Passport problem guate-Mex

[allobrogica]

I just came into mexico via mesialla border and the Guate officials wouldn't stamp my passport leaving because I don't have a stamp from when I returned to the US last June. I've been in the us for a year and came back to Xela last month. There's even my stamp returning to guate last month but since there's mo reentry us stamp, they tried to claim I've been in gaute for a year. They gave me a choice of paying a us$375 fine or signing a doc that I'm leaving guate illegally and say I must go to the Capitol when I return to settle this and prob pay other fines. I decided to sign the doc and hope the us embassy or something can help me prove I was in the us this whole time.
So, any recommendations on what to do? I plan to be in Mexico one week then return to Xela. Should I contact us embassy or ?
Thanks.

[chitowngino]

i would have never signed anything that said i did something illegal.

yes call them before you return! i would say they only stamp my passport when i return half the time they stamp my custom form instead never thought about it.

[allobrogica]

Yeah I know, but there were 3 of us (they gave 2 us problems) A bit stressed & we debated (had a friend with who's lived in guate for 8 years) & finally decided on that. They were insistent we do one or other.

My passport is about the same - a bit more than half the time with reentry stamp.

[Richard Free]

Sounds like a real racket at that border station. I live in Xela and fly regularly to the U.S.--4 or 5 times a year over the last 3 years. I checked my passport and there are NO entry stamps into the U.S.--in fact, no entry stamps for the U.S. at all in an almost full book-- and there are NO exit stamps from Guatemala. What the hell does a U.S. entry stamp have to do with it anyway? You say you had a current entry stamp for Guatemala, so shouldn't be a problem.

Apparently, we need to be prepared for probs if we fly out of here and return by land.

I don't recall specifically and didn't look for it, but there was a similar circumstance several months ago discussed on this board. You might dig through the posts here to see what the other person did.

[Felipe]

Seems like the lesson here is that if you fly out of Guate, you need to get an exit stamp at the airport. Therefore, there is evidence that you did not overstay your 90-day visa. It is probably also a good idea to make sure you get a stamp at a land crossing as well. Even if you don't think you will ever come back, you never know.

I am also confused about what the US stamp has to do with anything. The US officials never stamp my passport on entering or leaving, whether by land or by air. The only stamps that should matter to Guatemalan officials are Guatemalan stamps. I have heard that they occasionally want to see a Mexican stamp, as proof that you actually went all the way across the bridge, but other times they couldn't care less.

I have never had problems crossing at Talisman/El Carmen. Once, when leaving at Ciudad Hidalgo/Tecun Uman, the migra lady told me I could give her Q100 for the privilege of coming back the same day. I said "no gracias", and came back later the same day thru Talisman/El Carmen, only paying the usual Q10 fee.

[allobrogica]

Ok the usbembassy didn't have much help to offer. Just that I should try contacting the airline to get a copy of ticket or statement saying I did fly out on that date. So that's next and then I guess go to Guatemala immigration next week after returning & bring whatever I can to prove I left in June 2009.

This all just seems really ridiculous esp considering our passports often don't get stamped on reentry. Yes, I'll make sure to get stamped in future just in case. I'm wondering if this is. Guatemala border trick is a new trend here & if others are getting similar treatment.

[Richard Free]

I was at the immigration office in Guatemala City this morning (my flight was cancelled Sunday so had to renew here) and while doing some waiting there I asked about this problem. They acted like I was full of crap. Maybe so, but that doesn't change reality. They assured me this couldn't be. I assured them I thought it was a credible story. Bottom line=nada. I'm going back later today and will try again...AFTER I have my passport in hand..., but I don't expect to make much headway. They have a small office on the 4th floor that deals with this sort of thing, but they are more interested in squeezing rocks for extra Q than dealing with the border crooks.

[allobrogica]

Wow thanks for checking on this. My friend & I just read your post and are now even more perplexed (but also kind of amused in sad way). Were still waiting to hear back from the airlines. But were hoping to go to the city next week and see what happens.

We definitely have these forms they made us sign. We'll be curious to see what happens when we try to return on Sunday.

Gracias!

[Felipe]

I found the other thread on this topic and bumped it to the top of the list. You are not the first, and probably will not be the last, that this happens to. GET THOSE PASSPORT STAMPS, ENTERING AND EXITING.

[Richard Free]

When I returned to the immigration office yesterday to pick up my passport the judicial office on the 4th floor was closed and the penalty office had only a young clerk who said she had not heard of such problems--hell, she'd heard from me earlier in the day.
Anyway, she said she couldn't do anything because I was not the complainant, nor was I representing one. She did allow me to write out a request for advice, which I'm sure was good for a laugh today. All in all, I've got nothing new for you. I'm now a little nervous about a land crossing with a U.S. passport because I have no U.S. entry or exit stamps in a full book and no exit stamps from Guatemala. I'm feel sure that you were one of only a few ocasional major screwees, but this goes way beyond normal mordida. I never liked land borders anyway. We'll have to stay on this. Keep us informed and good luck.
I'm going to the U.S. embassy/consulate in the next month or so and, if we haven't gotten any more info by then,I'll bother them about the prob. R

[Felipe]

In my understanding, the land borders should not be a problem if you are in compliance with the law and can prove it with appropriate entry and exit stamps. Both times this has come up (Julia and the current poster) it seems to be because the person left by air and did not get an exit stamp. Then when they come back, the migra assumes that they overstayed their original 90-day visa, even though they have a later entry stamp. Certainly it is screwy, but if the migra are looking for a way to nail you with extra fines and bribes, they are going to find it.

[jenprehn]

Another passport stamp question....

When I renewed my visa at the border this weekend I realized that I only have an entry stamp and no exit stamp from when I did my last border run to Mexico. I am planning on traveling in Mexico within the next year......Is the lack of an exit stamp going to be a problem for me?

[Richard Free]

A friend suggested to me today that the exit stamp we pay Q20 for at the airport would probably serve to take care of a big part of the problem. That stamp--which is akin to a postage stamp-- is affixed to the back of the stub of the boarding pass that we keep when we leave the country by air. The stubs I have in my files have the flight and date/time with the exit stamp affixed on the back. We have to be sure to get the stamp portion returned to us when we board because this replaces, in effect, the departure stamp put in our passport when crossing the border by land. This should keep those thieves happy if we remember to keep the stub(s) with our passports. If not, it still seems like a good idea to me.

As Felipe advises above, be sure to get all the entry and exit stamps, of whatever type, to avoid problems--even if they are not offered. Perhaps copies of e-tickets from recent flights might help if there is a problem. Remember, these are not regular problems we're dealing with here, but stuff happens.

[allobrogica]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Here's an update based on our visit to the Migration office this past week. Unfortunately the process to fix the problem with our entry/exit records starts with a two-day step. This would have required us to stay overnight in the city just and then come back at 2pm the next day to gather papers and resubmit them with the next set of papers. So we've opted to do that 2nd part next week instead. But we spent the ENTIRE day on this first part.

Ok, so: We've learned that Guatemala does a pretty crappy job of entry/exit record keeping. Separate from the issue that my passport wasn't stamped on the way back into the US is the fact that my last exit last year was also not in their computer system (though my other Guate entries/exits were). Neither was my re-entry this year in April (which I clearly have an entry stamp for in my passport). The problem is far worse for my friend who discovered that there are several entry/exits in the past year+ that while they are in her passport are not in the Guatemala computer system. They appear to make some judgements based on what's in the computer. Clearly the inaccurate/insufficient information is a normal problem since they have a documented process to fix your records in their system. We were only two people of many visiting the office that day that were going through the same laborious process.

I won't go into all details in this post (but can later if helpful to others), but it is a multi step, multi day submission process that takes 30 days for the fix to be applied. They indicated we will get a piece of paper that says the records are being worked on that *they say* will alleviate problems if we try to leave/enter the country during that 30 day window.

I will say a few things about step one in case it's useful for others in the future. Gather all documentation of your entries/exits that you need to prove/fix (though you will probably not know what those are until you go there and get a printout to see what's missing). Clearly if you have saved the exit postage stamp when you fly out of Guatemala, that is great. But I'm not sure how many people save those. I will from now on. In lieu of perfect transport records, you may be able to provide receipts or other documentation proving you were in another country during the window in question. It certainly doesn't hurt to provide more detail if you have it since they are effectively making changes to their official records. We're fixing them all just to be safe since we're already having to go through the process.

We also had to go to an Internet cafe and type a document indicating all this, what specific entries/exits were missing with all the detail (flight info, etc). For me it was only 2. My friend had more since she was in/out frequently last year. This document had to be signed and notarized. We also made copies of all the documentation (flight e-tickets, frequent flyer statements, etc.) and had those notarized (upon advice of a lawyer friend in Guate). We also had to provide a fully copy of every page in our passport and every copied page had to notarized.

The fee for submitting to the process was Q40. There was some confusion from some of the staff on a few things (we made 5 visits to the office that day and wound up talking with every attendant I think). I will say there were pretty friendly and tried to be helpful with us (even though receiving conflicting info at times). I can't remember exactly what got submitted day 1, but I know the bulk of the documentation we wound up only showing to them and then having them tell us we would submit it all next day after we received some other document back from them. This is where we are deferring until next week when we'll return to submit all that documentation together. There is just no way they will let you submit it all the same day.

Like everyone has said, such messes can be avoided if you make sure to get your re-entry stamps to the US when flying (and all other times when available - Guate doesn't exit stamp your passport when flying from everything I've read - just that postage stamp receipt thing which is not part of your passport). I would also say that if you are in question about your records (missing stamps, etc.), I would get a copy of your records from migration so that you can deal with any issues ahead of when you are trying to travel.

As for the document we signed about leaving illegally, etc - they just looked at it and didn't really care about it. Based on the documentation we had with us and they briefly looked at (again, to be officially submitted later), it was clear that it was a records problem.

I will update again after our next visit to Migration to submit round 2 of paperwork to fix our entry/exit records. On the upside, we were at the office on the day they were voting for the "Queen of Migration." Yup . So there was a pretty positive (almost festive) atmosphere in the building with flyers all over asking workers to vote for various women. And yes, someone was actually crowned queen by then end of the day. We also ate a good amount of gelato available at the mall a few blocks away while waiting.

[Richard Free]

Thanks for keeping us current on this. Your information is invaluable. A big part of the difficulty of dealing with a problem here is defining the problem. You seem to have pinpointed the area of concern. As you indicated, people in official positions have a lot of different ideas about what is going on. We have all seen how enforcement of rules follows a lot of strange (being generous here) avenues in Guatemala. Sorry you personally had to go through this, but keeping us apprised of your efforts will surely be very helpful to others in the future.

Good luck with the rest of your bureaucratic adventure. Be sure to let us know how the saga ends. R