After years of multiple complaints from the tourism sector, due to the complicated immigration procedures to enter the country, the Cancun International Airport finally entered a pilot program yesterday. Now, the FMM Migration Form is no longer required at Cancun Airport for tourists coming from the US and Canada…
Roberto González López, head of the representation of the National Institute of Migration (INM), explained that “an average of 30 thousand people enter our country daily through this air terminal, who carry out this procedure, which will now be changed to a digital format with the objective of reducing the entry of each tourist to 20 minutes, half the current time”.
“We consider that these are old practices that we must improve in order to speed up the entry process. This pilot program is being carried out in Mexico City; Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco; Los Cabos and La Paz, Baja California Sur, and now Cancun International Airport, which receives thousands of tourists during the high season,” he explained.
A problem with a solution
The migratory form, or tourist card, is the information of the visitor arriving in the country, where the National Institute of Migration knows when the person arrives and the time of stay, which allows for having a historical record. Now, the information will remain in the passport stamp, and in the system.
Chaos also originated from the fact that the format in only in English and Spanish. This factor caused confusion for many travelers and generated more than an hour of lines at the arrival of flights.
This pilot program, which began operations in August at the Cancun airport, was made known to the business sector, as well as to the representatives of the consulates, so that they may know the scope and information, after a request made by the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies (AMAV).
How will it work now?
As FMM Migration Form is no longer required at Cancun Airport, the way it is going to work is that the tourist who enters will show his passport, the information will be noted down and he will enter, and only in special cases other attention will be given with the purpose of not diminishing the security filters.
Once the FMM was completed, the migration officer would define the allowed days of the stay in the country. The maximum time given was of 180 days in the country. This will no longer apply at the Cancun airport.
Now, tourists coming from the United States and Canada arriving at Cancun International Airport only need to show their passports and the customs officers will take some data, stamp it and automatically grant this stay permit.
The intention of this change is to reduce the waiting time to pass through immigration at the airport. This could be up to a couple of hours during the high season.
As mentioned, Mexican immigration authorities estimate that around 30,000 people arrive daily at the airport. All of which will normally have to present the FMM, which will now speed up the waiting time for the immigration process,
Tourists coming on vacation (from those countries) will not have to fill out this form (FMM), neither the printed nor the electronic format, they will only receive a stamp on their passports.
An easier way for the millions of travelers
Between January and June 2022, Cancun International Airport received 7.2 million travelers. This resulted in 4.8 million international tourists, according to figures from the Mexican Ministry of Tourism.
Learn more: Cancun Aiport Tourism Report
Source: Sipse Noticias