“The flight attendants will be coming through the aisles to pass out customs forms.” That announcement signifies that your long international trip is almost over. Soon you be landing back on U.S. soil which means you will need to have your paperwork ready for customs. If you have never had this experience before, then it is important to know ahead of time what to expect and how to prepare. If you are leading a team of people, you will want to make sure that everyone in your group knows what to expect.
First it is important to understand what takes place with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Once you exit the airplane you will go through two checkpoints. The first is where you show your passport and customs declaration form to a CBP agent. The agent may ask you details about your trip, including how long you were gone, the nature of your trip, etc.
Next you collect your luggage and go through a second CBP checkpoint. Even if you are connecting to another flight, at your first point of U.S. entry you must collect your luggage, clear customs, and then re-check your bags.
The first checkpoint focused on your passport and being allowed back into the country. The second checkpoint focuses on your luggage and what you are bringing into the country. You may be asked about anything you are bringing back to the U.S. that you did not have when you left. CBP may examine your baggage.
There really are two issues that CBP addresses once it lets you back in: are you bringing in anything that is illegal or banned, and do you owe duty (import tax) on the items you acquired abroad and are bringing back. We’ll deal with both of these in detail in upcoming blog posts. For now, here are some general tips to prepare you for your CBP encounter.
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–Keep receipts of all your purchases abroad in one envelope. This will make filling out the declarations form much easier. You must declare anything your bring back that you did not have when you left the U.S. This includes some things that you may not normally think of, such as if you had alterations made to a suit you already owned. It also includes any gifts that were given to you while abroad. In addition, items bought in duty-free shops and items you brought home for someone else also must be declared.
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–CBP suggests trying to pack the things you’ll need to declare separately. This will make the process go much quicker if CBP wants to inspect them.
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–If you are traveling with new (less than 6 months old) electronics, such as a camera or laptop, make sure you carry the receipts showing that you purchased them in the U.S. CBP can make the assumption that if it is new then you bought it while you were gone. If you don’t have the receipt, there is a form that you can fill out in advance. The form and your electronics must be brought to a CBP office or to the CBP at the international airport from which you are departing. You only have to complete the forms once, so be sure to keep them for any future trips.
In our next post we’ll explore the issue of duty, including how much you are allowed to bring back before being charged, what to do if you are traveling as a family, how to handle mailing items home, and whether “duty-free” shops really are “duty-free.”