- I personally met someone here in Mexico
who's now serving a five-year prison sentence
for doing something that you might not even realize
is illegal.
So in this video, I'm gonna tell you the story
about what exactly happened to her,
as well as some other things you should not do
to avoid getting in serious trouble when coming to Mexico.
The first thing you should not do
is drive your foreign-plated car
outside of the free zone in Mexico
without getting a Temporary Import Permit,
because if you do, your car can be confiscated.
And to get your car out of impound,
the fines are often more than the value of your entire car.
So because of this, it's very, very important
that you know where the free zones are in Mexico,
and that is the entire Baja peninsula,
part of the state of Sonora,
so basically west of Highway 15 and north of Guaymas.
And in addition to those two places,
within 25 kilometers of the border
and the entire state of Quintana Roo.
However,
since Quintana Roo is on the other side of the country,
you literally have to drive through the whole country
to get your car there.
So even if your end destination is Quintana Roo
and you're coming from the US or Canada,
you still need to get that Temporary Import Permit
to be able to drive across the country safely.
The next thing you should not do in Mexico
is drive without a good insurance policy,
because car crashes work different here.
If there's a car crash
where someone is seriously injured or killed,
well, then all of the drivers involved in that crash
are probably going to be taken to jail
until it's determined who's at fault
and there's settlement talks
that are discussed and agreed upon
that the at-fault parties will be paying
to the non-at-fault injured parties.
And if you have a good insurance policy
with good liability coverage,
well, then that insurance company
is going to be providing the legal support you need,
they're going to be posting your bail,
so you get out of jail quickly,
and they're also going to be paying
that agreed-upon settlement to the injured party,
so you're not responsible for that out of pocket.
And if you don't have a good insurance policy,
you are going to be responsible
for finding and hiring a lawyer,
you are going to be responsible for paying your own bail,
and you're going to have to pay out of pocket
for the agreed-upon settlement to the injured parties
or the family of the injured parties.
And if you don't have the money for this,
well, then you could be in jail for a very, very long time.
And something else to be extremely careful about
is relying on the insurance policy
provided by your US credit card,
because there are a lot of credit card companies
that provide rental car insurance.
However, I've never seen one of these
that provides liability insurance.
Yes, a lot of them provide car rental insurance,
but the ones I've seen, they only cover the value of the car
or like injuries to the people inside your own car,
not third-party liability protection.
So make sure you have that third-party liability protection
if you're driving in Mexico.
And if you're driving your own car here,
well, I've used a company called GNP Seguros
for my insurance.
And for a car valued at less than $20,000,
this insurance was between like $450 and $550 per year.
The next thing you should not do when coming to Mexico
is overstay your visa.
When you come to Mexico as a foreigner,
you're going to get something called an FMM.
It's this little tourists card
that has your information on it,
as well as a number
that states how long you're allowed to stay in the country,
and that number can be as high as 180 days.
But if it's like, let's say for example, only 20 days,
well, then you have to leave the country within 20 days.
However, it's not always 180 days.
It could be like seven days or 20 days.
And just be sure to look at the number
they write on the card,
so you know how long you're allowed to stay in the country.
But if you're flying in,
this is going to be included
in the price of your plane ticket
and you're going to get it after you land in Mexico
when you go through immigration there.
But if you're driving in,
it is your responsibility to stop at the border
and pick up one of these.
You're going to have to pay for it.
It's about 30 US dollars.
Now, in all honesty, most people who overstay their visa,
nothing bad ever happens to them,
because if you have an expired FMM
and you drive across the border back into the United States,
you're good to go.
Or if you have an expired FMM and you're flying out,
well, then the day you're flying out,
you just go to the INM office
or the immigration office at the airport,
you pay about $30 dollars for a new one,
and then you're good to get a flight outta there.
The problem comes if you get stopped by immigration
before you're leaving the country,
because immigration likes to set up checkpoints,
especially in tourist areas, like in the Riviera Maya,
the Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, Tulum area.
They'll set up checkpoints.
They'll check everyone's papers,
and if yours are expired,
well, then you are being taken to a facility
which people describe as a jail or a prison.
It is not good conditions.
And people have been reported to be in there
for as long as a year.
So this is definitely not a situation
you want to get yourself in.
The next thing you should not do
when coming to Mexico as a foreigner
is getting involved in politics
or political affairs in this country.
Because if you do,
you can literally be removed from the country for doing so.
I should say that I'm sure this has happened,
but I've never personally heard
of a single instance of this.
If you have, let me know in the comments below.
The next thing I would strongly advise
when coming to Mexico
is don't get involved in Mexico's most dangerous jobs.
And I would say the two most dangerous jobs in Mexico
are becoming a politician,
and number two, doing anything related to the drug trade.
If you get involved in either one of these things,
well then, your chance of getting killed
or something seriously bad happens to you
probably increases 100-fold,
maybe a 1000-fold.
Like coming to Mexico as a tourist versus coming to Mexico
as someone who's trying to run for office
or decides to start distributing your own goods,
well, then you're probably gonna find yourself
in a lot of trouble.
And maybe I should add
a third really dangerous job in Mexico,
and that is being a journalist
who's reporting on the drug trade.
The next thing you should not do when coming to Mexico
is exceed the duty free limit,
especially for alcohol or cigarettes
or tobacco products for that matter.
But where I've heard of a lot of people getting in trouble
is them exceeding the duty free limit for cigarettes,
because maybe they're coming to Mexico for two weeks
and they smoke two packs a day,
so they're bringing 28 packs,
while the duty free limit is 10 packs of cigarettes.
And if you exceed the limit,
well, then they're going to hit you with massive fines.
I got a comment on this channel once
of someone saying this happened to them
and they were forced to pay like 1,500 US dollars
as a fine when entering the Cancun airport
with their cigarettes.
Then previously, we mentioned this
in a video we made on scams.
I'll link that video on scams right up here.
And a whole bunch of people in the comments of that video
said the same thing happened to them with cigarettes.
They had to pay massive fines,
because they exceeded the duty free limit.
When it comes to bringing most things into Mexico,
if you're over the duty free limit
and you declare that you're over the duty free limit,
well, then you pay a 16% tax
on whatever it is that you're over.
However, if you don't declare it and they catch you,
well, then you pay 116% tax.
So like if you're bringing in a $1,000 computer
that's over the duty free limit,
well, then if you declare it, you're paying $160 tax.
And if you don't declare it,
you're paying a $1,160 tax
on top of the $1,000 you already paid for the computer.
And I'm using the example of a computer,
because I have a personal, very bad experience with this.
I was coming into Mexico,
I was flying into Cancun with two computers
and I knew I was over the duty free limit,
because you're only allowed one computer.
I had an old computer that didn't work at all
and I had a new $1,500 dollar MacBook
that I had been using for about a week.
And according to customs,
I'm supposed to get one computer for free.
That would be the new MacBook
and then I would pay duties on that old computer.
But I went through customs,
I went to the "declare something" line,
and because I went to the declare something line,
they searched all of my stuff,
which pissed me off,
because I'm being honest and I'm going to the "declare" line
And then you're going to search all my stuff
as if I'm trying to smuggle something in.
And it got worse from there,
because I'm supposed to get my new MacBook
in the country for free,
because that's my duty free exception,
and then I would pay taxes on the cheap broken laptop.
Well, no, they're like,
you have to pay taxes on the new one,
which is not the case.
They screwed me at the Cancun airport.
I would just recommend not declaring anything,
but I'm not saying to break the law,
I'm saying to not be over the duty free limit for anything.
That's my advice.
Before I tell you that story
about what landed that girl I know in prison,
I wanted to say one more thing and that is,
don't be afraid to go to Mexico.
I realized that watching a video like this
can sound kind of scary,
but knowledge is power.
And knowing the things that I'm talking about in this video
is gonna help you out a lot.
So watch this video, watch a few other videos,
and you're going to be a lot more well-prepared
for coming to Mexico.
The next thing you should not do is bring guns
or ammunition into the country of Mexico,
whether you're flying or driving.
There's a common myth,
like if you go into Mexico expats Facebook groups
and you ask about getting a gun in Mexico,
you'll get hundreds of comments saying,
"guns are illegal here."
Well, no, they're not.
That's a myth,
but they are very strict about them.
So this woman I met a few years back in Mexico,
I found out about a year ago
that she's currently serving a prison sentence
in a Mexican prison,
because she was riding in a car
and that car got stopped at a checkpoint.
They searched the car and they found an illegal gun.
It wasn't even hers,
but she got five years in a Mexican prison.
Now, if you want to own a gun in Mexico,
don't come to someone like me,
trying to figure out how to do it legally,
get professional advice
from someone who really, really knows what they're doing.
You can own guns here,
but there are specific steps you need to take
to make sure it's in the country legally.
Something else you should not do is come to Mexico
without learning at least a little bit of Spanish.
My favorite course is called Rocket Languages.
It's an awesome course and it's a great value,
plus they have a 60-day money back guarantee,
so you can try it out totally risk free.
But better than all of that,
they're running their Memorial Day sale
this weekend only
it's only for the first 1,000 courses sold
and it's 60% off,
so go check that out.
You can go to TangerineSpanish.com.
That's my affiliate link
and it will take you right there.
Again, the first 1,000 courses sold,
TangerineSpanish.com.
When coming to Mexico,
whether that's to travel extensively,
to live, or even just to visit for a week or two,
well, knowledge is power.
And the more you learn from people like me,
who have actually been living here for a while,
the better off you're going to be
and the less likely you are to get in trouble.
So click on this video that we made on all the scams
that you may or may not encounter in Mexico.
And we will see you on Saturday morning.