ATTENTION UW PHOTOGRAPHERS:

[HalcyonDaze]

I came up with two contradictory anecdotes about this (quotes lightly edited with one name redacted):

"I was taxed on mine last May; me and a few others got it that trip. The people who went in Mexico City were fine. I got away with $160; I had to negotiate it down to that. It was going to be much higher as 16% on $3,500 is not cheap. I tried to tell them the value I paid was $500 and I got it used but they didn’t care unless I had a receipt to prove it and went off Backscatter’s website of the the product. Other people on our trip paid more and some paid less; one person paid $80 and we both have Nauticam housings. They are taxing it as merchandise."

"I've heard a lot of mixed things - very few negative stuff from real experiences, just 'Oh, I heard a friend of a friend of a friend had a problem,' etc. However, [REDACTED] has been in and out basically monthly and had no issues."

 

[maadJurguer]

So what is the solution here? Other than, "I'm never going to Mexico again...", Which is analagous hyperbole to, "I'm never flying this airline again....", What's a person to do if you're traveling with a big sexy DSLR and some gear? It sounds like it's hit and miss with travelers here or there, so if you get hit....what's your best defense in terms of documentation, etc.?

 

[davehicks]

I'm thinking you put your housing and strobes, etc in to your Samsonite suitcase and hope for the best.

 

[cephalopod2]

Thanks very much @HalcyonDaze - I had been wondering if folks flying through Mexico City were getting hit.

If anyone hears info from the Loreto airport I hope they will add it.

Does anyone know if ppl with large soft-sided camera gear backpacks (e.g. Lowepro) and dive bags are being targeted?

We almost booked Baja for this Dec before I found this thread. Very glad we didn't.

I came up with two contradictory anecdotes about this (quotes lightly edited with one name redacted):

"I was taxed on mine last May; me and a few others got it that trip. The people who went in Mexico City were fine. I got away with $160; I had to negotiate it down to that. It was going to be much higher as 16% on $3,500 is not cheap. I tried to tell them the value I paid was $500 and I got it used but they didn’t care unless I had a receipt to prove it and went off Backscatter’s website of the the product. Other people on our trip paid more and some paid less; one person paid $80 and we both have Nauticam housings. They are taxing it as merchandise."

"I've heard a lot of mixed things - very few negative stuff from real experiences, just 'Oh, I heard a friend of a friend of a friend had a problem,' etc. However, [REDACTED] has been in and out basically monthly and had no issues."

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Thanks very much @HalcyonDaze - I had been wondering if folks flying through Mexico City were getting hit.

If anyone hears info from the Loreto airport I hope they will add it.

Does anyone know if ppl with large soft-sided camera gear backpacks (e.g. Lowepro) and dive bags are being targeted?

We almost booked Baja for this Dec before I found this thread. Very glad we didn't.

I'm still planning on a Baja trip next year, but I will be paying close attention to further reports ... and thinking creatively about my packing arrangements.

 

[scubafanatic]

I'd say in Mexico the tax is the least of your problems. Please don't stick your heads in the sand and think its just peachy and safe when it isn't.

A major loss of tourism dollars may force the government to start fighting the cartels and corruption.

Mexico is a 'Failed State' :

Mexico Loses Its Sovereignty to Cartels
President López Obrador’s strategy to negotiate with drug capos is not working.

Opinion | Mexico Loses Its Sovereignty to Cartels
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Drug Cartel Just Defeated The Mexican Military In Battle
Mexico is in a state of collapse, and Americans need to realize that the crisis underway south of the Rio Grande won’t stop at the border.

A Drug Cartel Just Defeated The Mexican Military In Battle
------------------------------------------------------------------
How the Sinaloa Drug Cartel Clobbered the Mexican Army

How the Sinaloa Drug Cartel Clobbered the Mexican Army - The American Conservative

I went thru Cancun in April with a pelican case. It was flagged and I had to unpack everything also. The agent and floor supervisor didn't seem to believe it was a camera and called someone else. When he arrived he just waved me thru. No big deal, it just took another 15 minutes.

So they were unable to identify a camera as a camera ???

Is this also happening in Cozumel?

I'm sure it will, don't want too many cameras down there recording/publicizing the 'White Death' exterminating their reefs, especially potential pro photographers.

Again, the customs officers take credit cards to pay the "use fee" on you UW housing. You should receive a receipt.

and Vaseline.

Now that I have returned from Baja California, Mexico, here is what I know 1st hand. If you fly into Cabo San Lucas or into La Paz, Mexico, expect to pay a fee if the Customs agents stop you and notice that you have an underwater housing. The agent will Google the housing on the spot to see it’s worth, then demand that you pay 16% of that price. Many new DSLR UW housings are $4,000 or more. You will pay $640 US dollars to use that fancy new housing in Baja Mexico.

I ran into a pro photographer that I know who happened to be staying in the same hotel. He was leading a small underwater photo tour in La Paz. The vacationers were all from Switzerland and they all told me that they had to pay exorbitant fees for their camera housings and their video housings at La Paz airport even though they were all amateurs themselves.

Customs officials are targeting underwater photographers at the airport in Cabo and in La Paz. If you have a hard-sided protective travel case for your gear they will stop you. The customs agent said I was allowed 2 cameras and the things that go along with that, BUT an underwater housing must be taxed by Mexican customs laws even if you are not a professional. The Customs agent showed me the documentation regarding this law.

I told the officer that my housing was old and maybe worth $200 which is true since it is 7 years old. He got out his cell phone and looked up the model name and number (Olympus PT-EP08 UW case for E-M5) and said it was worth at least $300. In order for me to enter the country and use MY OWN underwater camera case for personal use (I do not earn a living by photography nor do I sell my photos online or in another way) I had to pay $50 US dollars to keep my housing with me.

FYI: Customs officers in Cabo San Lucas airport take credit cards BTW.


Even though Cabo/La Paz is the nearest warm water diving destination to my home, this will be my last vacation here for underwater photography. If you have a nondescript, soft-sided carry-on suitcase that you can carry all of you underwater housings in, then do it. If you have to check your underwater housings through with a hard case and your dive gear is packed in a bag with a diving insignia on it, they will stop you. If they find an underwater camera housing in you luggage, the Mexican authorities will nail you for 16% of the value of that housing at the price that they find online.

They've caught on to a real money tree now, and are probably right in assuming most tourists will just suck it up and pay. This needs to be publicized and the boycott begun!

I'm still planning on a Baja trip next year, but I will be paying close attention to further reports ... and thinking creatively about my packing arrangements.

Can you hide your camera/fancy housings from the airport X-ray machines ?

 

[chillyinCanada]

I don't understand why they aren't just charging for a standard permit fee required to be collected and submitted by dive companies. Of course, the dive companies will have it added to your invoice, sort of un the same way we pay airport fees, departure fees, marine park fees.

 

[Jcp2]

The advantage of an airport collected fee by customs is that those monies can be immediately appropriated into the salary budget of the officers, rather than going through a wasteful administrative process that may forgo additional opportunities for department revenue enhancement. It promotes smaller government and the individual rights of the officers. It’s a check from the tourist without a corresponding balanced regulator. All that money into photo gear, nothing left for anything better than a mk2.

 

[JackConnick]

The advantage of an airport collected fee by customs is that those monies can be immediately appropriated into the salary budget of the officers, rather than going through a wasteful administrative process that may forgo additional opportunities for department revenue enhancement. It promotes smaller government and the individual rights of the officers. It’s a check from the tourist without a corresponding balanced regulator. All that money into photo gear, nothing left for anything better than a mk2.

Kind of like a shakedown? ie extortion and corruption?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The advantage of an airport collected fee by customs is that those monies can be immediately appropriated into the pocket of the officers.

Fixed