Mags and I (www.panamericanadventure.com) have temporarily had to abandon our 2 bikes in Mexico last September to return to Belfast to deal with a family emergency (my Mum had Cancer & died in November).

We entered Mexico from Belize at Chetumal, where we were given 30 day temporary import permits for the bikes & told we could extend these at any Aduana in Mexico. On receiving the bad news from home we rode to Puebla where the bikes have been left with a friend. However on trying to extend the permits, no one in Mexican customs could help or knew what we were were talking about. In the end we just left.

Then in January, just as we were planning to return to Mexico, Mags Mum was dianosed with lung cancer and the outlook is not good. We cannot forsee a return to our trip in the near future and are concerned about what to do with the bikes. They are in a very safe place with the batteries disconnected & will not be used on the road until we return. However can anyone advise on what we need to do or even where we need to go to eventually sort this out? We know that if we return & try to ride with invalid permits, then the bikes are liable to fines or even confiscation. It would settle our minds somewhat if we at least knew what we had to do.

I've tried contacting the British Embassy who offered to put us in touch with a lawyer. The Mexican embassy in the UK had no idea & any websites we look at all seem to deal with border crossings from the US only. If anyone can help with advice we'd be so grateful.

Norman

[This message has been edited by Normanmags (edited 16 February 2005).]

[This message has been edited by Normanmags (edited 09 October 2005).]

Legally speaking, you should be able to extend the validity of your import permit as long as you extend your Visa.
The text extracted from the website from Aduana Mexico explains it, though it doesn´t deal with a case like yours.

http://www.aduanas.sat.gob.mx/webadu...ehiculos_Tema1

1.1.10 ¿Puede darse una prórroga del plazo para la importación temporal de vehículos?

Si, si se es extranjero. Para ello, la persona que goce de una prórroga, respecto a su calidad migratoria, podrá ampliar en los mismos términos el plazo para retornar su vehículo. Para estos efectos no se requerirá obtener prórroga ante las autoridades aduaneras, pudiéndose acreditar la extensión del plazo de permanencia legal del vehículo en territorio nacional, con el documento oficial que emita la autoridad migratoria, prorrogando la estancia en el país de la persona que importó el vehículo; pero para efectos de no perder la garantía deberá presentar personalmente, en cualquiera de las 48 aduanas del país, un escrito (en formato libre) en el cual avise de su prórroga, dentro de los diez días hábiles siguientes a aquél en que se la hayan otorgado; deberá anexar copia de la misma, así como de la solicitud de importación temporal del vehículo; también puede enviar estos documentos por mensajería, al siguiente domicilio:

Administración General de Aduanas
Administración Central de Planeación Aduanera
Av. Hidalgo No. 77, Módulo IV, primer piso
Col. Guerrero, Delegación Cuauhtémoc
Código Postal 06300, México, D.F.

I think you need to contact an agency specializing in vehicle importation and see if they can help you out. But also try to contact Aduana by phone and see if you can find someone who can help you.

Good Luck
Nelson

__________________
Nelson Oliveira
RTW 2003-6
Around a Mote of Dust

My recomendation is to travel as soon as possible to México, get your bikes and drive out of the country.-
When you first came to México, Aduana gave you a permiso for your bike.- Before leaving the country, at the border, go to the Banjercito office and give them this papers. That is all that you have to do.-The law (if you read what is on the previous post) says that the permit for your bike goes as long as YOU have a permit to be in México.- I apologize for my bad english and hope you understand what I mean.- I tell you this because I am from Chile, living in Mexico. I have a car that I temporaly imported from Chile. My car is legally in México as long as my permission to be in Mexico is valid.- I dont need to revalidate the permit for my car. This is no longer needed. If you want e-mail me and I will help you as far as I can do it.
Saludos, Alvaro.-

------------------

Thanks everyone for your help with this and we have now solved the problem. Due to family illnesses at home we had to leave the bikes in Mexico with a friend for just over 1 year. Catch 22 is this... You can only ride with a valid Permiso (temproary import permit). These are only issued at the frontier - NO OTHER CUSTOMS OFFICE HAS THE FACILITY TO ISSUE THESE. We therefore need to travel to the frontier to get the permits cancelled or renewed. If we get stopped the bikes could get confiscated if we don't have a valid permiso but you can only get this at the frontier!

The solution: you need a document called a 'Retorno Seguro' issued by the Aduanas in Mexico City at 77 Ave Hidalgo - at Alameda Park right in the historic centre. The staff were friendly, courteous and extremely helpful and within 20 minutes we had the documents at no cost. You need your passport, vehicle registration, old permisos etc but it was no problem. The Retorno Seguro is a transit permit that gives you 5 days safe passage to any frontier crossing. Once there you can either cancel the old permit & leave Mexico or cancel it and get a new one if you want to go back to see this lovely country. It took another 20 minutes to sort all this out at Matamoros / Brownsville Tx. Again there was no cost or problems at all.

Norman & Maggie

There is another way to do this:

I kept a bike for a friend a long time. After her return her permit had exipred. She renwed it in an office very close to the race track in Mexico City at no cost. If anyone needs it I can find out the exact address.

Balam

__________________
To get to the point you don´t know, you must take the road that you don´t know.