If you import from China to Mexico, sooner or later someone will mention IMMEX — usually as a way to “avoid the duty.” It is a real and powerful program, but it is narrower than most people think. It is built for export-oriented manufacturers, not for resellers, and a December 2024 change removed one of the categories people most often asked about: apparel. Here is what IMMEX is, who it is for, and who it is not for.

What IMMEX actually is

IMMEX stands for Industria Manufacturera, Maquiladora y de Servicios de Exportación — Mexico’s program for export manufacturing. In plain terms, it lets an approved company temporarily import the things it needs to make a product — raw materials, components, packaging, and machinery — with the duties and VAT deferred instead of paid up front.

The key word is temporary. The deal is simple: you bring inputs into Mexico without paying duty/VAT at the border, you process or assemble them into a finished good, and you re-export that finished good within set time limits. Because the inputs are not staying in Mexico to be consumed domestically, they are treated as in-transit rather than as a normal import.

A company you might hear called a maquiladora is, in modern terms, simply an IMMEX-registered manufacturer — typically running an assembly or production operation in Mexico and shipping the output abroad.

How the duty and VAT deferral works

Under an ordinary import, you pay import duty and IVA (Mexican VAT) when the goods clear customs. Under IMMEX, those charges are deferred on the temporarily imported inputs, on the condition that the goods leave the country again as part of a finished product.

Inputs and components — fabric, parts, chemicals, packaging — come in duty/VAT-deferred, get built into the finished good, and go back out.
Machinery and equipment used in the production process can also be brought in under the program.
Re-export within the time limit is what keeps the deferral valid. If the goods are not re-exported as required, the deferred duty and VAT become payable — IMMEX is not a way to skip the tax, it is a way to suspend it while the goods are genuinely passing through.

That is the whole logic: Mexico does not want to tax inputs that are only in the country to be turned into exports. It does want to tax goods that stay and are sold domestically.

Who IMMEX is for — and who it is not

This is where most confusion starts. IMMEX is for manufacturers and maquiladoras with an export operation. It is not a general import discount.

It is a good fit if you:

Make or assemble a product in Mexico and ship the finished goods abroad (often to the US).
Bring in inputs, components, or production machinery from China or elsewhere as part of that process.
Can track the imported material against what you re-export, and meet the program’s compliance and reporting obligations.

It is not the right tool if you:

Import finished goods to sell inside Mexico. That is ordinary commercial importing — pay the duty and clear normally.
Are a reseller, distributor, or trader moving product into the Mexican market.
Are an Amazon Mexico FBA seller. FBA inventory is sold domestically to Mexican buyers, so it does not fit the re-export model — see our Amazon Mexico FBA freight guide for how that import actually works.

If your goods are staying in Mexico to be sold, IMMEX is not your route. You import through the normal channel.

IMMEX is separate from ordinary clearance

It is worth being clear that IMMEX sits alongside, not instead of, the normal import process. Ordinary imports still go through the pedimento (the customs declaration) and require you to be registered on the Padrón de Importadores (the importers’ registry). Most companies bringing goods from China to Mexico — including nearly all resellers and FBA sellers — import this way, paying duty, or arrange DDP shipping so the forwarder handles the freight, duty, and clearance for one price. If you are new to Mexican clearance, start with how to import from China to Mexico: pedimento and Padrón.

IMMEX is the specialist channel for export manufacturers; the pedimento route is the default for everyone else.

The December 2024 change: apparel out of temporary import

In December 2024, Mexico amended IMMEX in a way that mattered a lot for one industry. Apparel goods — broadly the products in HS Chapters 61, 62, and 63 (knitted and woven garments, and made-up textile articles), with certain exceptions — were added to Annex I, the list of goods that cannot be temporarily imported under IMMEX.

In plain terms: the duty-free temporary-import channel for those apparel products was removed. Companies that had been bringing finished or near-finished apparel into Mexico under IMMEX could no longer use the program for those items.

This sat alongside higher textile and apparel tariffs introduced in the same period, so apparel was hit from two directions — fewer ways to defer duty, and a higher duty to pay.
It reflects a wider policy direction: Mexico has been steadily protecting domestic textile and garment producers, and IMMEX was one channel being tightened. For the bigger tariff picture, see Mexico’s 2026 tariffs on Chinese imports.

If your business touches apparel and you were relying on IMMEX, this is the change to check carefully against your exact HS codes and any exceptions, because the route many used is no longer open for these products.

The bottom line

IMMEX is a genuine advantage — but only if you are an export-oriented manufacturer bringing in inputs, components, or machinery to build products that leave Mexico again. It lets you defer duty and VAT on those inputs, on the firm condition that you re-export and stay compliant. It is not a discount for resellers or FBA sellers selling into the Mexican market, and since December 2024 it no longer covers most apparel as a temporary import. If you are not sure which route fits your goods — IMMEX, ordinary pedimento clearance, or DDP — send us the product and HS code on WhatsApp and we will tell you the cleanest, most accurate way to ship it from China to Mexico.

The IMMEX Program Explained (and the 2024 Textile Changes)