A Mexican Visitor’s Permit No Longer Guarantees a 180-Day Stay Rose Egelhoff - Mexico News Daily
go to original November 30, 2021

A Facebook user posted this FMM wondering if the agent’s scribble was his signature or the number 180. Consensus was that it was the latter. (MND)

It once was all but guaranteed that a visitor entering Mexico would receive a permit to stay for 180 days, the maximum length of time allowed under current Mexican immigration rules.

But many aspects of immigration policy have been changing over the past few years, and length of stay for visitors appears to be one of them. More and more travelers have been reporting that they were allowed 30 or fewer days to complete their travels in Mexico.

A visitor’s permit, known as a forma migratoria múltiple (FMM), allows the permit-holder to be in the country for “a maximum validity of 180 days,” according the National Immigration Institute’s (INM) website. For the United States, Canada, Australia and much of Europe, it is the only Mexican-issued document needed to travel within the country - a visa is not required.



There was no doubt about this document, the visitor was granted the maximum of 180 days (MND)

The immigration agent at the point of entry (an airport, land border or seaport) fills in a portion of the FMM and writes the number of days the visitor is permitted to stay in the country. The agent may also ask for documents like hotel reservations, return flights or tours booked to prove that the purpose of the visit is that which the visitor is claiming.

None of that is new. What is new is that “maximum 180 days” no longer means 180 days by default. Instead, social media reports and immigration experts indicate that an increasing number of people are receiving 30 days or less on their visitor’s permit, rather than the 180.

Though the INM has not released an official public statement on the change of policy, an INM official in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, acknowledged having heard of the issue but said the manner in which the federal criteria for entry is applied is at the full discretion of the agent at the point of entry. While some nationalities face restrictions, visitors from countries without restrictions still “supposedly” get 180 days, the agent said.

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