


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## tmex51

You do not need a USA passport to visit any of the border towns in Mexico, but you really need it to get back into the USA. I've living in Mexico for 25 years and have never been ask for a ID or passport crossing into a border town of Mexico, Mexico does not require a passport for border towns because they need and want the tourist business.


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## Isla Verde

tmex51 said:


> You do not need a USA passport to visit any of the border towns in Mexico, but you really need it to get back into the USA. I've living in Mexico for 25 years and have never been ask for a ID or passport crossing into a border town of Mexico, Mexico does not require a passport for border towns because they need and want the tourist business.


Do the Mexican authorities assume all foreign visitors along the border are from the US? Or is it that they just don't care, as long as the visitors spend money while they're in Mexico?


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## TundraGreen

Isla Verde said:


> It sounds like crossing the border on foot no one seems to care who comes or goes. Odd.


Mexico doesn't care who comes or goes. The US doesn't care who goes. The US definitely cares who comes.


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## mickisue1

I think that a really good question for the OP is WHY do you need to know if you can get into Mexico with no passport?


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## Grizzy

TundraGreen said:


> Mexico doesn't care who comes or goes. The US doesn't care who goes. The US definitely cares who comes.


Not quite correct. I have been hassled by US Homeland Security agents leaving Texas and Arizona to cross the border into Mexico. And hassled is a deliberately chosen word. Compared to getting a car permit and IMM visa in Mexico, which is always a pleasant task, the US agents treated me like I was a criminal and crazy for going to Mexico.


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## RVGRINGO

Here's the missing ingredient: Some 20 miles into Mexico, you are very likely to run into a checkpoint, where your vehicle documents, contents and your 'papers' are all subject to review. The border zone, 'La Frontera' and some parts of Sonora and the Baja states are 'free zones', where you may visit for 72 hours without 'formalities'.
That said, you will need a passport to get back into the USA, board an international flight, or get a visa to stay in Mexico.


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## Ken Wood

There's another consideration that I witnessed first hand just two days ago, in the early morning hours on Wednesday. At the 20 K checkpoint, entering Mexico, our bus, Omnibus, was flagged over for a document check. The bus was full, holy week travelers, and everyone whose papers were not in order was taken of the bus for "further inspection". We were OK, and will certainly be in order every time we travel subsequent to this, but every single person, ~ half dozen, who was taken off the bus came back on with the same story. They were taken to the rear of the bus and charged varying amounts for being allowed to continue. They all told the same story, so there is no doubt it was happening. The amount of the fine seemed to be dependent on how the individual was dressed, with the range from 50 pesos up to 450 pesos for one nicely dressed young man. True, they placed themselves in this situation by not having all the necessary paper, but once they get this far, the options dwindle rapidly. You can either pay or get off the bus and eat the rest of your ticket. The drivers, two at this point, were obviously unhappy with what was happening, but did not get involved.


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## RPBHaas

Organic D said:


> Is there any way to travel to and/stay in Mexico without a passport?


The legal answer is no, There is no way to legally enter the interior of Mexico w/o a US passport for a US citizen. As Ken Wood shared, there are practical ways to enter w/o a passport. Once in the interior, there are methods and means to obtain various forms of "official" identification. For a US citizen in Mexico without an immigration permit, virtually all forms of living are restricted, no bank accounts, national airline flights etc. But I repeat, the legal answer is no.


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## Isla Verde

RPBHaas said:


> . . . For a US citizen in Mexico without an immigration permit, virtually all forms of living are restricted, no bank accounts, national airline flights etc.


Not to mention the nervousness connected with knowing you could be found out any time and deported!


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## TundraGreen

Several people have clarified my statement about Mexico not checking documentation at the border. They are correct. You might not get stopped at the border particularly on the west coast in the free zone, but you could get stopped anytime you tried to go into the interior.


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## AlanMexicali

*Permenant Resident Aliens*



TundraGreen said:


> You can definitely leave the US going into Mexico without a passport. The problem is getting back to the US. One time standing in line to cross the border from Tijuana to San Ysidro, I talked to a woman from Seattle who hadn't realized that the procedures had changed. She had just moved to San Diego and came to Tijuana to go to the dentist. She didn't have a passport. She had to do a lot of talking to get back into the US. I don't know how long it took. I assume she made it eventually.


As far as I know anyone traveling inside Mexico with a Permanent Resident Alien card could get an FMM or cross back into the US with no problems from the "free zone" or probably take an international flight into Mexico and return to the US. I might be wrong, but don't see why not. If they immigrated from other than Mexico they might need a passport from their country of birth, but I doubt they have one. If not are they grounded in the US? I doubt it.


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## joelpb

You do not need a passport to return to the USA. A birth certificate will so. They can
not keep a US a citizen out. They will give you a hard time and make you wait for a
while but will let you in.


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## RVGRINGO

joelpb said:


> You do not need a passport to return to the USA. A birth certificate will so. They can
> not keep a US a citizen out. They will give you a hard time and make you wait for a
> while but will let you in.


That can work if you are a pedestrian. However, you won't get on any international flights.


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## Guest

Here is what it says in the Fifth Section of the "Manual of Criteria and Migratory Procedures of the INM" about required documents for EITHER tourists or getting a MX visa of any type:

(Feel free to read away here - I'll save you some time, and you can read page 37 for Rentista visas, under "Requirements" in the gray shaded box:
http://www.inm.gob.mx/static/marco_juridico/pdf/manuales/03_MANUAL_DOF_29-ENE-2010.pdf )

*Documents required:* Passport *OR* Identity and trip documents valid for Mexico.

INM's rules vary by country of origin and some foreign people must get a visa at the MX Consulate in their own country before being allowed to travel to MX. That's not the case for US citizens.

To be valid in Mexico, the foreign public documents, with the exception of a passport or identity documents, must be apostilled by the government authority of the country issuing the documents (if the country is a member of the Hague Convention of 1961), or if not, legalized by the corresponding Mexican consulate. This is the case for the following documents:
-Birth certificate
-Marriage certificate
The apostilled documents must be accompanied by a translation into Spanish.

Unless this has been superceded (which I doubt because it is dated 29 January 2010 in the Official Diary and Mexico doesn't seem to get around to updating things like this much more often that every 10 or 20 years), *YES*, under these regulations, you can enter *and obtain a visa* in Mexico without a passport. You might have trouble getting into the U.S. or any other country should you want to leave Mexico, but that's not the case for all people at the border as illustrated by other posters above. 

My interpretation of this is that one could legally enter Mexico on a bus and get a MX visa with their apostilled birth certificate, a valid driver's license from their home country as a photo ID, or other type of public identity card- military ID, etc. and their bus ticket stub. Some types of visas will require more documentation such as university transcripts or diplomas, financial records, references, etc. 

The initial person receiving documents at your local INM office might say "not without a passport", but either their supervisor or the local INM head would agree that a passport isn't necessary under their own regulations. They too look for the easy way out, which is a passport, to do their job.

Yes, it's easier to just use a passport. But not all people fit inside a neat, tidy box or want to do so. Thank God there are much fewer people or politicians in MX grumbling "There otta be a law against that" over their beers in the nearest tavern or pulqueria.

Being turned away from flights is usually due to airline policies intended to avoid huge fines to the airline if they let an undesirable fly into another country who is then turned away by the receiving country's Immigration folks.

There may be changes coming in the new Immigration/visa laws that they keep promising to issue, but like many things, seems to be mañana.






-


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## RVGRINGO

Are you a convicted felon, who can't get a passport? That would explain your fixation on not getting one.


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## kazslo

GringoCArlos said:


> Here is what it says in the Fifth Section of the "Manual of Criteria and Migratory Procedures of the INM" about required documents for EITHER tourists or getting a MX visa of any type:
> 
> *Documents required:* Passport *OR* Identity and trip documents valid for Mexico.


Depends on how you read it - as written in the manual: Passport or identity and trip documents *,* valid for Mexico and unexpired.

Seeing as the comma is there, I read the sentence to mean that the passport, id, and trip documents all have to be valid for Mexico. A US driver's license (or any US issued ID) is a valid id in the US, but I doubt that it will be considered valid as an official id in Mexico. Since its not explicitly stated what is considered a valid id, I would imagine that the decision would be left up to the INM person you speak with as to what is valid.

Think about if someone comes from a country that Mexico normally doesn't see people come from, like tajikistan. How will INM know if their driver's license/military ID is valid in their originating country? They can't be expected to know each ID from every country in the world. That's one reason the passport exists, as a unique document other countries can use to confirm your identity.

Thats all just my opinion and interpretation, but since I won't be issuing any visas, it means ziltch. Since none of us are INM officers, why not just call up the people who will be issuing the visa (INM) or local consulate and ask? Explain that you can't/won't get a passport, and see if they have any advice.


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