# Traveling without passport



## leapfox125

So, I am traveling by foot through the Tijuana border from the United States to Mexico. I do not have a passport. My flight is scheduled from the Tijuana airport to the Guadalajara airport in mid December.

I am trying at all costs to avoid getting a passport. I thought that because I am flying within the country of mexico that I will not need a passport? Is this true? Can I obtain the FMM card without the passport? I have heard multiple answers from word of mouth, from my travel agency, and from the airlines I am traveling with. Is it just one of those things that it's ultimately up to the guy issuing my FMM card? Will they accept a birth certificate and drivers license for the FMM card?


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## AlanMexicali

leapfox125 said:


> So, I am traveling by foot through the Tijuana border from the United States to Mexico. I do not have a passport. My flight is scheduled from the Tijuana airport to the Guadalajara airport in mid December.
> 
> I am trying at all costs to avoid getting a passport. I thought that because I am flying within the country of mexico that I will not need a passport? Is this true? Can I obtain the FMM card without the passport? I have heard multiple answers from word of mouth, from my travel agency, and from the airlines I am traveling with. Is it just one of those things that it's ultimately up to the guy issuing my FMM card? Will they accept a birth certificate and drivers license for the FMM card?


My feeling is that you might get an FMM from the INM officers at the TJ airport with a drivers licence and birth certificate. There is a box on the FMM for your passport # and also your country, of course.

Getting back into the US by walking across will depend on some rule about not refusing a US citizen entry and I know one lady, from our condo complex, walks across, who goes to TJ with her boyfriend every month to buy his cigarettes and has no US passport, same reason you gave, doesn´t want to spend the $120.00 to get one. She shows her police ID, retired cop, and they just wave her through.


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## Longford

My recollection is that Mexico requires all persons from the USA and Canada to present a passport upon entry into Mexico. Crossing by foot ... I believe the 20 km checkpoints look for passports and maybe the airlines. I believe that's been the requirement for the past couple of years. Additionally, having a passport is as important re-entering the USA as it is entering another country. One's return home can become troublesome if immigration agents on the north side of the border are uncertain as to someone's nationality/rights.


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## FHBOY

AlanMexicali said:


> , doesn´t want to spend the $120.00 to get one.


If USD is the problem, $120 for a 10 year passport is $1 USD a month - you can't get coffee (even at 7-11) for that. If the idea is to stay under the radar, that is another story.


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## mickisue1

FHBOY said:


> If USD is the problem, $120 for a 10 year passport is $1 USD a month - you can't get coffee (even at 7-11) for that. If the idea is to stay under the radar, that is another story.


...and if one is trying to stay under the radar, flying on airplanes is a poor way to do so.


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## TundraGreen

One time when I was waiting in line to cross from Tijuana to San Ysidro on foot, the woman next to me was returning to the US. She had come to Tijuana for the day and had no passport. When we got to the head of the line the US immigration officers asked everyone for their passport before they let us into the border building. When they learned that she did not have a passport they pulled her out of the line. I assume she eventually was allowed to return to the US, but it must have taken her considerable longer than it took me. And the wait was already around an hour and a half.


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## AlanMexicali

TundraGreen said:


> One time when I was waiting in line to cross from Tijuana to San Ysidro on foot, the woman next to me was returning to the US. She had come to Tijuana for the day and had no passport. When we got to the head of the line the US immigration officers asked everyone for their passport before they let us into the border building. When they learned that she did not have a passport they pulled her out of the line. I assume she eventually was allowed to return to the US, but it must have taken her considerable longer than it took me. And the wait was already around an hour and a half.


Crossing by foot from TJ at San Ysidro has a few lines inside the building on the far right for people without border crossing documents for non US citizens and I was in line once in this section many years ago and it was moving very slowly. I noticed about 2/3s of these people in these few lines that afternoon been returned without being admitted. No Mexican passport or frequent crosser cards only other documents, probably birth certificates, pay stubs and CFE bills to prove they worked in Mexico. 

Now they have 4 different sections at the many lines inside the building. Far left line is Sentri card holders, seperated from the rest, next is US citizens with passports, marked clearly as Ready Lanes and marked clearly as Ready Lanes in the car lanes outside also, then the very many that are non US citizens with possibly permanent resident status etc. foreigners with other passports, and Mexicans with frequent crosser cards and/or Mexican passports and finally the few on the far right that are the ones I described above which are usually shorter and why I moved over there unbeknowst it was the slowest and I waited about 45 minutes longer than the others.

The guy or gal at the door might be helping those to get in the right lines. That day he or she was not there to steer me to the fastest line, or was busy with someone else, unfortunately.


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## makaloco

leapfox125 said:


> I am trying at all costs to avoid getting a passport. I thought that because I am flying within the country of mexico that I will not need a passport? Is this true?


Apparently there are are passport controls in both directions. Check these recent travel reports on SkyTrax:
Tijuana Int'l Airport Customer Reviews | SKYTRAX


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