United States passport

Is your passport valid to enter Mexico?

Is your passport valid to enter Mexico?

We recently began planning our next  map updating trip and noticed that Perry’s passport would be expiring 2 months after we returned. I heard rumors that your passport must be valid for 6 months to be able to enter Mexico, uh oh, looks like we better be expediting a new passport! But, hold on is this really true? I started doing some research and found that many people fly to Cancun without having 6 months on their passport, so what’s up? I contacted the U.S. Consulate office in Playa del Carmen, I was told no worries, this rule is not enforced in Cancun. While awaiting the answer from the consulate, I asked another friend, her husband used to work for INM, (Mexico’s government immigration Dept.), she also verified that there is not a 6 month passport rule when flying into Cancun. Whew, that saves me some cash! But, Perry isn’t quite satisfied yet, he really doesn’t want to be denied entry into Mexico when we land, so he sends an email to  the Mexican Consulate office in Kansas City who sent him this response:

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Perry McFarlin,

Thank you for your interest in visiting Mexico. In respond to your question, I would like to share with you the following information:

The passport has to be valid at least an additional 6 months from the day it is presented. However,  the Immigration Officer at the port of entry  occasionally allows foreigners to enter Mexico if they show hotel reservations and/or roundtrip tickets with a return date before the expiration of passports.

Also, it is important to mention that the Immigration Officer has the last word, not this Consulate, to allow the entry or not of foreigners to Mexico regardless of whether they have their travel documents in order.

Therefore, our suggestion for you is to call the immigration office  in Cancun in order to find out if you will have or not  issues to enter Mexico with your current passport.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

With this new information Perry sent an email off to the contact at the  Cancun immigration office we received from Kansas City and received a response very promptly, the response was in Spanish,  it read:

Buenos días;

Por instrucciones del Lic. Mauricio Saad Viveros, Delegado Federal en Quintana Roo y en atención a su petición, me permito informarle que la autoridad migratoria no tiene inconveniente en permitir el ingreso a territorio nacional a personas extranjeras cuyo pasaporte expire en menos de 6 meses, siempre y cuando éste se encuentre válido (en buen estado) y vigente, así como el cumplimiento de los demás requisitos establecidos.

Se le sugiere comunicarse con la aerolínea mediante la cual viajará a fin de que sean ellos quienes no tengan inconveniente en transportarlo con su pasaporte próximo a expirar.

Sin otro particular por el momento, le envío un cordial saludo.

Translated to English:

Good Morning;

On instructions from Mauricio Saad Viveros, Federal Delegate in Quintana Roo and in response to your request, I would like to inform you that the immigration authority has no objection to allowing foreigners whose passport expires in less than 6 months, as long as it is valid (in good condition) and in force, as well as the fulfillment of the other established requirements.

You are advised to communicate with the airline through which you will travel so that they are the ones who do not hesitate to transport you with your passport next to expire.

With no other particular at the moment, I send you a cordial greeting.

There you have it, you can travel to Cancun with a passport that is not valid for 6 months. We printed out this response and it’s going in with all of our travel documents. (just in case) 🙂

UPDATE November 29, 2017, Perry flew with his passport, got into Cancun and back home, no questions asked, eazy peazy!

Note: Some airlines will require 6 months on your passport. 

Also, you will not be able to complete the online tourist card, (immigration form) with less than 180 days passport validity. This form is for all of Mexico, the 180 day requirement is necessary in other parts of Mexico.

Everyone entering Mexico must have a valid passport.

Read Mexico’s passport validity requirement: valid at time of entry

If you don’t have your passport yet or it is expiring, go here it apply for a United States passport or have yours renewed.

17 Comments

  1. Hi Laura
    I am in similar situation, do you have Cancun’s immigration email address where I could send similar email and make sure nothing else changed in their policy. Thank you.

  2. Hello. I am planning a trip to Playa del Carman in late October. Any chance the updated (2018) Playa map will be ready?

  3. I’m not sure of her details or if she had a roundtrip ticket, that seems to be more of an issue, but we traveled with Perry’s passport with absoluetly no issues. Sorry this happened to your friend!

  4. I never said it was a scam, I’m saying it is not the rule when you enter Mexico in Cancun. Many countries do require 6 months and other parts of Mexico,but not Cancun. We traveled with no problems!

  5. I think you may have the 6 month problem with the airline. Why don’t you just renew and save any possible headaches. After all passport is good for 10 years

  6. It certainly is not a scam! We travel the world and many countries require the “6th month rule”

  7. Now that is a well put together piece of information. I wish more people would go through the trouble to find an answer. Thank you so very much.

  8. Mine is due the first part of March 2018. I also called to make sure I was good to go (and return) for next weeks trip. When we return I will have to hurry up and get a new one for the January trip. Also with my passport is expiring within 180 days I cannot use the online immigration PDF.

  9. A friend returned to Mexico with less than six months on her US passport. She was harassed by immigration to the point that she was in tears. Private room with no windows and all that jazz. Then they let her into the country, but told her; never again.

  10. Thanks for all the great information!

    We did the same research a year ago with our Canadian passports! They were expiring in May after our March trip! All the info I got from Mexico and Canada at the time was same as you got! I personally think the 6 month rule is a big scam!

    Have a great trip!

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