Register a company in Mexico, the nearshoring winner.

Mostly - the incorporation itself runs on powers of attorney. The RFC and the bank reward a visit: biometrics, signatures and branch meetings move faster in person, and many clients pair one trip with both. We sequence everything so the trip is short and singular.

For US-parented groups, usually the S. de RL: it can check the box for American tax purposes and consolidate as a flow-through. The SA suits wider shareholder structures and eventual listings. The choice costs nothing up front and much later - so we map your parent's tax position first.

Because it is the gate everything else waits behind: no tax ID means no invoicing, no payroll, no bank. The SAT grants it via appointments, with a legal representative holding their own RFC, exact documents and patience. Two to six weeks is the realistic range; our package exists to make it the shorter end.

Employee profit-sharing: ten percent of taxable profit distributed to staff each May, a constitutional right - capped since 2021 at three months' salary per worker, which tamed the worst cases. You do not avoid it; you model it into pricing and structure. Anyone promising otherwise is selling trouble.

The maquiladora regime: approved export manufacturers import inputs duty-deferred and, with VAT certification, IVA-neutral. It is the machinery behind the border's factory economy. Approval takes weeks, demands export discipline and real records - and repays both many times over.

Municipalities along the northern frontier run a halved IVA of 8% and reduced income tax around 20% for registered local operations - a genuine sweetener for border manufacturing and services, renewed by decree. Registration is real but routine; we handle it where your geography fits.

It is the macro question. The 2026 joint review decides the treaty's trajectory, and tariff politics have already shown teeth against non-compliant goods. Our answer is structural - rules-of-origin documentation, USMCA-compliant sourcing and clean customs files - because compliant traders have kept flowing through every squall so far.

The switch to elected judges has investors uneasy, and we will not pretend otherwise. Practical mitigation is old-fashioned: arbitration clauses seated abroad, USMCA investment protections, contracts drafted for enforcement, counterparties vetted. Mexico's commercial life runs on - with better paperwork than before.

It is a geography question, not a national verdict: the industrial corridors - Monterrey, the Bajío, border parks - operate with ordinary business security, while some regions carry extortion risk that no margin justifies. We run route-and-region diligence as part of setup, and we are blunt about the map.

From $2,900 for the company, from $4,900 with RFC and bank. The deed takes one to two weeks; the RFC two to six; the bank four to eight. IMMEX from $3,500 where the model earns it. Renewal from $1,500/year. Realistic zero-to-operating: six to ten weeks.