Depending on your immigration status , you are entitled to bring certain items without any problems.
Household Effects
Retired foreign residents, as well as immigrants, are entitled to take their household effects into Mexico. Important Note! Household effects can be brought into Mexico duty free only once in a lifetime, so plan carefully. A list of such effects must be certified by the Mexican Consulate for Customs in Mexico. The requirements to be met are as follows:
- Residente Temporal or Residente Permanente issued in the applicant's name plus a notarized copy
- § Sorry ladies, in Mexico the man is the head of the household. If there is no man, then you do get to bring your “stuff” in your own name, but if there is a man, the application must be in his name.
- A typed list of household effects (inventory), in Spanish, accompanied by four additional photocopies, listing all items to be imported. Brand, model and serial numbers must be stated when listing electrical appliances. You will also see or hear it called a Menaje de Casa. It's bascially a list of your household items, organized in a spreadsheet format, listed by box with the contents of each box in Spanish. Your Consulate may provide a format for you to use, so be sure to ask. There is a fee which varies from consulate to consulate.
- Proof of domicilo (address) in Mexico (last telephone bill or electric bill)
- Consular Fee
It is important to make your list by box, that is,
Once the household effects list has been submitted, all furniture and appliances must enter the country within the next six months as of the date of the issue of the immigration form (FM-3 or FM-2). Important Note! Household effects can be brought into Mexico duty free only once in a lifetime, so plan carefully.
Focus Note: If it isn’t handled properly, I can tell you that it can be a nightmare to move your belongings to Mexico. There are so many more things to know than listed here. On your Focus on Mexico 8-Day Eductional Program, you will get all the information you’ll need, and perhaps even more important, you’ll find out what not to do. We'll even take you to Strom Moving where Doug White, the owner will give you a tour of their warehouse, and give a talk on Moving your Stuff. Strom is the most restected moving company in the area and our Focus clients have been very happy with their services. In fact, we have used them ourselves. We had sold our house and the closing date was one month before the possession on the new house. So we had Strom come in and pack everything up and put it in storage for one month. Then the following month they moved it all into our new home, unpacked everything, put beds etc together and took away all the boxes and paper. We were extremely satisfied with their services.
Having lived here for over 13 years, we have heard story after story of problems, even (and especially) when people are using an International Moving Company from north of the border. Many times they do not have the knowledge or experience in moving goods to Mexico.
Our program has been so successful, because we've "been there; done that" and we also know which expert to ask to keep you in sync with current laws, regulations and practices. If you're thinking about moving to Mexico full or part time, you really have to come on a Focus on Mexico program. I guarantee there's not a better program out there where you will learn so much in eight days and have fun doing it!