Cancún entry requirements for U.S. and Canadian travelers

Bottom line: A U.S. or Canadian citizen needs a passport valid for the stay, no visa, and about US$15 per person for Quintana Roo's VISITAX, paid on the official state site before you go. There is no paper tourist card any more — since a 2022 pilot at CUN, the stamp the immigration officer puts in your passport is your permit — and the departure tax is already inside your airfare. The only ways to get this wrong are paying a look-alike VISITAX site several times the real price, or not checking how many days the officer wrote in your stamp.

What you need, side by side

Requirement	U.S. citizens	Canadian citizens
Passport	Valid for the duration of the stay; six months' validity is the safe buffer airlines like to see	Same
Visa	None for tourism	None for tourism
Entry permit	Passport stamp at immigration, up to 180 days; no FMM paper card at CUN	Same
VISITAX	MXN 283 (~US$15–16) per person, any age, official state site only	Same
Departure tax	Included in your airfare	Included in your airfare
Return or onward ticket	Officers can ask; airlines usually check at check-in	Same
Minors	Own passport; a notarised consent letter is wise when only one parent travels	Same, and Canada's border agency strongly recommends the letter for the trip home
Customs form	None on paper; a random red/green light inspection instead	Same

The entry stamp and VISITAX, step by step

On the plane. Nothing to fill in. The paper FMM was retired for air arrivals at CUN starting with an August 2022 pilot (Mexico has since dropped it at its other major airports), and there is no customs declaration card either. Community members who arrived recently confirm they filled in no forms at all.

At immigration. Hand over your passport. The officer stamps it and writes the number of days you are granted. It can be anything up to 180 and it is at their discretion; look at it before you leave the booth. If you are on a two-week trip and the stamp says 7, ask politely for it to be corrected. An overstay is a fine and a hassle on departure, not something to discover at check-in for the flight home. Photograph the stamped page once you are through.

Customs. Collect your bags and press the button. Green, walk on; red, a quick bag inspection. Nobody in the community reports being asked for vaccination records; one traveler who came in June says specifically that none were requested.

VISITAX. This is a Quintana Roo state tax, separate from immigration, legally required of every foreign visitor of any age, MXN 283 (2.5 UMA, roughly US$15–16) per person. Pay it online before you fly through the official state portal, visitax.gob.mx, and check that the domain is that government one before entering a card. The state's site is the only place the price is MXN 283; a whole ecosystem of look-alike sites with official-sounding names charges "service fees" on top. One community report of an entry tax somewhere around fifty to seventy-seven dollars is almost certainly one of those — the real figure is a fraction of that. Keep the QR receipt on your phone. Since early 2026 travelers report spot-check desks at CUN departures, just before security, where anyone without a receipt is pulled aside to pay on the spot; enforcement is still selective, which is exactly why the copycat sites thrive on confusion. Pay the official one and forget about it.

Then walk. Past the corridor of timeshare and "transfer" touts in official-looking uniforms, to your pre-booked driver or the ADO stand. Our airport transfers guide covers who to book and what a ride should cost.

Children, green-card holders and dual citizens

Children need their own passports; there is no family passport and no exemption for infants. VISITAX applies to them too, at the same rate, regardless of age. Mexico does not require a consent letter for foreign children entering with one parent, but the airline on the way down and the border on the way home may ask for one, and Canadian authorities in particular recommend a notarised letter from the non-travelling parent. Bring it. It costs nothing and it ends a conversation at the check-in desk that could otherwise end your trip.

U.S. and Canadian permanent residents traveling on another country's passport can generally enter Mexico visa-free by showing a valid green card or Canadian PR card alongside the passport. That is Mexico's long-standing rule for permanent residents of the U.S. and Canada, but confirm it against the current consular list for your passport before you book, and carry the physical card, not a photo of it.

Dual citizens with a Mexican passport must use it to enter and leave Mexico, and use their U.S. or Canadian passport to re-enter home. Airlines are used to it.

Cruise passengers calling at Cozumel are handled under the ship's clearance and do not go through the process above; the Cozumel page covers the port day.

Customs allowances and what is banned

Personal effects for the trip are fine: clothes, one or two phones, a laptop, a camera, medication in original packaging with a prescription for anything controlled. Mexico publishes a duty-free allowance for goods beyond personal effects (currently US$500 per person for air arrivals) that changes periodically; if you are bringing gifts or gear worth more than a few hundred dollars, check the current SAT figure before you fly rather than trusting a blog post, ours included.

Do not bring fresh fruit, vegetables, meat or dairy — agricultural inspection is strict and the red light is where it happens. Firearms and ammunition are a serious crime in Mexico, including a stray round in a bag pocket; check every bag twice if you are a shooter. Vapes and e-cigarettes have been the subject of an import ban; the practical advice is to leave them at home, because the worst case is confiscation and a fine and the best case is a conversation you do not need.

Cash over US$10,000 must be declared. Under that, carry what you like — though there is no reason to land with much, since bank ATMs (Banorte, BBVA, Santander) dispense pesos at a better rate than any exchange counter.

Departure day

Terminals 2, 3 and 4 handle almost all U.S. and Canadian flights; your airline's app tells you which. Allow three hours in high season and two the rest of the year — check-in lines at CUN are the slow part, not security. The departure tax is already in your ticket, so nobody should ask you for cash at the airport; if someone does, it is not official. Have your VISITAX receipt on your phone in case an airline agent asks, and your passport with the entry stamp for the immigration exit check. Uber can drop you at the terminal even though it cannot pick you up there, and a pre-booked transfer is the usual choice — see getting around for the rest.

Duty-free at CUN is reasonable for tequila and mezcal; liquids bought airside go in your carry-on and survive U.S. connections only if they are sealed in the tamper-evident bag with the receipt inside, so ask for it.

Mistakes travelers report

The community sample for Cancún is small — we have no community FAQs on file yet — but the errors that surface are consistent with what we see elsewhere in Mexico:

Paying the wrong VISITAX site. The report of a fifty-to-seventy-seven-dollar entry tax is the clearest example. The official price is MXN 283. If a site quotes you more, close it.
Not checking the stamp. A stamp with fewer days than the trip is a departure-day problem. Read it at the booth.
Expecting forms. People still land with a pen ready. There is nothing to fill in, and a "helper" offering to complete a form for you at arrivals is a tout.
Assuming vaccination paperwork. Nobody reports being asked for it; bring your routine records if you like, but they have not been part of Mexican entry for tourists.
Letting the airport corridor set the tone. The touts are the first thing many first-timers remember. They are a nuisance, not a danger; walk through and the trip starts on the other side.

If the paperwork is settled and the dates are not, the month-by-month guide is the next stop, or let the planner pick the area for you.