Decision Engine — Tool 05
IMMEX Qualification Flowchart.
Four questions. A qualified outcome tied to the correct IMMEX modality — or an honest read on why IMMEX is not the right instrument. Sourced to the IMMEX Decree (DOF November 1 2006, with subsequent amendments) and Secretaría de Economía operational guidance.
Source
IMMEX Decree (DOF Nov 1 2006)
Decreto para el Fomento de la Industria Manufacturera, Maquiladora y de Servicios de Exportación. Operational guidance via Secretaría de Economía.
Modalities
Industrial · Services · Third-Party · Holding
Each modality carries different qualification thresholds and operational obligations. The flowchart routes you to the most likely fit.
Access
Open · No qualification
A first-pass screen. Final IMMEX certification routes through a trade-compliance engagement.
Will your Mexican operation import materials, components, or equipment, process them, and then export the finished goods?
IMMEX is an export-promotion program. Domestic-only operations use standard entity structures, not IMMEX.
When IMMEX is the right instrument
IMMEX is a temporary-import program: raw materials and components enter Mexico without paying VAT or general import duty, on the condition that the finished goods leave within statutory windows. It is not a tax-residency vehicle, not a corporate structure, and not a substitute for a real legal entity. It is the operational frame on top of one.
The four modalities
Industrial covers full manufacturing — most US manufacturers expanding into Mexico land here. Services covers operations tied to export goods — repair, testing, logistics, assembly-light. Narrower scope, separate authorization track. Third-Party applies when the operation produces under contract for an already-certified IMMEX company. Common for Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers. Holding applies to corporate groups consolidating imports across multiple affiliated facilities under a single program.
Statutory thresholds
Annual export volume must reach USD $500,000 or 10% of total invoicing, whichever is met first. Operations below both thresholds with no near-term path to reach them are not IMMEX candidates — the regulator audits compliance and revokes programs that drift.
What this tool does NOT decide
Regional value content under USMCA, transfer-pricing structure, related-party documentation, and the audit-defense posture for IMMEX cross-checks all sit downstream of qualification. Those route to trade compliance. This flowchart is the upstream first-pass screen.
When the answer is "use a shelter"
IMMEX registration requires a Mexican legal person. Companies without one typically operate under a shelter structure — the shelter operator's standing IMMEX absorbs the tenant. Shelter Advisory is the path that turns "qualifies, but no entity" into operational reality in weeks rather than months.
Adjacent reading
The operational path
When SUMMA's umbrella IMMEX is the right structure, and when it isn't. The path that turns qualification into a live operation in weeks.
Audit-grade work
USMCA RVC math, IMMEX certification filing, audit-defense posture, and the documentation that holds up at the regulator's table.
Adjacent tool
IMMEX certification is one of the ten phases on the LOI-to-first-shipment timeline. See where it sits on the critical path.