If you’re a Canadian travelling to Mexico, you may want to rethink how many electronic devices you bring in your bag. Bringing too many could result in a hefty fine.
You may not be aware, but Mexico has a strict list of tax-exempt items that travellers can bring in their luggage when visiting the country.
Specifically, when it comes to tech, travellers are limited to: “two cameras or camcorders and camera gear; three cellphones or other wireless devices; one GPS; one electronic organizer; one laptop, notebook, omnibook or other portable computing device; one portable copier or printer; one CD burner and one portable overhead projector and its accessories.”
This means you can’t bring multiples of these items in your luggage, or you may have to pay.
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For example, one individual recently documented their experience travelling to Cancun and being stopped and fined at the airport for the number of tech devices they had brought with them.
“After rummaging around in our bags pretty thoroughly, [Mexican airport authorities] discovered my work laptop and cira-2015 iPad mini tucked away in one of the pockets,” wrote the traveller on Reddit.
“They counted the Mini as a second device… and fined me about $100 for bringing it in… So if you’re headed there, just know that they enforce the whole one-device policy pretty strictly these days.”
In the Reddit thread, multiple questions and comments about the policy were posted, with some folks asking if the limit applies per person or per family.
The Government of Mexico does specify on its website, but several people in the Reddit thread said it was “per person.”
Daily Hive has reached out to the government of Mexico to clarify details about its rule and is awaiting further comments.
Other travellers expressed their disappointment with the rule, saying they weren’t aware of it either before travelling.
“I had to learn that this was a thing from this [Reddit] sub. They definitely don’t make this a well-known thing,” said one commenter. “My husband and I recently went for a work trip that was booked by his company and no one was made aware of this at all.”
“What kind of BS is this?” remarked another. “What does it matter if you bring more than one computing device?”
Before you travel to Mexico, be sure to review the full list of tax-exempt items here.