My Father is coming to visit me in the US in a week or so. We would like to take a short one or two day trip to Mexico, just beyond the border zone. The problem is we cannot get a straight answer as to how to get visas for British Citizens.
The Mexican Consulate in Tucson says you just turn up at the checkpoint at the edge of the border zone and apply for a vistors permit on the spot, just like US Citizens can.
The Mexican Embassy in London says you must apply with them first and it will take 2-3 weeks.
Has anyone got experience of this? Who (if anyone) is right?
Groover
No idea about the Mexican visa, but you also need to check out the conditions of your father's visa waiver - whether you can use it to re-enter the US from a land border with Mexico. I've done this successfully from Canada and from a Carribean cruise, but they may have different rules for Mexico.
It was a very long time ago, but in 1993 I crossed the border in CA and visited Tijuana. I didn't even consider it being a problem, and just went through the gates, saw how nasty it was and turned around and went back. My point is that I had nothing other than my British passport.
That's funny Laurence - we did the same thing too! This was even further back, in 1989 when our son was 10 months old. We only spent about half an hour in Tijuana and it was such a dump.
On our return to the US side they took me aside and intensely scrutinized my passport - that was in the days when I still had the old black British passport and they would just add a child to it by writing it in biro! At that time baby David's skin did indeed look dark, and with his brown hair and brown eyes I guess he could easily have passed for a Mexican baby I had acquired from Tijuana!
It was a relief to return to San Diego...what a lovely place to live. smile
Make sure that you have a I-94 form filled in before you return. These are the white or green forms that they hand out on planes that you fill in and give to immigration.
I too crossed the border by foot into Tijuana and didn't have the form when I returned to the US border. Had to wait in line at the US immigration border office to get one and pay for the privilege.