Mexican (XE) amateur radio permits for foreigners
Updated 14 September 2018
WARNING!
Since 2014, the Mexican regulator IFT (sometimes called IFETEL) has not
issued permits to foreign radio amateurs. This even applies to USA
amateurs, who had been covered by an agreement between the US FCC and
the Mexican Communications/Transport Ministry (SCT). At this point,
the only legal way for a foreign ham to operate from Mexican territory
would be to operate from a Mexican ham's station, using that ham's call
sign.
All information below, along with the links from this page, explain the
process when the regulator was still CoFeTel. If or when a new
process for these permits becomes available, I will update these pages
to reflect the new process.
Background information
For many years, the process that a foreign amateur radio operator must go
through to get a permit to operate in Mexico was very difficult.
Sometimes, impossible. At other times, the process was very different
depending where you were in Mexico. Things are a little better now, but
still not perfect. Lots of paperwork, money, and patience are
needed. The ability to speak and understand Spanish, or a friend (ham or
non-ham) who can translate Spanish, is also a good thing to have.
Throughout these pages, I will refer to the two organizations involved with
this process by their Spanish-language acronyms. Those two are:
- Comision Federal
de Telecomunicaciones (Federal Telecommunications Commission, or
CoFeTel) - similar to the USA's FCC, the Mexican government
entity that issues amateur-radio licenses and permits
- Secretaria de
Comunicaciones y Transportes (Secretariat of Communications and
Transport, or SCT) - until the mid-1990s, the Mexican government
entity that issued amateur-radio licenses and permits. Now, SCT acts as
the "branch offices" for CoFeTel outside Mexico City for paperwork
and other transactions
DISCLAIMER! I am not a lawyer, a Mexican national, nor a
Mexican citizen. My information is based on 10 years' experience with my
own permits, and comments/suggestions from other amateur operators inside and
outside Mexico related to this process. These processes may be changed at
any time without advance notice, and some locations may choose to operate under
different procedures. I have no control over any of that. Anyone
using this information does so at their own risk.
Process to apply for the XE amateur permit
The process I outline below in the numbered links below is what I use when
applying for my permits, and should be similar for much of Mexico:
- Paperwork required for the permit
- Where to file the paperwork
- How to file the paperwork
- How much is the fee - and where do I pay
it?
- Operating in Mexico with the XE permit
If you are in southern California, and wish to file the paperwork for the XE
permit in Tijuana, Baja California (across the border from San Diego CA), the
process in Tijuana may be
different than in much of Mexico. And thanks to Christian
DL6KAC, you can see
another different process foreigners can go through for a
Mexican ham permit in Mexico City.
Other information
WD9EWK/VA7EWK