***For more Baja driving directions, please see www.discoverbaja.com/go/driving-directions***
In 2012 a new border crossing called “El Chaparral” opened for visitors crossing at San Ysidro from the U.S. to Mexico. The new crossing features new and more lanes and a new customs area. The current entrance to the lanes is only temporary until the I-5 on the U.S. is realigned in 2015 to meet up directly with the border crossing. See below for our directions to cross “El Chaparral” if you have nothing to declare.
1. You’ll approach the old border crossing. Follow traffic to make 90 degree right turn.
2. Continue 1/3 mile ride along the border (US side). Stay in the middle or left lanes.
3. Follow traffic to make a left turn to approach the border.
4. Proceed to any of the lanes with green arrows.
5. Proceed through if you get green lights. If you get a red light, you will need to pull over into secondary and open your hood and trunk for customs officers.
6. After crossing the border, stay in the far right lane to get to the toll road and head up the ramp to Playas de Tijuana/Rosarito-Ensenada
My wife and I have FM2 (permanent resident) cards and have never needed to stop when crossing at the San Diego/Tijuana border on our way south. However, after presenting these cards (at the LaPaz ferry crossing) last year we were told we could no longer drive on the mainland. The reason given was the U.S. (Minnesota) plates on our car. Since this was more than disappointing we’re are wondering if anything changed in the past year?
Hi Dennis, while Baja doesn’t require it, mainland Mexico requires that you get a temporary import permit for your vehicle. Pichilingue in La Paz does issue the permits or you can get them at the U.S./Mexico border crossings. You can see more information at http://www.discoverbaja.com/go/crossing-border-mexico/#permits
We have done this many times in the past but it was at the temp. permit office at Pichilinque that we were denied the permit last year. When the officer there saw that we were Permanent Resident card holders she said that the law had changed and we now needed Mexican plates on any car we drove on the mainland. We even had our ferry tickets purchased and couldn’t use them. I asked if we could just use our American passports and we were told our car could be confiscated. Sounded serious. So we had to turn around and drive up the Baja to Tecate. Not the worse thing but we always enjoy the mainland drive.
We were also told that the law change obviously didn’t consider people like us and that we may have to be considered sometime in the future. My question was about this law change. Thank you