US Customs discussion - airports, importing
- Thread starter esyee
- Start date
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I just came back from Paris through JFK. I declared everything from bags, shoes, accessories, etc. It was funny because the custom agents were arguing over who would go through my paperwork. They seemed a little lazy but that worked to my advantage. I had a nice custom agent and he asked if I had all my receipts which I did. He thanked me for my honesty and explained that typically he would charge 9% on bags and 14% on shoes etc, but since I was honest he was going to charge a flat 3% on everything. It was pretty quick and a short 10 minute wait.
Also, they were arguing with a woman who didn't declare that they caught. They pointed to me and told her "see, that woman declared everything". I felt bad for her and it was pretty scary. She had all these packages and no receipts.
Also, they were arguing with a woman who didn't declare that they caught. They pointed to me and told her "see, that woman declared everything". I felt bad for her and it was pretty scary. She had all these packages and no receipts.
^^^never pays to try to get away without declaring. It does often pay to declare when you get nice agents like you did. I've even been waived through, despite trying to hand my paperwork to an agent.
Still not a good idea not to declare. It's like saying oh I never got caught committing a crime so I'm going to keep doing it.
As an aside, for Global Entry, when you declare on the kiosk the printout (that you have to hand over when exiting) with have a GIANT circle on it. Very noticeable.
Did you have a lot of items? The fee is only if you go over $800 per person and just the amount you went over right?
I was traveling with my mom so our total amount of purchases was well over the $1600 exemption limit. I scored a Kelly at FSH so I had to declare and then bought some other items while in Paris. I wanted to make sure I declared everything because the Kelly was such a large purchase but they gave me no trouble at all.
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I wanted to let others know how quick and easy it was to apply for Global Entry. Applied for my 17 year old son and I on 3/16, got preapproved 3/27 and just had our interview today 3/29 (approved)!
Vey foolish and illegal. You will regret it if you are caught, fined, and put on a watch list ensuring you are pulled aside every time you enter the country.
Thanks for sharing -- I have had similar experience at JFK.
But as I pointed out in an earlier post my experience was vastly different at Detroit. When I declared in Detroit they followed the letter of the law completely on the duty charged.
Also in their system you:
1) go to Customs directly after Global Entry (before you get your luggage) ,
2) in Customs area you declare your items to an agent
3) then go to Baggage Claim and get your luggage,
4) then go back to Customs with your luggage and get the calculation receipt
5) take receipt to a separate counter to pay
The whole process took about 25 minutes to declare one item
Just wanted to co-sign on Global Entry being THE GREATEST. When I travel internationally my port of re-entry into the US is usually MIA which is an immigration/customs NIGHTMARE...there have been many times, pre-Global Entry, where I have come *this* close to missing my connecting flight because of the debacle of that immigrations line. With Global Entry there is literally a wall full of empty kiosks available, zero wait every time; I scan my fingerprints, smile for the camera, hit "No to all", and 90 seconds later I've cleared immigration and am walking to the gate for my connecting flight. Incredible.
Is there a chance that you can be placed on the the global entry line randomly? All your descriptions of it seemed exactly what we experienced last year? We just scanned passports on computer, it took a pic, no customs interview at all, the officer just took our paper and let us go.