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 Travel & Outdoors | November 2007 
Travelers Need Documents for Trips to Mexico
 Travis Whitehead - The Monitor
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While traveling in Mexico can be fun and adventurous, travelers should know what documents to bring in order for their trips to run smoothly.
If you want to travel into the interior of Mexico, you must have a Mexican travel visa.
Information released by Miriam Medel at the Mexican Consulate in McAllen states that in order to get a travel visa, also called an FM-T, you must bring a passport, birth certificate (with a photo ID) or voter’s card (with a photo ID) to a port of entry, Mexican consulate or Mexican embassy. Once you have filled out a tourism information form, you will typically be issued a visa for up to 180 days. The visa costs about $20, depending on the exchange rate.
John Fritz, owner of Fritz Travel, which has scheduled 16 trips to Mexico through the end of March, said if the visa is for seven days or fewer, it’s free. If you’re taking your automobile into Mexico, you must bring the title of the vehicle to the border crossing and get a permit for the car for another $20.
“You also have to have a credit card in your name, because they charge that on a credit card with your name on it,” Fritz said. “Your name has to match the title on the car. You don’t have to have insurance if you don’t want to.”
Vivian Rubalcava, customer service representative at Sanborn’s Mexico Insurance, said you must also have a driver’s license, passport or birth certificate when you get the auto permit. If the car is financed and not fully paid for, you must have a notarized letter from the lien holder allowing you to take the car into Mexico.
Travelers must also be aware that laws governing travel to Mexico will change within the next few months. Rick Pauza, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said that U.S. citizens returning to the United States currently only need a U.S. government-issued photo ID. After Jan. 31, 2008, under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, returning U.S. citizens also will need a birth certificate.
“Obviously we would encourage people to get their passports,” Pauza said. “Ultimately, in the summer of 2008... when we anticipate that we will have the full implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, you would have to show the passport. You wouldn’t be able to show just the driver’s license and the birth certificate.” |
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