Moving to Mexico has become very popular these days. The Google search terms moving to Mexico and move to Mexico have been spiking recently as aspiring expats from the U.S., Canada and other countries discover what the 1 million expats in Mexico already know: Mexico is a great place to live.
To help those aspiring expats who are planning or considering a move to Mexico this year, we’ve put together a new article called, “Moving to Mexico: International Moving Companies.” It’s the first of two articles on how to move your belongings to Mexico.
We decided to start with the international moving company process because nearly one-third of expats who have responded so far to our Expats In Mexico 2017 annual survey have used moving companies for all or some of their household goods.
This is the preferred method for expats who purchase homes and wish to bring a large portion or all of their possessions from the U.S., Canada or other countries. But, as you will see, it’s not inexpensive.
The article takes you through the process of moving to Mexico in detail, beginning with the type of visa required to ship your goods to Mexico and all the immigration and Mexico Customs information you’ll need to know.
To get a current view of process and cost, I contacted three major international moving companies in the San Francisco Bay Area for a move to Puerto Vallarta: Crown Relocation, Bekins and Allied.
All three companies were very responsive and were represented by very knowledgeable professionals who came to my home to determine what household goods would be shipped to Mexico.
The in-home interview process took about 30 – 45 minutes and included an inventory of all items to be shipped, as well as a careful explanation of what the company would provide and my role in the process. The estimates ranged from less than US$17,000 to more than US$21,000, so it definitely pays to get multiple estimates.
Since costs are based on the weight of your shipment, the less you ship, the more you save. Most companies have a minimum of about US$5,000, which works out to shipping about 1,000 lbs. of household goods.
We’ll do a second article soon that will focus on alternative ways to move your possessions to Mexico, like self-moving and sell and replace. For those renting homes in Mexico, these methods are popular options because over 90 percent of the long-term rental homes in Mexico are furnished.
If you have moved to Mexico in the last year or two and self-moved or sold everything and replaced what you needed once you arrived in Mexico, please contact me at info@expatsinmexico.com. We would like to know how you went about it.
