Bike stamped into passport in Mexico?
 

:confused1:
Hi

we are a german couple staying right now in Guatemala with two F650 GS Dakar.

We have to leave the bikes in the Americas and fly back to Berlin.
In Guatemala our bikes where stamped into the passports.
Makes it more difficult to leave the country without the bikes

Question is:
do the mexican customs stamp the bike into the passport?

Thanx in andvance

Goetz and Karen

Bike is not entered into your passport in Mexico, and anyway you do not normally get stamped out of Mexico---you just leave.

When you enter you are supposed to temporarily import your bike. This costs about $US30 or so, and is done at a "banjercito," which is at or near the border. You can do it with a credit card, but it's better to pay cash. You need to ask about this when you cross the border. No one will force you to do it, but you need the paperwork and sticker.

When you leave the country you need to turn in your sticker. To do this you need to find a banjercito near your exit point. They are sometimes right at the crossing, sometimes ±30km before, sometimes entirely absent. Try to cross to the USA at a convenient border post which includes a banjercito, but don't trust the lists on the internet (even on the official government site), since they're often not correct.

There are potential problems if you fail to turn in your import document when you leave Mexico and they assume you imported the bike permanently. Then they either charge import fees to your credit card or (at least) forbid you entry in the future.

There are lots of older posts about this subject if you've ever got a week or two to spare for reading through them.

Hope that helps.

Mark

Where are you planning on entering Mexico?
Banjercito is the term for Banco del Ejercito--- the Bank of the Army = the gov. dept. which looks after this money. You must pay this fee with a credit card. If you have no credit card you will have to post an additional cash bond of up to $400 US, that is cash US dollar money, not the equivalent in Pesos, depending on age of bike, and that willl be given back to you when you exit Mexico for the USA . If you are planning on EVER visiting Mexico again you must do the simple processs of cancelling your temp import permit , they remove the sticker with its radio frequncy chip. All exit terminals are clearly labeled , it is your responsibility to stop on your way out. They will not throw spikebelts or grenades at you to get your attention. Much of the traffic passing these points is internal Mexican vehicles with no need for border crossing processing
At Tapachula if you come in via either of the 2 possible crossings you can get the paperwork done at the terminal west of the city on Mex 200 , buildings are on N side of road at junction with the bypass from Cd.Hidalgo border crossing.

On the Panam Highway crossing to Mex 190 at Mesilla GT the Mexican terminal is 4km down the mountain in Cd Cuauhtemoc, north side , can't miss.
At El Ceibo SE of Tenosique ( north west corner of the Peten)the GT side has only partial sevice , the Mexican terminal is right at border open limited hours.
If you go via Belize the Mex terminal is at Subte.Lopez cannot be missed ( 20km west of Chetumal)

Mex Border
 

Hello Mark, hello Sjoerd

thanx for the answers, we will give it a try at Mesilla, GT.
We have credit cards so it should be no problem.

:clap:Karen and Goetz