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Stuck in La Paz w/ no FNM. Help? Stuck in La Paz w/ no FNM. Help?
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  #1  
Old 20 Oct 2015
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Mexico treats those who wish to enter as tourists as adults , welcoming but expecting us to know our responsibilities and see that we take the required steps to get the documentation . Most border traffic does not need the documents of tourists , asking everybody would waste their time.
The USA treats all incoming travellers as probable criminals and perverts and has installed many roadblocks , screenings and a stringent application of exclusionary rules. They would apparently be much happier if we turned back from the border and never returned.

Venturaphoto do let us know what you wind up doing , how you resolved the problem .
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Old 21 Oct 2015
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Originally Posted by Sjoerd Bakker View Post
The USA treats all incoming travellers as probable criminals and perverts and has installed many roadblocks , screenings and a stringent application of exclusionary rules. They would apparently be much happier if we turned back from the border and never returned.
yes, but no way you wind up inland in the US with a visa/TVIP problem...

as bad as uncle sam is about people, at least he isn't all ****ed up crazy about importing vehicles--the single biggest pain in the ass in just about every other country on the planet.
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Old 21 Oct 2015
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Ah , but there is indeed much to-do in the USA about temporary importing of tourist's vehicles. Your and my experiences in that respect are coloured by the fact we live in two neighbouring countries who have a mutual agreement to permit free temporary movement of personal use vehicles . However if you speak to tourists coming from overseas to the USA and Canada you will hear a very different story , involving a good amount of paperwork and fees before they may ride their bikes here. They are given a limited time to ride, then the machine must be removed from country . If they fail to comply with those rules they can be arrested, jailed and deported and banned from ever visiting again.

The same holds true if we visit Europe , and nigh on anywhere else.
Not much difference , really. It all comes down to doing the research before diving in .
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Last edited by Sjoerd Bakker; 21 Oct 2015 at 16:36.
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Old 28 Oct 2015
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Originally Posted by Sjoerd Bakker View Post
Ah , but there is indeed much to-do in the USA about temporary importing of tourist's vehicles. Your and my experiences in that respect are coloured by the fact we live in two neighbouring countries who have a mutual agreement to permit free temporary movement of personal use vehicles . However if you speak to tourists coming from overseas to the USA and Canada you will hear a very different story , involving a good amount of paperwork and fees before they may ride their bikes here. They are given a limited time to ride, then the machine must be removed from country . If they fail to comply with those rules they can be arrested, jailed and deported and banned from ever visiting again.

The same holds true if we visit Europe , and nigh on anywhere else.
Not much difference , really. It all comes down to doing the research before diving in .
I think what you speak of is when vehicles are brought into USA via Air or Sea? In those cases I've heard of paperwork issues, time limits for vehicles and such. Never done it, so not clear on details but I know for permanent importation it's very complicated. (Temporary? dunno)

But I've passed Mexico/USA border with friends riding bikes on foreign plates. No problem at all, no paper work done at all on the bike. They only want to see your Visa or Passport. My friend had a bike and a car with German plates on.
He passed that border several times, no issues. He is a dual citizen and also has FM2 status for Mexico. Now, all his vehicles are on Idaho plates. (cheaper and easier to transfer than California)
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Old 29 Oct 2015
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These problems for visitors from overseas who bring their vehicles into the USA will apply even to those who come in by land from Mexico or through Canada.

Last fall a pair of Australians left their two bikes parked for the winter at a friends house here in Canada and they came back this April to continue into the USA . They had to exit Canada by a specific date . They described all the paperwork it took to get into the USA and how they then had one year allowed there before they had to remove the bikes .
Last month in Santa Rosalia BCS an English couple on two bikes related how they had to set up their papers with the USA and how they had to get their bikes out before a certain date. They were planning on going on into Canada to store the bikes before flying back to England for a visit, then back to the bikes and more arranging time in USA .

Your friend on German plates may have had special status because of dual citizenship with Mexico or got lucky with slack border personnel , who knows, but there are definitely hurdles to cross for overseas tourists who are only visiting , not importing bikes permanently .
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Old 26 Nov 2015
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I'm about to make the same trip. What's a FNM?
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Old 26 Nov 2015
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I'm about to make the same trip. What's a FNM?
FMM I think. You pay US$25 and the immigration officer fills in a slip of paper and the tear off stub is put in your passport. Visitors visa - good for 6 months.
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Old 26 Nov 2015
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I'm about to make the same trip. What's a FNM?
It's your tourist visa. As noted in this thread ... be sure to stop at BORDER ... go to Migracion office to get yours. I'm not sure of the acronym but I always ask for "Tarjeta de Turismo" and everyone seems to know what I need.

Price fluctuates depending on dollar value ... somewhere between $20 to $25 now but goes up a bit every year (it seems?). Good for 6 months.
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Old 26 Nov 2015
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Thanks, I probably would have screwed that up. So many questions. I'm sure this will all fall into place once I'm on the road.
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Old 29 Oct 2015
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yes, but no way you wind up inland in the US with a visa/TVIP problem...

as bad as uncle sam is about people, at least he isn't all ****ed up crazy about importing vehicles--the single biggest pain in the ass in just about every other country on the planet.
Well, you're actually wrong.

Let's say a Mexican border crosser (BCC) crossed into the US at TJ and told the immigration officer that he or she was going shopping locally. THEN, he or she was found at the San Clemente checkpoint (or worse, Disneyland) -- far outside of the "border zone allowed for BCC holders.

Without an I-94, the BCC holder would be out of status and the BCC would be revoked and the BCC removed to Mexico.

Happens way too often and the excuse is usually, "I didn't know..."

The good news is, CBP no longer seizes the vehicles for that offense.
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