"Green Card" or Passport Travelling In Mexico

Seven months "new" to Mexico and Lakeside and with COVID we've done very little travel outside the area with just two 1-night trips to Mazamitla, and the other to Tequila. We just returned from a driving trip caravan with friends for 3 nights in Patzcuaro (which was beautiful by the way). One evening the topic came up and a comment about a problem on someones trip in an online post "....and can you believe they probably didn't have their passports either!" and some others agreed while my wife and I just looked at each other?

We had our valid Temporal picture green cards, do we also need to bring passports too? Why? We don't ask legal aliens with "green cards" to carry their passports in the States or Canada, do they make you do it here in Mexico?

Gracias!

No, you don't need to carry your passport with you, your residency card is sufficient. There are some times I have to show a passport, like when paying my bank trust in dollars.

I always take my passport with me... and my Residency card... and my drivers license.
Safer with me than sitting in my house.

You don't need your passport in Mexico, only when you leave
Mexico for another country. If you insist on carrying your passport, carry a copy ONLY.

Jubilation, what the US require the aliens to do is irrelevant , we are in Mexico.

Okay, so when you leave your house, is your passport in a safe? There are no safety deposit boxes here. Shit happens but at least if I get mugged, I know what has been taken and can fix it immediately.
If your passport is just in a drawer somewhere, when was the last time that you checked to make sure it's still there?

Should Americans in the US Marshals Federal Witness Protection Program carry their original passports or their new identity passports when traveling in Mexico? Asking for a friend..

I only carry my Mexican drivers license. Never had a problem in 10 years.

When I travel in Mexico in addition to my Mexican visa I carry my US passport card. It would allow me to get in a US consulate in an emergency and I don't have to carry my passport. Passport cards are created to allow people to cross the border by ground. It is not good for air travel. Check with US consulate in Guad. for more info. They are not expensive like a passport.

kiko wrote:Should Americans in the US Marshals Federal Witness Protection Program carry their original passports or their new identity passports when traveling in Mexico?  Asking for a friend..

Stop talking about this it is not safe for your friend to do so.

Canadians don't have Passport cards.

Zedinmexico wrote:When I travel in Mexico in addition to my Mexican visa I carry my US passport card. It would allow me to get in a US consulate in an emergency and I don't have to carry my passport. Passport cards are created to allow people to cross the border by ground. It is not good for air travel. Check with US consulate in Guad. for more info. They are not expensive like a passport.

That may be a simple solution to bringing our Resident Cards, whether carrying a Passport is required or not, thanks!

Before I had a Mexican DL I carried my resident card.

I agree with you Bob, Mexican DL and resident card all you need to travel in Mexico. If crossing a border or flying to another country you will also need your Passport.

I've never heard of a Passport Card ? Where do you get one ? Would be a little more handy .

Tday wrote:I've never heard of a Passport Card ? Where do you get one ? Would be a little more handy .

Reread my post I told where to get info on it.

ferret wrote:
If your passport is just in a drawer somewhere, when was the last time that you checked to make sure it's still there?

I don't have a safe, but I do have a safe place to hide such things where a thief would never think to look. And my house is fairly impenetrable. That's if they managed to make it past my 70 pound canine, who's an excellent watchdog.

I'd be more concerned about taking my passport with me when I go out and losing it.

I don't think passports are a big theft item on the average Mexican thief's list. They are interested in money, credit and debit cards, and small elecronics they can easily fence. Unless they are a professional ring of thieves, most wouldn't have the connections to be able to sell a passport.

passports are worth a nice amount of money to some thieves. Especially US passports.

brigitte wrote:passports are worth a nice amount of money to some thieves. Especially US passports.

Yes, I'm sure there is good money to be made trafficking in stolen passports. I just don't think the average Mexican thief, most of whom are druggies looking for something to fence to the local drug dealer for their daily hit of whatever, have the kind of connections to be able to sell a passport to someone who would be in the passport altering business.

An immigration agent told me about the US passport trafficking..at the time he told me they were worth 1000 dollars .. but I guess you have to know the right people and the little punk probably do not know.