Guides · Updated August 25, 2026

What the integration number is and where to find it

Of all the numbers floating around a Mexican customs shipment, the integration number (número de integración) is the one that actually helps you on crossing day. It is how the SAT (Mexico's tax and customs authority) identifies a DODA, and therefore the only way to find out whether the load has modulated, cleared, or been pulled for inspection. This guide covers where it comes from, where to look for it on the receipt, how to enter it without errors, and what to do when the portal says it does not exist.

What it actually is

The integration number is assigned by the SAT system, not chosen by the customs broker. When the broker transmits the DODA under rule 3.1.33 of Mexico's foreign trade rules (through a web service from their customs software, or directly on the SAT portal), the system returns this identifier, and the PDF receipt handed to the carrier is built around it.

Two consequences follow. First, it cannot be derived or guessed from the pedimento number, the broker patente, or the date; if you do not have it, you have to ask for it. Second, it identifies the crossing, not the merchandise. One DODA can cover several pedimentos and they all share a single integration number. The details are in pedimento vs DODA.

Where it appears on the receipt

The official DODA form (model M1.7) always places it in the same spots, so once you learn where to look, you can find it on any receipt:

• In the header of the first page, top left, labeled N° DE INTEGRACIÓN, immediately before the patente field and the two-dimensional barcode.
• In the header of every following page. When a receipt runs several pages because it covers many pedimentos, the number repeats at the top of each one.
• Inside the cadena original, the long block of text at the foot of the document. There it sits between the list of pedimento numbers and the truck plate, delimited by pipe characters.

If the receipt reached you as a phone photo with the header cut off or blurred, that original string is the backup copy: small print, same value.

The QR code contains it too

The QR code on the receipt is not decorative and does not hold the cargo details: it holds a link to the SAT validator with the integration number as a parameter. Scan it with a phone camera and you will see a SAT domain URL ending in a D3 parameter whose value is, literally, the integration number.

That is the fastest route when the paperwork is beat up or the driver is already rolling: ask them to scan the QR and send you the link, and you have the value without transcribing anything by hand. Our guide on how to read a DODA receipt walks through the rest of the fields.

What it is not

Half of all failed lookups are simply the wrong number. Several identifiers live on the same receipt, and none of them substitutes for the integration number:

• The pedimento number: 15 digits starting with the year. That is the customs declaration, not the crossing.
• The patente or authorization: four characters identifying the customs broker. It repeats across all of their shipments.
• The customs office or section code: three digits from Mexico's official catalogue of ports.
• The CFDI fiscal folio with Carta Porte complement: a UUID with hyphens. That belongs to the domestic transport document, not to the clearance.
• The COVE: the electronic value document tied to the commercial invoice.

Entering it without errors

If you are typing it, type carefully: the portal does not correct or suggest, it just tells you nothing was found.

• Copy and paste from the PDF whenever you can, instead of retyping from a printout.
• Watch the usual suspects: zero versus letter O, one versus letter l, five versus S.
• Trim leading and trailing spaces; pasted whitespace breaks the lookup.
• Keep the capitalization and do not add hyphens that are not in the document.
• Cross-check against the original string if you are unsure about a character.

What to do when the SAT does not recognize it

A lookup that returns nothing does not always mean something went wrong. Work through this order:

1. The input. Copy it from the PDF again and retry. By far the most common cause.
2. Timing. If the DODA was just generated, give it a few minutes before insisting.
3. Whether the receipt is still current. If the shipment was rescheduled, moved to another trailer, or corrected, the broker may have regenerated the DODA: there is a new integration number and the one you have is dead. Ask for the updated receipt rather than the copy the driver has been carrying since yesterday.
4. The document itself. Confirm you are holding a DODA and not another QR-bearing form; some operations clear through different paths and never produce one.

If the number still does not come up, the next call is the customs broker: they can see the transmission on their side and confirm whether the document exists and is still valid. And beware of the opposite misread: a number that resolves but shows no movement means the truck has not reached the module yet, not that something is broken. The gap between generating the DODA and crossing varies by port and time of day, as we cover in how long customs clearance takes.

Why it is worth more than a one-off lookup

The integration number lets you check the status on the SAT portal as often as you like (the step-by-step is in how to check your DODA status with the SAT), but the portal never notifies you when something changes. That is the real problem: the number has existed since the DODA was generated, and people still learn about a red light half an hour late, because nobody happened to be refreshing at that moment.

Which is why it pays to capture it once in a system that watches it for you, tagged with your own reference so you know which customer and which load it belongs to, with a timestamped history of every change, the kind of record that settles a detention dispute later.