TalkBaja.com » Baja Mexico Forums » Moving to Baja Full/Part Time

Hello all. I am planning on residing in La Paz within the next year or so from Canada. I would like to bring all of my possessions...............a self contained travel trailer/RV, truck, motorcycle, and 25' cruiser boat. Does anyone know the ins/outs I need to be aware of to make this happen? Thanks to all who respond..

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, might I ask if you own property in La Paz or plan to rent? Have you begun the visa procedures? As far as bringing all your stuff down at once I strongly recommend you contract with a customs broker at the border before crossing as they will make all the bureaucracy much easier.

And welcome to the forum...

Thanks. I own a condo in Cabo, but would be bringing my RV down to live in on private property owned owned by a Mexican citizen. No, I have not started the Visa process, but will in February when I come back down for a holiday. So, how does the broker work? Do I bring my belongings and contact the broker there or prior? Thanks .

The broker will handle all your paperwork and fees for your furniture and personal belongings. It is well worth the fee they charge and they can almost always save you money as they know the in's and out's with the process.

I suggest you get in contact with the agent before leaving Canada. They will give you a list of things you will need to provide and it will be much easier to get all your ducks lined up at home before you head to the border with all your stuff.

Are you planning to get permits for your vehicles or permanently import them?

I had a very bad time with moving items from Toronto, Ontario, Canada to La Paz about 1 1/2 ago.

If you wish you can PM me and I will fill you in as to how I solved the situation.
I check in here every couple of days.




Re PM: That is unless it is an advantage to other forum members for future info I have no issues responding in this thread. It might get a bit long with some commercial recommendations.

I for one would be curious to know how you did it?

Originally Posted by beachbum

I for one would be curious to know how you did it?

The more info the better imho.

Originally Posted by CDN_JOHNNY

I had a very bad time with moving items from Toronto, Ontario, Canada to La Paz about 1 1/2 ago.

1 1/2 days? Weeks? Months? Years? Lifetimes?

Or was it just simply 1 1/2 ago???

Initially, I just want to get my RV, motorcycle, and boat down there first, so the vehicle would be imported later. This whole move will be a transition done over at least 6 months. I plan to eventually live there 1/2 time according to the laws of the lands.......as I will keep an address in Canada. Does anyone know of a contact for the brokers near the border? And I plan to do a trip down HWY 101, and I think this will get me through the TJ border entry? Thanks.

Originally Posted by greganthony2222

Does anyone know of a contact for the brokers near the border? And I plan to do a trip down HWY 101, and I think this will get me through the TJ border entry? Thanks.

http://apps.cbp.gov/brokers/index.asp?portCode=2506

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

1 1/2 days? Weeks? Months? Years? Lifetimes?

Or was it just simply 1 1/2 ago???

Humm, I guess a few too many Tequilas

1 1/2 Years ago

Hey, it's 5:00 o'clock somewhere....

We got quotes from all the big guys (Movers) to move our household goods to Mexico from Toronto.
The prices were outrageous, so I started asking some of them questions like.
1) How long will it take. 2) What is the shipping route. 3) Where is the broker located.....
The answers from all the people that replied to questions were basically the same and lead me to beleive they use the same broker.

Broker = Main office in Mexico City.
Shipping Time = approximately 12 weeks +/- 2 weeks.
Shiiping route from Toronto = Toronto > Florida > Ship to Mexico Main Land > Ship from Mexico Main Land to La Paz.

Because I had involvement in shipping Items from the Toronto area when I worked in Mexico I decided to.

- I first found a Mexican Shipping Company (Arnian) that has a offices in the US and Mexico.
- I got pricing and used one of the big name moving companies from Toronto to Arnian's San Diego office.
- We (wife and myself) drafted the Menaje de Casa in English and Spanish, had it reviewed and stamped at Mexican Consulate in Toronto in advance.
- With the Menage and a Letter from me to Arnian giving them permission to transport my Classic Car, they handled all the paper work at border and moved our goods to La Paz and arranged for a crew to unload and move items into our new house.
- We unpacked to check for damages with their help and they even took all the packaging material away with them.

For us myself and the moving companies agent calculated that we required a 1/2 trailer for household items so I decided to transport my Classic car with the other goods.

The total cost in the end was less than 1/2 the cost quoted.

Also note the regulations for bringing USED personal and household items into Baja / Sonora are different than for the rest of Mexico.

Link to Arnian - Servicios Integrales Arnian | Import Export Services in Baja California, Mexico.
For the Menage there are some really great samples available on internet.
i.e. Menaje

I understand that all moving companies ship to Main Land Mexico either via Lorredo or as mentioned above when shipping to Baja when shipping from the Eastern US or Canada.
It may be different from the West coast.

Yeahbut, yeahbut.....CDN_JOHNNY, you dutifully listened to me & then promptly FORGOT to stop @ the border to get your FMM's! But I've heard rumors that the penalty fees for getting this far south w/o the proper paperwork have been reduced or eliminated completely. But since it's THE LAW, I don't recommend sneaking in!

Welcome to the neighborhood greganthony2222! La Paz is a pretty nice place!

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

Yeahbut, yeahbut.....CDN_JOHNNY, you dutifully listened to me & then promptly FORGOT to stop @ the border to get your FMM's!

True Legs, so true but I was not suggesting he sneak in I just forgot to tell him he had to stop and get a "Tourist Visa" his first trip down. Thank you for correcting that. :)

I have not seen you on here in so long I thought you Moved out.

ME?? Move?? Not hardly!!
I had a nasty head cold for 3 weeks over the holidays & then December 28th I lost my internet connection. I've averaged maybe 5-10 minutes of connection each day....usually only in random little 30-60 second bursts throughout the day! I believe I've now personally met at least 25-50% of the Telmex Tech's in the La Paz area; there have been at least 10 different techs dropping by to see if they can figure out what the problem is over the past 3+ weeks!

I knew you weren't suggesting that greganthony2222 follow your example (oversight) & sneak in! I just couldn't let the opportunity to give you a bad time pass by silently! Nice to know somebody missed me! Dang! Now I'll have to stop picking on you!

I figured you had gone on vacation somewhere???

Really good to see you back posting Legz....

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

http://apps.cbp.gov/brokers/index.asp?portCode=2506

Ron.....these seem to be US brokers. Is that what he's looking for?

Here's someone else.....one of many on Google:

San Diego/Otay Mesa, CA - R.L. Jones Customhouse Brokers, Inc.

Originally Posted by DENNIS

Ron.....these seem to be US brokers. Is that what he's looking for?

Here's someone else.....one of many on Google:

San Diego/Otay Mesa, CA - R.L. Jones Customhouse Brokers, Inc.

I think that any of the brokers who are on that CBP list handle importing in both directions; at least that has been my experience with dealing with some of them when importing equipment for our abalone project.

Originally Posted by greganthony2222

I plan to eventually live there 1/2 time according to the laws of the lands.......as I will keep an address in Canada.

WHICH laws of WHICH land? Are you referring to the Mexican restriction of 180-days in the country on the FMM (temporary tourist visa) or the Canadian laws regarding your health care being cancelled if you're out of the country more than 6 months each year?