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Crossing the border with pets


Betsy

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This morning I talked to a very tired, upset friend who had just returned from a car trip to the states . My friends, along with other travelers with pets, were obligated to wait at the border for their dogs and cats to be checked and cleared by a (surly) Mexican customs official vet, even though their pets had all of their documents in order. Four hours and a charge of $1000.00 mxn later, they were allowed to leave.

I am wondering if there is a new policy on pets or maybe one of the jefes needed some extra cash that day. Has anyone else been hassled at the border with their pets?

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This morning I talked to a very tired, upset friend who had just returned from a car trip to the states . My friends, along with other travelers with pets, were obligated to wait at the border for their dogs and cats to be checked and cleared by a (surly) Mexican customs official vet, even though their pets had all of their documents in order. Four hours and a charge of $1000.00 mxn later, they were allowed to leave.

I am wondering if there is a new policy on pets or maybe one of the jefes needed some extra cash that day. Has anyone else been hassled at the border with their pets?

Hmmmm. That is upsetting. Did your friend find out what they considered "out of order?" How do we find out if rules have changed? I am more suspect that someone had some bills to pay and needed some quick pesos? Was the 1000mxp per pet? Hope your friend gets their much needed R&R.

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Hmmmm. That is upsetting. Did your friend find out what they considered "out of order?" How do we find out if rules have changed? I am more suspect that someone had some bills to pay and needed some quick pesos? Was the 1000mxp per pet? Hope your friend gets their much needed R&R.

The customs officials did not say that there was something out of order. The pet owners had the health certificates and met all the requirements as we have always understood them, the documentation was not in cuestion. The Aduana simply made everyone, not just my friends, who was going through customs have their pets checked by their (the aduana´s) own vet as if it were just a matter of policy. The government vet was not even present. So Everyone, a group of people traveling independently of each other, had to sit around and wait for him to arrive so that their pet could be checked, this is why they had to wait 4 hours.

I did not ask her where they crossed, or how the $1000.00 mxn fee was calculated. I will see her on friday and ask.

Their pets were also extreamly stressed....but the good news is, her cat scratched up the vet pretty good.

To me it sounds like a ¨fundraiser¨ , not a new policy. They plan to at least try to report what happened and try to get some answers.

It makes me crazy when something like this happens, its not Like Mexico really needs another reason to discourage people from coming here. It is like biting the hand that feeds you.

I love Mexico but if I could have one crazy wish granted it would be that every single North American would not drop one single peso in Mexico for one whole month. After that maybe they would think twice about taking advantage of us.

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We cross at Laredo Colombia bridge at least 6 times a year with pets and have never had problems. We carry vaccination documents with us that are current. Only once we were asked if we had the papers, but were not asked to show the papers.

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We cross at Laredo Colombia bridge at least 6 times a year with pets and have never had problems. We carry vaccination documents with us that are current. Only once we were asked if we had the papers, but were not asked to show the papers.

I don´t know of anyone at all that has ever been asked to see their pets papers, except at the airport, I have crossed at 3 different locations with dogs and cats....never been asked for anything. This is why I think all of theese people were scammed. I looked on the internet and it seems that the requisitos are still the same.

I will post this afternoon where this happened. If I were traveling to Mexico with pets I think I would carry a copy of the requirements with me.

I have been a target, but never a victim of extorsion by a customs official in Laredo, an immigration official in Tijuana, a police officer in Guadalajara and various individuals or companys.

It can be intimidating, but I have found that if you are in the right you should stand up for yourself. If you stand your ground, you will win some of those battles. A good command of the Spanish language helps, so does being polite .....and then not so polite if they insist on scamming you.

Take out a piece of paper, write down names and badge #´s. Be persistant. Tell them point blank; ¨your badge does not give you the right to cheat me. I would like to speak to your superiour , please¨. This has worked on many occasions for me, but to remind you...I was right and within the law and speak more or less O.K. spanish. If you don´t have theese things going for you it might not work, but I would give it a shot anyway.

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I am sorry but I misunderstood, this incident took place at the Guadalajara airport, not at the border.

Entry requirements for pets are the same flying or driving and in my experience, documents and pets were checked before they were allowed on the plane.

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Guest RevImmigrant

First of all, THREE CHEERS FOR THE CAT: MEOW, MEOW, MEOW!

Secondly, they are getting extremely restrictive, not just on animals, but on bringing or sending in almost everything. My boxes had to be returned to my cousin's house because they claimed the contents were household goods (they contained some dishes, stainless steel flatware, all of which were new; some refrigerator magnets; small kitchen items and a down comfort with a bedsack). Years ago my sister-in-law shipped down some similar items, one or two boxes at a time, and the visa wasn't even a question; they were just delivered to my house.

You've all seen my previous postings about my experience with my 4 cats and the Aduana witch (excuse me, customs inspector). Really, a customs broker to bring in 2 mixed breed cats! And the Aduana witch insisted on speaking to me in Spanish even though I had just gotten off a flight from Germany.

How do you spell b-a-c-k-l-a-s-h?

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