Understanding Mexican Import Rules

As regular readers know, various agencies of the Mexican government have been taking steps lately to streamline immigration and boat-import procedures. In some cases it’s been two steps forward, one step back — especially in terms of government website glitches. But the general trend is very positive. 

The latest example of this is that the SAT agency (sort of a Mexican IRS) has just taken a proactive step to keep visiting boaters out of trouble by establishing a grace period to get their "sport boats," which we take to mean dinghies, in compliance with the law. The issue is that when you apply online for a Temporary Import Permit (TIP), unless you enter info in a specific way, you may end up with a 10-year permit for your mothership, but only 180 days for your dinghy. To address this situation, SAT has posted signs in at least one popular marina stating:

"Do you need to update the Temporary Import Permit data of your boat? Do it before December 31. If you have a ‘sport boat’, you can ask for the substitution of your Temporary Import Permit to modify the boat or importer data.

"1) Go to the Banjercito module and present your Temporary Import Permit and the hologram.

"2) Submit the documentation that certifies the boat or owner data and the data of the person who did the import.

"3) Submit the accurate documentation to prove the ownership of the previous Temporary Import boat.

"4) Pay the equivalent in national (Mexican) currency of $51 USD plus VAT in respect of proceedings. 

"The new temporary import permit will be emitted by the time left on the previous permit."

Sound complicated? Yeah, a little. That’s another reason that the we are imploring all Baja Ha-Ha boat owners to hold off on applying for either TIPs or visas online until they receive specific instructions from the Rally Committee. That will happen in the next couple of weeks.