Mexican customs regulations

After creating my first list of personal effects to bring with me to Cancun, I decided to look into the government’s official travel page for Mexico, to make sure none of my items would be considered contraband.

As I already knew, US citizens traveling to Mexico do not need a special visa and a US passport is needed for re-entry to the US. If you are planning on staying for less than 72 hours than there is no additional paperwork to be filed. Most tourist stays (and of course my own stay) are longer than 3 days however, and this requires one to fill out the single page FMT. Most flights to Mexico already have the price of the FMT accounted for in the ticket price, and the paperwork can be filled out in flight. The FMT allows a foreigner to stay in Mexico for up to 6 months. Obviously, I plan on staying longer than this, which will require an FM3. I’ll write more about that later.

According to Mexican customs regulations, a foreigner can bring the following personal effects into Mexico duty-free: clothing (of course!), one camera, one video cassette player, one computer, one CD player, 5 DVDs, 20 CDs, and one cellular phone. If you bring anything else, you must pay import duties.

Anything that you bring into Mexico must also be taken when you leave, or you must show proof of destruction. This is to prevent foreigners from bringing in imported goods duty-free and selling them second hand. Conveniently, everything in my list works out except for binoculars and a flashlight. I suppose I’ll just pay the duties on the binoculars and ditch the flashlight altogether (although I have a really nice one…) 

Here’s the link to the State department’s travel page to Mexico, for those who need it: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_970.html

The List Draft 1

Fortunately, I’m a notoriously light packer. It doesn’t matter if I’m gone for 2 days or 2 weeks, I always take one small or medium sized bag and make due. And yeah, I travel around a good bit!

This is the list of what I intend to bring with me to Cancun. At least, this is the first iteration of the list; I imagine as time goes by it will change a lot.

-Passport and US driver’s license

-FM3 (still deciding if I should apply at the consulate here in the US or wait til I arrive in Cancun.)

-Bank card and credit card

-Cell phone( I’ve been in contact with my service provider, T-Mobile, and it seems like I will be able to get a quad-band phone and upgrade to an international service plan for a reasonable price.)

-Asus Eee laptop and any software required for work

-Digital Camera

-Shoes: one pair of sneakers, one pair of formal shoes, and sandals

-Pants: one pair of nice denim, 2 pairs of khakis, and 6 sets of shorts

-Shirts: two nice shirts, and 6-8 casual shirts

-Undergarments: 6 pairs of socks, and 6 pairs of boxers

-Binoculars

-Flashlight

-and most importantly: enthusiasm, optimism, and common sense!!

Some obvious things missing are personal hygiene items, but those are such a pain to get through the airport with and are so cheap, I’ll just buy new when I get there. Heavy and cumbersome things like furniture etc. won’t be making the trip. I live a pretty minimalistic lifestyle anyway, and the thought of trying to bring down furnishings strikes me as painful.

After looking over the list it looks like I’m good to go as hoped: one duffel bag and one backpack. Just the way I like it!