Temporary Residents in Mexico: How to Renew Your Vehicle’s TIP by Mail

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 BY: QROO PAUL 

This post is directed toward temporary resident cardholders who have a foreign-plated vehicle with a temporary import permit, commonly referred to as a TIP.

The TIP is set to expire when your legal presence in the country does. If you just completed the process for a temporary resident visa in the U.S. but haven’t completed the second part of the process in Mexico, that expiration date is normally only 30 days because that’s how long you have to get to the immigration office.

Once you receive your temporary resident card (or you renew it), you must present written notification of the change of your legal status (with copies of the proof attached) within 15 days to any custom’s office in Mexico or to the main office, known as la Administración Central de Operación Aduanera. This requirement comes from the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT). 

The purpose of the notification is to change the expiration date of your TIP to coincide with the expiration date of your resident card. This will help ensure that you don’t lose your security deposit when you eventually turn the TIP back in.

If you don’t live near a custom’s office, the simplest way to make the notification is by mail. It’s important to note that the change might not be reflected on their website for a couple of months. The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly in Mexico.

Instructions for Renewing by Mail

1.  Write a letter asking for an extension of your TIP to match your temporary resident expiration date. You can draft your own or use the template below:

TIP Letter in PDF format

TIP Letter in Microsoft Word

Instructions for the TIP Letter Template

2. Make copies of your passport, driver’s license, vehicle registration, vehicle title, temporary resident card (front and back) and original TIP certificate.

3. Place letter and copies in an envelop that is addressed as follows:

Administración Central de Operación Aduanera
Temporal de Importación Vehículo
Av. Hidalgo No. 77, Módulo IV, 1° piso, Del. Cuauhtémoc
Col. Guerrero, C.P. 06300, México D.F.
Número de Permiso de Importación Temporal: TIP Number

4. Mail the above envelop by FedEx, UPS, or DHL to the following address:

Administración General de Aduanas
Administración Central de Operación Aduanera
Administración de Operación Aduanera “3”
Av. Hidalgo No. 77, Módulo IV, 1° piso, Del. Cuauhtémoc
Col. Guerrero, C.P. 06300, México D.F.
01 800 46 36 728

5. After mailing the request for extension, you can track your request at
https://portalsat.plataforma.sat.gob.mx/aduanas_cpitv_internet/index.aspx.

Be aware that it may take a couple of months for the new expiration date to appear on the site.

Let’s Wrap This Up

Whenever anyone tells me that they plan to bring their vehicle with them to Mexico, my standard response to them is not to do it. In most cases (and there are always exceptions) it’s just not worth the expense, hassle, paperwork, and stress.

In case you were unaware, they sell cars here in Mexico too.

About Us

I’m Paul (hence the nickname Qroo Paul) and I write all of the posts on this site. Linda, my wonderful wife of over 18 years, does all of the editing. We debuted this blog in May of 2016.

A little background about us. Linda and I are from Florida where I worked as a deputy sheriff and she worked as a director for a children’s advocacy center handling child abuse cases. In August of 2015, I retired at the rank of lieutenant after 25 years of service. Linda wasn’t eligible for retirement, but we decided to move to the Riviera Maya in Mexico anyway.

Source: Two Expats Mexico

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