Immigration and Customs

“Immigration” is about people traveling from one country to another. It is sometimes called “Passport Control” or “Border Control” depending on the airport. “Customs” is about the items those people are carrying with them.

In many airports, Immigration is a mandatory process that involves speaking with an immigration officer who stamps your passport. Customs is an optional process; if you have nothing to declare, you do not need to speak with an officer. You can go through Immigration without your luggage, but Customs will be located after baggage claim.

In most cases, you will go through Customs and Immigration after your flight first arrives in a new country, but there are exceptions. 

Upon arriving at the desk of an immigration agent in your destination airport, you will be asked a variety of questions. You may be asked whether your trip is for business or pleasure, how long you will be in the country, what you do for a living, and what cities you will be visiting during your stay.

When you go through the same process on your way home, you will be asked a similar set of questions—such as where you were on your trip, how long you spent there, and what you are bringing back with you. This last question is often phrased as, “Do you have anything to declare?”

Customs fees, or customs duty, are taxes on goods you bring with you across international borders. In most cases, goods that travelers bring back from abroad are meant for personal use and are in small enough quantities that they will not incur any fees. 

It is a little easier to talk about the things you cannot bring through US customs.

Check the US Customs and Border Protection list of “Prohibited and Restricted Items” to find out what should (and shouldn’t) be on your shopping lists when you travel.

• Anything you bought while abroad, either for your personal use or as a gift for someone else.
• Any gifts you received while abroad.
• Anything you inherited during the trip.
• Anything you purchased in a duty-free shop.
• Any food products.

If you have a prohibited item in your bag and you declare it, the only penalty is that you will need to give up that item. If you have something in your bags that you did not declare and you should have, the penalties can vary.

Without any prior record of trying to skirt customs rules, you may get a simple warning if all you did was forget to eat that French apple before you got on the plane. If it is not your first time getting caught, however, you may well get hit with a fine of a few hundred dollars or more. Meat, cheese, and produce sometimes come with fines of as much as $10,000.

Because these infractions get recorded, you may get more intense scrutiny during customs or security checks on future flights for some time, and in some rare cases, travelers who have Global Entry or TSA PreCheck run the risk of having that “trusted traveler” status removed, losing their membership in the program, and being unable to get that status again for a set period of time.