Learn the process and what you need to cross the border to Mexico, how much money you need and the papers.
In today's podcast, I'm going to talk about border crossing to Mexico, from my own experience .
About Marina 'Travel Experta'
- I am an Experience Collector, World Traveler, Expat Mama and Wife
- I have been an expat for over 20 years, raising 2 trilingual sons
- My family and I have traveled to over 40 countries and counting …
- I’m here to inspire you to travel, move internationally, have fun with your family and so much more!
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Hey, it's Marina, travel experta. Today we're going to be talking about border crossings, entering or exiting Mexico. Are you guys ready for an adventure? Let's begin. There are so many borders and they all pretty much work the same way.
First of all, make sure that it's open. If it's a really small border, they might be open. Been only from like six in the morning until 10:00 p.m.. But the majority of them, I'd say 90% of the bigger border crossings are all 24 hours. But do you really want to drive at night in the first place?
I don't recommend it. That's just my own personal experience. Not experience, just my own personal way. So in that respect, decide that and go on your own risk for that. But I'm going to be talking about the majority of border crossings first and foremost.
One of the big attacks that we found, if you can enter or exit Mexico on a Sunday, that is the best day ever. There is hardly anybody going in and out because there's a lot of people that work across the borders, so they have special entrances and whatnot. But you still have to deal with the lines for that. So it's super easy. I'm going to be talking about entering the border just for yourself.
I do have an entire other podcast about if you are entering the country or exiting the country with your car because it gets a little bit more complex simply because you're also putting in your car. So it's pretty simple, right? You have to pay a visa fee when you are entering into Mexico. It's usually around $12 more or less. It's not that expensive.
Make sure that your passport is up to date. We're talking six months minimum. If you are traveling with your child and the other parent is not with you, make sure that you have a letter stating that they could enter the country with you. Especially from the country that you are entering into. There are always two migration spots that you have to go through.
We personally came in from Guatemala, so the first place was we had to go to the Guatemalan migration. First we had to get the stamped out, make sure everything is good. Then you have to cross over into Mexico and there's usually like this no man's land. In this particular case we had a bridge that you have to cross over. There's usually the people with the bikes and that you sit in front or even a taxi that could take you over there.
And then you enter into Mexico and that's where you have to wait online. You have to first go show your passport into Mexico. Then they're going to tell you to go and make the payment. Then you have to fill out the form that they also give you. And then you have to get back online to get back in to show your paperwork.
This is super important guys. They will be giving you a certain paper, two papers actually. One to show your payment and one, it's kind of like an entrance paper. You cannot lose that paper, either of those papers. You will have a lot of problems getting out of the country when you want to leave, so make sure that you always keep that.
They are literally as important as your passport when you are exiting the country. So make sure that you have that. And then you're also going to be given a certain amount of days, right? Every country has their own specific amount of days, but if you're going to be traveling for two weeks, they might give you for 30 days. Sometimes they'll just give you 45 days or 90 days, really depends.
But be as specific as possible. And I would even add on an extra few days for whatever reason. Because if you overstay, that is another massive issue that you have to deal with, right? You don't want to deal with these. And they're so easy to just they don't check exactly where and whatnot, especially when you're doing foot border crossing.
Obviously, if you're flying, it's a different story. Just have all your paperwork in order, have money, they do take dollars, they do take credit card, they obviously take pesos. But make sure that you have all of your paperwork in order so that you will have absolutely no problem entering the country. And goes the same for exiting the country. They really do check on those paperwork.
Otherwise it's not that complicated, guys. So overlook the scary stories that you hear, because a lot of times those scary stories are not even told by people who the scary story happened to. That's just my own experience. If you guys have had other experiences or other feedback, I'd love to hear it. If you enjoy this podcast, please leave me a review, share it with your friends, and remember to make every day an adventure.