Household goods, car and pet to Mexico: the stamped list, the car that may never go definitively, and a certificate of fifteen days

If you move to Mexico, three different rules apply to your household goods, your car and your pet, and they diverge widely:

• The household goods are simple if the list is right.
• The car is almost always a sale.
• The pet is easier than within Europe.

The overview:

Item	What the rule is	Clock or cost
Household goods	free of duties with the consular certificate to a list per appliance	fee 3,475.29 pesos; the shipment stays close to your own arrival
Car, temporary card	temporary import via Banjercito, as long as the card is valid	deposit 400 dollars (car of 2007 or younger), permit 45 dollars online or 51 dollars at customs, plus VAT
Car, permanent card	no temporary import; definitive import only for cars from Mexico, the US or Canada	sell in the Netherlands
Driving licence	no exchange; medical check, theory and practical test in your state	fees per state
Pet	health certificate, rabies, deworming	certificate at most fifteen days old; inspection by SENASICA

The household goods: the certificate to the list

Used household goods enter the country free of duties and VAT with a certificado de menaje de casa, a certificate for your household goods. The Mexican consulate issues it. That is the same consulate as for your visa, so combine the appointments.

The certificate belongs to a list of everything that comes along, and that list is the work:

• per appliance brand, model and serial number;
• everything used;
• in Spanish.

The fees are in article 22 of the Ley Federal de Derechos: 3,475.29 pesos for a foreigner's list, in the text of 7 November 2025.

What may not be on it: vehicles, new things, and anything that looks like trade. What the card does with it differs:

• Whoever has a permanent card imports definitively.
• Whoever has a temporary card imports temporarily, for the duration of the card and the renewals, and is meant to take the things along again on departure.

In practice you only notice that difference when you leave. But it's on the certificate.

The shipment has to stay close to your own arrival. Have your mover read the list beforehand, because one missing serial number is a discussion at the port that costs weeks.

The car: temporary, or not

This is the item most people count on working out.

A residente temporal (temporary resident) may import their car on foreign plates temporarily via Banjercito, the Mexican army's bank that issues these permits. The terms:

• a permit that is valid exactly as long as the residence card;
• a deposit of 400 dollars for a car of 2007 or younger;
• a permit of 45 dollars online or 51 dollars at customs, plus VAT.

The car may not be sold or lent. It has to leave the country before the permit expires, or be extended with the card.

A residente permanente (permanent resident) may not. The ANAM, the Mexican customs agency, is unambiguous about it: permanent residents fall outside temporary import. Whoever goes from temporary to permanent therefore has to drive the car out of the country or regularise it. And the latter isn't possible.

Because definitive import of a used car is, under the decree of November 2024, since extended, only possible for cars built in Mexico, the United States or Canada. A European car never gets Mexican plates. So count on selling in the Netherlands and buying again in Mexico, where cars are more expensive than here. The temporary route is for whoever insists on keeping the car around for a few years, and then drives it back after all.