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If you are not up to speed on the latest on Mexico's APIS regulations, then you better be.

The old email reporting method that existed for about 10 years has been replaced and the present method requires the completion and submission of the ARINC version 1.2C Excel spreadsheet. This spreadsheet has to be submitted to the email address: [email protected] 30 minutes prior to departure. The spreadsheet can also be submitted through the ARINC eGOV portal or through some 3'rd party APIS providers that link to the eGOV portal. However, the use of any other spreadsheet version is no longer accepted.

We have seen that Mexican Immigration at a number of airports are now taking a very hard line on these submissions and verifying that operators are complying with the submission requirement as well as the timing of submission. In addition, they are also checking the submitted data for errors and we are aware of penalty cases being initiated. It appears that at some airports, local immigration officials have access to the central repository of APIS submissions so they can see if the manifest was submitted.

For many years, the Mexican APIS procedure was taken for granted and not a lot of concern was placed on the timeliness and quality. Those days appear to be over under the present government. We are seeing officials at certain airports reviewing the Excel spreadsheets with a fine-tooth comb looking for any errors (content as well as format). Even the most trivial errors are being flagged by Mexican immigration. Pay SPECIAL ATTENTION to the formats for dates and times and that airport codes are in IATA format and not ICAO, as these have gotten some submitters into trouble.