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Passports
As of this past year, you are required to have a passport to go from the United States to Mexico. It used to be that you only needed a birth certificate and a picture form of identification, not the case anymore. If you do not have a passport, or your passport is expired, you will need one to enter Mexico and also to return to the United States. According to the website there is about a 6 week waiting period for standard service and 3 weeks for expedited service (extra cost). According to various people I have talked to, those estimates are accurate. So please get your passport paperwork started as soon as possible. I would hate to see someone not be able to go and lose any money spent on hotel and airfare because their passport was late! You can begin your application process and ask questions here:
UPDATE 3/25/08: Adam needed to renew his passport b/c he washed it! Pictures at Walgreens are around $8. He wants everyone to know that he looks very white in his picture, but he is excited that the process has begun (I have no idea why he is telling me to type this!). Tomorrow he will pay $100 and send them off and we'll let you know how long it takes. The official answer is that it takes 6 weeks, but he was told that lately it's been taking only 4 weeks. You have to send your original birth certificate with your paper work and photos. On a side note, Graham found his passport today!
UPDATE 3/26/08: According to some people and websites, some countries have a 6 month rule. Although we have not heard of Mexico enforcing this rule, we want people to be aware just in case. The rule is, that if your passport expires within 6 months of your entry or departure from some countries, you may not be allowed to enter the country. From our research, this rule seems to apply in the middle east, south america and some other places. We have found nothing that suggests Mexico does or DOES NOT enforce this rule. So please don't take any chances, if your passport expires within 6 months of October...try now to get it renewed.
UPDATE 4/11/08: Adam got his passport! It took only 2 weeks!