From January 2007, the United States will require its citizens to present a valid U.S. passport or other accepted identification when entering or leaving the United States by air or sea travel to or from Mexico or Canada. U.S. citizens will have to furnish proof of citizenship when traveling to and from Mexico. Each visitor will have to possess a valid picture I.D. and either a state-issued birth certificate with an affixed seal, or a naturalization certificate, with a laminated naturalization card, or a valid U.S. passport (passports that have expired are not valid). If you are interested in having complete information on obtaining and renewing passports, including forms to renew by mail and expedited service options, visit the U.S. Department of State Passport site.

You will receive a Mexico Tourist Card and a Mexico Customs Declaration form to be filled out prior to arrival. All visitors, including infants and children, must possess a Tourist Card. A Mexico Tourist Card, also known as an FMT, is a government form declaring that you have stated the purpose of your visit to Mexico to be tourism, and which you must carry along so long you are visiting Mexico. It declares your intention to holiday in Mexico for not more than 180 days. If you are driving to Mexico, you can get a tourist card at or near the border. If you are traveling by air to Mexico, you will get it on the plane itself. You should keep it with your ticket, as you will need it when checking in for your return flight to the United States.

You will require a combination of a birth certificate and driver's license or other state-issued photo ID, or a passport only, if you are willing to visit Mexico by land in 2007. If you want to use a birth certificate as identification, you must possess the original, with an embossed state seal. You will be asked to show your travel documents whenever you cross the Mexican border. If you are driving into Mexico, you have to show your identification before you cross the border. You will get a tourist card at or near the border. If you are driving out of Mexico, you will be required to show all your travel documentation before you re-enter the US.

If a minor U.S. or Canadian citizen aged below 18 travels alone, he or she must have the following in addition to one of the forms of documentation mentioned above: if traveling alone, the minor must carry a notarized letter signed by both parents allowing him or her to do so; if traveling with one parent, he or she must have a notarized letter from the absent parent giving permission for the traveling parent to take the minor out of the country, or an original court order indicating that the traveling parent has full custody; if the minor is traveling with one parent, and the other is deceased, the deceased parent's death certificate must be presented.

You will have to turn your tourist card in when you depart from Mexico, and you will need ID at different points for different reasons during your Mexico visit. Try to keep your ID and your tourist card together -- try keeping both in a passport holder. Both of them are extremely important documents.


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