Recently, we have noticed new proposals to extend the permitted period of stay in Mexico. It is proposed to put a new entry stamp in the tourist’s passport with a fresh date and indicating the permitted period of stay of 180 days. Since Mexico does not issue exit stamps, this looks like a regular visa, in other words leaving and re-entering the country to renew your "travel visa". Visually, such stamps are in no way different from real ones, but this is not so important. What is important is not the stamp in the passport, but the entry in the migration database about such entry, which you will not have.
Many entered Mexico to cross into the United States through an appointment with CBP One. Their government visas have long expired, and now they are thinking about how they can legally stay in the country. But you cannot extend the permitted period of stay in Mexico. No way. It is only allowed to leave, enter and get a new permitted period of stay. I don’t want to leave because they won’t let me back in. For this reason, they agree to falsify the entry stamp in the passport.
Get to the migration check — This is the greatest danger after the end of the permitted period of stay. Such checks are carried out at airports, especially on routes to and from Tijuana, at exits from major cities and simply on highways. Both buses and cars are stopped and checked. During inspections, search activities are also carried out. When checking a passport, if it is discovered that the permitted period of stay has been exceeded, the guest of the country is taken to a migration station, sometimes to another state. There is a protocol of violation and the guest of the country is given to sign an obligation to resolve the migration situation within 10 — 20 — 30 days or leave Mexico. Only after this the tourist is allowed in.
Each line employee of the migration service has a scanner, with which he has the right to scan the passport of a guest of the country and view the entry record in the migration database. If he discovers that there is no entry in the database corresponding to the stamp in the passport, he will 100% send the illegal immigrant to the migration station to clarify the circumstances.
Fortunately, migration checks are carried out selectively, not around the clock and not at all airports or on highways. Not all passports are scanned. Most illegal immigrants manage to move around Mexico without problems. But the likelihood of being detained remains quite high.
Illegal immigrants are never detained at the migration service offices; this is prohibited by law. But with any application, a guest of the state will also check the stamps in the passport, that is, the legality of stay in the country. Simply because an illegal immigrant is allowed to pay a fine, sometimes a considerable one, and only after that the migration service will decide to consider his request for legal status, if on other words grounds. To issue a resident card, the migration service requires you to provide an electronic migration form FMMD, which is equivalent to an entry in the entry database. You are not allowed to download the FMMD if you have a stamp without actually entering the country.
If a counterfeit stamp is detected or the traveler is not entitled to present a printed FMMD migration form, he will simply be refused consideration of his application for legal status. Until he brings a «clean» passport. Fake stamp in passport — This is a black mark, which makes it impossible to obtain resident status.
When the settlement program was still in operation, counterfeit stamps, even old ones, were also detected, and this was the basis for the refusal to grant Residence in Mexico. First you had to get a new passport, without «left» stamps, and with it come to the migration service to receive a resident card. It's the same now.
Yes, there are proposals to affix a new entry stamp to the passport and to make an entry in the migration database. But most often they just «draw» new stamp without any responsibility. And to check its validity, you need to download the FMMD migration form. But in most cases, fake entry stamps on your passport are useless. Perhaps the tourist himself is calmer this way, but he risks running into big troubles and cuts his way to obtaining legal migration status in Mexico.