New rules for sailing into Mexico

Given some of the concerns and unknowns that surround the changes for sailing into Mexican waters, Richard Spindler of Latitude 38 magazine shares what he has learned…




We had 125 boats and 525 sailors participate in the early November’s 20th Annual Baja Ha-Ha Cruisers Rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, and many of them used the online visa application process. The system is a little funny, but as I was the one running the event, as best as I could tell it worked great.

Here are the funny parts…

When you sign up online, all you get back is a credit card receipt. This is your ‘proof’ of having gotten an online visa until you show up at your first Port of Entry and visit Immigration where they, for no extra charge, exchange your receipt for a regular 180-day tourist visa. The other funny part is that some people applied for online visas as a group for their boat, but the receipt just showed the captain’s name and how much was paid. So there were no specific names attached to the rest of the receipt. Others got their online visas individually. Immigration didn’t seem to care, and they even set up a special fast lane for Ha-Ha participants in Cabo. But we’d recommend applying individually.

The new online visa application process was a huge boon for the Ha-Ha, because otherwise the event would have had to stop in Ensenada, making it very difficult for it to be a two-week event, putting the existence of the very popular event in jeopardy. So hurray for Mexican Immigration, which has been working to help sailing events. We’re also told they are working on fine-tuning the process.

By the way, if you lose your tourist visa, getting a replacement is no problem; you just have to pay the $23 again.

Even more important to boats sailing to Mexico is obtaining a 10-Year Temporary Import Permit (TIP) in advance. These are as easy to get online as the visa application, and you get your TIP in about 10 days via DHL. They cost about $50. For whatever reason, Mexican Customs officials, backed by armed but very friendly marines, have suddenly began making the rounds of Mexican marinas making sure all boats have their TIPs, and sometimes working all through the night. They are also making sure that the TIPs, plus all other paperwork, is on file with the marina the boat is in, because the marina is actually responsible for all boats in their facility.

So far a lot of boats have been out of compliance, often for one little odd thing or the other, and the Mexican officials have been giving a grace period to comply. But for whatever reason, the TIPs have become a big deal for them now. The penalties for being out of compliance are potentially harsh: 25% of the value of the boat and maybe even seizure. To our knowledge nobody has been fined yet and no boats seized, but the government seems dead serious about this so don’t mess around.

To review: there is no problem with getting a visa app online. There is no problem getting a $50 10-year Temporary Import Permit online. There is no problem if you have all your paperwork on file in the marina you’re in. So just have your ducks in order, which is easy to do, and you’re good.

Sailing in Mexico is great. We just finished the three-day Riviera Nayarit Splash and Blast on Banderas Bay, which was a combination of this state’s welcome to cruising sailors plus a three day ‘nothing too serious’ regatta for charity. Twenty-three boats and about 100 sailors participated in absolute glorious sailing conditions, and no boats were hit by the countless breaching whales that were scattered all over the course.

Viva Mexico!