US companies operating in Mexico tend to meet the amparo in an emergency. The bank calls to say the account is blocked. Customs will not release a container. A tax authority issues a determination with a number nobody expected. A local government revokes a permit and the plant cannot operate. A criminal complaint names a director who has not set foot in the country in two years.

The instinct is to look for the Mexican equivalent of a motion or an injunction. There is one, and it is called the juicio de amparo, but it is not a motion inside an existing case. It is a separate constitutional proceeding against the authority itself, it runs on its own short clock, and the most valuable thing it offers is not the final ruling. It is the ability to freeze the act in place while the case is decided.

What an amparo is, in terms a US company can use

The amparo is the remedy Mexican constitutional law gives a person or a company against an act of authority that violates their rights. The authority can be federal, state or municipal, and it can be a tax agency, a prosecutor, a court, a regulator, customs or a city hall. The proceeding asks a federal judge to review whether that authority acted within the law.

Two features surprise foreign clients. The first is how broad it is: almost any act of authority can be challenged, including omissions and general rules, not only court rulings. The second is how narrow the window is: the time to file is counted in days from the moment you learned of the act, not in months. That is why the date on the notice you received is the first thing we ask for and the last thing you should treat as a formality.

The part that matters most: suspension of the act

If you take one thing from this page, take this. Alongside the amparo you can request the suspension of the challenged act, meaning the authority is ordered to stop while the case is resolved. That is what keeps a seizure, a foreclosure, an auction or a shutdown from becoming permanent before anyone rules on whether it was lawful in the first place.

Suspension comes in two moments, and understanding both sets realistic expectations. A provisional suspension can be granted quickly, at the start, to hold the situation still. A definitive suspension is decided after the court hears the authority, and it governs the rest of the proceeding. The practical consequence is that the first hours after you learn of an act are worth more than the following three months.

Suspension is not automatic and it is not available in every case. A court can deny it when granting it would harm the public interest or contradict rules of public order. We assess that from the first consultation and tell you plainly what is realistic, because promising a suspension the law would not allow in your case helps nobody.

When a US company actually needs one

  • Frozen or blocked bank accounts. Often ordered by a tax or financial authority, sometimes reaching a subsidiary because of a matter involving a supplier or a shareholder.
  • Seizure of goods, equipment or inventory. Including merchandise held in customs and assets attached in a commercial dispute.
  • Tax determinations and assessments. A liability assessed against a Mexican subsidiary, frequently with enforcement starting before anyone in the parent company has read the file.
  • Permits, licenses and closures. Municipal or state acts that stop a facility from operating, where every day of shutdown has a number attached to it.
  • Criminal exposure of executives. Arrest warrants or precautionary measures against directors and legal representatives, including people who live outside Mexico.
  • Adverse court rulings. Final judgments in commercial, civil or labor matters that can be reviewed by a federal court through amparo.

Direct and indirect amparo

One of the first technical decisions is which kind of amparo your matter requires, because it changes the competent court, the procedure and the timing.

Indirect amparo is filed against acts that are not final judgments: a seizure order, an arrest warrant, an administrative act, a shutdown. It is the more common route for companies and it generally allows suspension to be requested faster, which is why it matters so much in an emergency.

Direct amparo is filed against final rulings that end a case, and it works as a constitutional review of that decision. If you lost a commercial or labor case in Mexico and were told nothing else can be done, this is the question worth asking before you accept that answer.

What we need to start

  • The act itself: the notice, the resolution, the order, the court paper or the official communication you received.
  • The date you learned of it, with proof of notification if you have it. The clock runs from there, and an inexact date is a risk we would rather not carry into the filing.
  • Documents evidencing the authority of whoever will sign for the company, along with the corporate documents of the Mexican entity.
  • Any prior communication with the authority, including filings your local team may have already made.

If the corporate documents or powers of attorney were granted outside Mexico, tell us early. Formalizing foreign documents for use before a Mexican court takes time, and it is a routine reason otherwise strong cases arrive late.

Mistakes that weaken an amparo

The two most expensive ones are the same every time. Letting the filing deadline pass, which in amparo is a matter of days rather than months. And failing to request suspension in time, so that by the time the merits are resolved the damage is already done and irreversible. An account emptied, goods auctioned, a plant closed for a season: winning the argument afterward is a poor substitute.

A third one is specific to foreign companies. Waiting for the US parent to approve a course of action through its normal internal process, while the Mexican clock keeps running. If a Mexican authority has acted against your company, treat the calendar as the binding constraint.

Foreign investors and asset protection

For a foreign investor, the amparo is the practical expression of the legal protection Mexico offers. Trade agreements and investment treaties matter at the level of the state, but the tool that stops a specific seizure on a specific Tuesday is this one, before a Mexican federal judge, filed in time.

That is also why we handle recovery and protection together. The same US client that needs to collect from a Mexican customer is frequently the one that needs to defend a subsidiary from an authority six months later. Our founder holds master's degrees in constitutional protection law and in criminal law, which is the pairing these matters demand.

How we work the case

We read the act and the clock. The first session is spent on three questions: which authority issued the act, what exactly it orders, and when you were notified. Everything else follows from those. If the deadline is close, we say so in that first conversation rather than after taking the matter.

We decide on suspension before anything else. Whether to request it, at what moment, and what we can realistically expect the court to grant. This drives the calendar, because a suspension obtained after the goods are auctioned is worth nothing. Where suspension is unlikely, we tell you and we plan around that instead of filing on hope.

We file, and we keep the pressure on the record. The filing identifies the act, the responsible authority and the rights involved, with the evidence attached. From there the case is followed through its stages, including the authority's report and the hearing on definitive suspension.

We report in English, to your calendar. Foreign clients need to explain the situation internally, to a general counsel or a board that is not going to read a Mexican court file. We write updates that can be forwarded without translation, and we flag the dates that require a decision from your side before they arrive.

On timing and cost: amparo work is not contingency work, unlike our debt recovery practice. The remedy defends what you already have instead of recovering something new, so it is quoted directly and agreed in writing before we start. The initial review of the act is free.

What an amparo does not do

It is not a way to avoid a legitimate obligation. It does not automatically cancel a tax liability, and a court can uphold the authority's act. It does not always grant suspension. And it is not a substitute for defending the underlying matter, which frequently continues in parallel.

We say this plainly because the opposite is sold often. If your case is weak, you are better served knowing it now, while there is still time to negotiate or restructure, than after paying for a proceeding that was never going to succeed.

Reviewed: August 2026. This page is general information about Mexican constitutional procedure, not legal advice on your matter. Deadlines and available remedies depend on the specific act and the date of notification.

Common questions

Is an amparo the same as a US injunction?
Not quite. An injunction is generally an order within an existing case between private parties. An amparo is a separate constitutional proceeding against an act of authority, decided by a federal court. The closest functional parallel is the suspension of the act, which is what holds the situation in place while the case is decided.
How long do we have to file?
Short. Amparo deadlines are counted in days from the moment you learned of the act, and they vary depending on the type of act involved. This is the reason to send us the notice and its date immediately rather than after an internal review. In certain matters involving personal liberty the rules are different, which is another reason to have the specific act reviewed rather than relying on a general rule.
Our subsidiary's bank account was frozen. What happens first?
We identify which authority ordered it and on what basis, because that determines the route and the competent court. In parallel we assess whether to request suspension so the account is released or at least held in place while the matter is resolved. Both things happen in the same first conversation, since the value of a suspension drops with every day that passes.
Can a company outside Mexico file an amparo?
The proceeding is generally brought by the party affected by the act, which is usually the Mexican entity or the individual named. Foreign companies act through their Mexican subsidiary or through a duly granted power of attorney. If your powers were granted abroad, raise it early: formalizing them for use in Mexico takes time that the deadline does not give back.
There is a warrant against one of our executives who lives in the US. Can anything be done?
Yes, and this is a matter to address before the person travels rather than after. Criminal amparo can challenge the act and, where appropriate, seek protective measures. The analysis depends on the specific warrant and the court that issued it, so the file itself is what we need to see.
We already lost a case in a Mexican court. Is it over?
Not necessarily. A final ruling can be reviewed by a federal court through direct amparo, which examines whether the decision respected your constitutional rights. It has its own deadline running from notification of the ruling, so it is worth asking quickly rather than accepting that nothing else can be done.