Issues with crossing into GT from MX with Old Cancelled TVIP?
 

Hi there.

Still trying to locate bike storage in Tapachula (possible lead with a bike repair shop that has a facebook page), and I have a question about getting into GT with a TVIP that has been cancelled some time before.

The plan is to head back to PV in March and then will ride south to Tapachula to cancel the TVIP (in Huixtla) and then store the bikes until we return in 8 months or so.

Will it be a problem to cross into GT with a TVIP that was cancelled 8 months prior?

Or will we have to get another TVIP, wait a day and then cancel it before crossing over to GT (the folks at the GT border want to see the cancelled MX TVIP paperwork).

Thanks!

Ps: just learned there is this thing called Government Bond Storage at MX customs....? Is this available at all Customs offices or just some? Do storage conditions differ at the different custom's houses (ie: some is inside and some outside storage)? What is the best way to find out the specific details, is it best to phone or email the customs office in question?

This is pure speculation on my part because I have never done storage and cancellation before GT .
My sense is that the date of such cancellation should not matter very much, as long as you can prove that the bikes have been cancelled out of Mexico..
GT want to know that the bike was cancelled out of the Mexican system for their tax purposes. .
Try sending this question in an email to the Guatemalan border control department , called SAT, and they should be able to explain. Here is their website and it has an opening for contacting them and asking questions

Impuesto Sobre Circulación de Vehículos

I've given up trying to guess what will happen in some countries.
The correct answer to your question is obviously that you will get into trouble - and you might. However a few weeks ago a biker entered mexico from the north and 'forgot' to get his FMM and TIP, He decided to take a chance (despite good advice to go back and do it right) and headed south and just popped out the other end free and clear when they let him get his TIP and FMM at the southern border.
No particular help to you I guess.
Difference might be that he was not on their system at all and happened to strike someone in a good mood and he paid his fees so there was no real foul committed, whereas presumably your bike will be on the system and maybe showing as an overstay

Hi Sjoerd, good to hear from you!

Ah that's good to hear, and thank you for the web link, I'll wind up Google Translater and send them a note.

Here's another ?? I thought up this morning in the shower (some of my best work is done in there), when we return after our March 2017 ride we may decide to ride more in MX. To do so we need another TVIP, but we'll have a tourist card from the airline so they'll know we did not arrive via our bikes, so they could connect the dots and figure out that we had our bikes stored in MX without us there which I understand is a no no.

So, will we be able to get another TVIP given we flew in vesus riding in from GT like the other 99.9% of the folks requesting a TVIP?

Could a couple of options be:

1) when we return to MX, ride into GT, turn around and come straight back into MX and then we'll have an exit stamp from GT?

Or

2) purchase another MX tourist card and then get our TVIP? This would be quicker, and easier than going the GT border route

3) or are there more options/solutions?

I'm not sure how detailed the border folks are (ie: are they connecting the dots or is it easy to do the "work arounds"?) and we don't speak Spanish, so I want to get as much of the details worked out before we get there given what we want to do is not the norm.

Thanks in advance!

There is a series of posts on the woddalls forum regarding clampdown on people skipping Mexico while leaving their vehicle behind. Trouble is as always there is the law as written, the law as is interpreted and the law as is enforced and in this case you pays your money and takes your chances.

I raised it here
http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm...g/1/page/2.cfm

Hi Tony Lee, thanks for the follow up!


I went to your web link, and things look like they are going to get interesting if what is posted is true (ie: our original tourist visas are linked to our TVIP so when we go to cancel our TVIP with the new tourist card (FMM) we got by flying into Puerto Vallarta things could go sideways)......


Here's what I copied from your link:


Leaving Mexico without your Vehicle Registered when you have an FMM: (Hint: Don’t)

If you entered Mexico with a valid Resident Temporal, then there are no issues with you traveling out of Mexico without the vehicle. If, however, you enter Mexico on an FMM, and get a TIP for your car, then you must only leave Mexico with the vehicle – driving out. The vehicle’s permit sticker has control numbers associated with your FMM, and when you leave the country (e.g. by flying), then when you depart Mexico, they take/cancel your old FMM.

When you re-enter Mexico, they issue a new FMM, and the number on the new FMM will not correspond to the control number on your car’s sticker, which will potentially cause big problems when you attempt to leave Mexico with the vehicle.

So I"m wondering what we do now given we've already flown home at the end of our trip in October and now have flights booked to return March 04th/17 (so we will get a new FMM on the plane) with the idea of riding south to Tapachula, cancelling the TVIP, putting the bikes back in storage and then returning in 8 months to either ride more of MX or enter into GT for two weeks?


We had a bit of an experience with the FMM when we left in October in that we had surrendered out FMM when we checked in at the airport, no problem. But then when we were getting ready to board the plane they stopped us and said we had to pay our FMM fee as our FMM said we entered by land and were flying home. We had to go back to the airline check in desk and show them our FMM receipt and then we were good to go. Not a big deal (even if we had to pay for another FMM), but it may be an indication that MX is tightening up on things.

We need to get this figured out before March! Our TVIPs expire April 05 but this may be a mute point if we'll be in cuckah because our FMM number won't match what is linked to our TVIP!


Oh, and do we need to show our FMM when we cancel our TVIP, cuz our new FMM will show that we entered MX via air versus ground so that may raise some eyebrows as well.....


We may have to find customs in Tapachula and say our FMM/Tourist card was lost and get another one, which would explain why our FMM numbers don't match on the TVIP, plus it would say we arrived by ground instead of by air.


I did a bit more research and would a Temporary Resident Card be a solution?


Suggestions....?

Thanks Sjoerd, do you also have a contact for the MX border control so I can ask them about cancelling our TVIP if we have left the country without our bikes and about Gov't Bonded storage so we can leave our bikes in MX without the TVIP?

On that Woodalls forum there are also posts about trying to cancel a TVIP once you leave the country. Unlike other aspects of travel in Mexico where the answer is always your experience might vary, in the case of uncanselled and therefore expired TIPS, it seems as if doing it by remote control is difficult. Admoittedly most of the info I've seen relates to the 10 year TIPs granted to motorhomes and other approved types of RVs where only the most determined were able to satisfy the Mexican system for cancelling by mail.

As I said, the trouble is that for every one traveller that gets the book thrown at them, another 9 get off scott free.