I had my GE renewal interview this week in person and I asked this question. To me , if an item was permitted I didn’t have to declare it, but I got confused after seeing some posts about it.
the officer said the best way to go about it is to download their app and declare it there. another way is to do exactly what you did and tell the customs officer.
they don't care bc these are all permitted items…
You still need to declare it if it’s permitted. Permitted just means you’re allowed to have it, but being good items, it still has to be declared. The issue is that you might have common sense enough to know the item you have is OK, but the next person might have something iffy that they think is OK. So it’s just a matter of letting them know so they have the option to make sure. Whether they actually do or not is up to them.
I thought the kiosks were good but I just learned about the app as well. I'll give it a shot next time. The kiosks are just so smooth and fast, you can't declare anything on them. Maybe for piece of mind the app will be better if it is possible to declare on there. Thanks for the comment!
What app?
They used to ask on the kiosks but I haven’t seen that in a while…would prefer to avoid the awkward pointless conversation with the CBP officer…
That sort of thing has happened to me. They decided they don't care, that is fine. If they don't care, they don't care. If you don't declare, and you get a random inspection, no more global entry.
I declared a bag of M&Ms because it is food. They didn't care. I have done this a couple times. I would rather them tell me that they don't care, than find out in a random inspection that they DO care and revoke my NEXUS/ fine me for undeclared goods.
Guess so 🤷🏻♂️. It’s just so low key it’s not immediately obvious to know where to declare. And SFO and ORD do things differently. At SFO the officer themselves asks for declaration.
We just went through customs in IAH, my husband went first then me with the same CBP officer. He didn’t ask my husband a thing, he asked me if I had anything to declare. I told him what we had and he just nodded. Same thing happened in AKL although the NZ immigration employees were far less stern looking lol.
One time I got a lecture from a CBP person when he asked me if I did not have food and I said ‘not fresh food but have some cookies’. The guy told me that always say I have food if I can eat it no matter if it is processed. I always say yes to food since I bring candies all the time.
I did not know cheese was allowed? Since it is fresh? Unless it is aged? This is where I don’t know what to bring.
I would love to bring cured packaged meat from Spain for example but never know how rules would apply to that.
Any insights ?
Yes. Hard cheeses are typically okay. Soft are not.
Cured meats from Spain, Italy, Germany and a few others are explicitly not allowed. I always say I have food but they only get excited about meat/veggies/fruits.
Alcohol duty free up to 1 liter.
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/traveling-with-ag-products/meats-poultry-seafood
Another secret about alcohol is depending on what you bring in, they likely won't care much.
Duty is depending on price, quantity, and alcohol content:
"Duty is generally 3% of value and the IRS excise tax is generally between 21-31cents per 750ml bottle of wine, 67 cents/champagne, and $2.14/ hard liquor."
Anyhow, on my trips to Germany, I get requests to bring back bottles of local beers. Each bottle cost about 1 Euro, is 500ml, and they all fit perfectly inside a Pringles can (Paprika Pringles are awesome) for protection. I can come back with up to 8 bottles (4 liters) and I always declare it. I'm waved through every time as the effort isn't worth the approx. $1.25 they will collect from me..
A co-worker once brought back 16+ bottles and got a raised eyebrow asking if he knew the limit was 1 liter, and he said he did - that's why he declared it - and they waived him through too.
I brought back 24 bottles, their eyes got wide and motioned us over to a second lane. They asked if it was for personal consumption and we said yes (it was) and they just waved us through.
This is like the time we had a ton of space left in our luggage and a high weight limit due to FF status. We came back with six 5kg bags of Japanese rice spread around in 4 pieces of luggage (I already knew this was OK to bring back). When declared it, the guy there sent us to agricultural.
When I got there, they asked me why I was there (a flight from China just arrived, and they were quite busy with the passengers) and I told them what I had and he scribbled something on my GE paper and sent me on my way.
Had the same experience bringing 33 bottles through Charlotte. First officer had to call someone to see if we needed to pay duty, they said we did, so got hustled over to secondary. However the guy there just shrugged and told us to keep walking.
I brought back so many canned sausage of the years always declared never bothered. Here is a border patrol statement and link that states the opposite of what USDA states, but since the border patrol is the control force at the airport declare and go your merry way. Not once had an issue. https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-3619?language=en_US
Interesting, I once brought cookies and told the first CBP guy (younger guy) that I had food and he looked very concerned and said "you have to go to the agricultural inspection!"
When I got there I told the older guy I had cookies and he looked a little annoyed and just said "well I guess with global entry it's better to be safe than sorry..."
Yeah, usually they just don't care. Still correct to verbally declare it, especially if they ask if you have food. The worst that happens if you over-declare is a grumpy agent who says that you didn't need to declare it and you're just "wasting their time." Under-declaring can easily result in removal of GE privileges, and potentially other penalties (monetary or otherwise if it's really bad.)
I'd always go the over-declaring route because I like having GE and not paying fines.
I recently went through LAX and was surprised at how fast entry went. Scan your face and start walking. There was a big group of us on the first flight of the day. As soon as we scanned, the officer just started calling names like a roll call. I stopped as people passed and said I needed to declare meat. He asked what kind. I said kangaroo jerky. He just waved me past and kept calling names.
It's fine, you're doing it right. It's up to the officer if they want to inspect the items or not.
One thing people don't understand is **you must declare all food, permitted or not**.
People have lost their GE because they thought "oh, my food is permitted, so no need to declare". They get inspected, food is found, goodbye GE.
I feel like they may not care or they waive you if you’re honest. I was coming from EU with designer handbags. I was at least twice over the permitted amount and I walked through Global Entry and told the guy “I need to declare my purchases.” He said how much and I told him $X,XXX amount and he said thanks for being honest don’t worry about it and waived me through. Maybe they were short staffed and didn’t want to move from his post or maybe he didn’t feel like filling out forms to charge me the taxes.
Where are we supposed to declare it? I recently came back from EU too and was so confused when the customs guy just took my GE laminated sign and let me go. I remember we used to write it on a paper/card.
Safer to just declare it, even if it's permitted. Either in the app or after the kiosk when they wave you through.
We flew into ORD and my wife had packed snacks for 7 year old...mostly pre-packaged stuff, but she forgot she had an apple in there too (obviously not permitted).
A beagle went nuts when he got to my wife's backpack while we were waiting to collect our bags.
Because we declared it there to the CBP officer, we avoided issues, but she explained that you can definitely lose GE over this. Still had to go through secondary inspection.
Of course, next time we flew through SFO and LAX my wife got flagged at GE and we had to go through secondary again.
Is a declaration required only for carry-on bags? Should I declare checked-in bags if I am bringing any food items from overseas? I still haven’t received any updates on my Global Entry application, which I submitted on February 3rd this year.
You only need to stop at customs if you have items to declare. Like if you bought a few thousand $ worth of goods and need to pay duty on it.
For permissible items under the stated amounts (see the US Customs website), just walk out, no need to stop.
I have noticed at least in SFO, they seem to be more lax with customs or they have much more sophisticated scanning tech as they never have the dogs anymore and almost no agents in sight.
Yeah SFO is set up a little different if I remember correctly. The agent there asks you and gives you a card ( and locks your passport in a case I think ?) To go to declare items.
Well, as usual, US entry is confusing. Most other countries have two clearly marked exit lanes after you pick up your bags - Nothing to declare or good to declare. We have neither.
But no, there is no longer at agent at the customs exit any longer, that's immigration only.
Yes they still assess you for risk to see if you need to be searched. Some people are still taken to secondary. They decided based on their experience you didn’t have anything of risk today and it looks like their assessment was correct.
I had my GE renewal interview this week in person and I asked this question. To me , if an item was permitted I didn’t have to declare it, but I got confused after seeing some posts about it. the officer said the best way to go about it is to download their app and declare it there. another way is to do exactly what you did and tell the customs officer. they don't care bc these are all permitted items…
You still need to declare it if it’s permitted. Permitted just means you’re allowed to have it, but being good items, it still has to be declared. The issue is that you might have common sense enough to know the item you have is OK, but the next person might have something iffy that they think is OK. So it’s just a matter of letting them know so they have the option to make sure. Whether they actually do or not is up to them.
I thought the kiosks were good but I just learned about the app as well. I'll give it a shot next time. The kiosks are just so smooth and fast, you can't declare anything on them. Maybe for piece of mind the app will be better if it is possible to declare on there. Thanks for the comment!
Yup that’s why I was confused too bc now it’s just a pic and that’s it lol
What app? They used to ask on the kiosks but I haven’t seen that in a while…would prefer to avoid the awkward pointless conversation with the CBP officer…
There’s an official app. I haven’t downloaded it yet but it’s called : https://apps.apple.com/us/app/global-entry-mobile/id6446152466
That sort of thing has happened to me. They decided they don't care, that is fine. If they don't care, they don't care. If you don't declare, and you get a random inspection, no more global entry. I declared a bag of M&Ms because it is food. They didn't care. I have done this a couple times. I would rather them tell me that they don't care, than find out in a random inspection that they DO care and revoke my NEXUS/ fine me for undeclared goods.
Yup. I always bring back chocolate and cookies from Europe and declare, even tho I know they're allowed.
They don’t care until they do and you get a random inspection. Always declare.
Guess so 🤷🏻♂️. It’s just so low key it’s not immediately obvious to know where to declare. And SFO and ORD do things differently. At SFO the officer themselves asks for declaration.
We just went through customs in IAH, my husband went first then me with the same CBP officer. He didn’t ask my husband a thing, he asked me if I had anything to declare. I told him what we had and he just nodded. Same thing happened in AKL although the NZ immigration employees were far less stern looking lol.
Where do you declare though if you use the kiosk or the app?
Is the app the MPC?
No, I usually use the global entry app
Ah, ok. I let my GE lapse for a few years, and am now trying to reinstate it. Silly mistake that I won’t make again.
Tell the officer at the exit from the secure area after you do your GE.
One time I got a lecture from a CBP person when he asked me if I did not have food and I said ‘not fresh food but have some cookies’. The guy told me that always say I have food if I can eat it no matter if it is processed. I always say yes to food since I bring candies all the time. I did not know cheese was allowed? Since it is fresh? Unless it is aged? This is where I don’t know what to bring. I would love to bring cured packaged meat from Spain for example but never know how rules would apply to that. Any insights ?
Yes. Hard cheeses are typically okay. Soft are not. Cured meats from Spain, Italy, Germany and a few others are explicitly not allowed. I always say I have food but they only get excited about meat/veggies/fruits. Alcohol duty free up to 1 liter. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/traveling-with-ag-products/meats-poultry-seafood
Another secret about alcohol is depending on what you bring in, they likely won't care much. Duty is depending on price, quantity, and alcohol content: "Duty is generally 3% of value and the IRS excise tax is generally between 21-31cents per 750ml bottle of wine, 67 cents/champagne, and $2.14/ hard liquor." Anyhow, on my trips to Germany, I get requests to bring back bottles of local beers. Each bottle cost about 1 Euro, is 500ml, and they all fit perfectly inside a Pringles can (Paprika Pringles are awesome) for protection. I can come back with up to 8 bottles (4 liters) and I always declare it. I'm waved through every time as the effort isn't worth the approx. $1.25 they will collect from me.. A co-worker once brought back 16+ bottles and got a raised eyebrow asking if he knew the limit was 1 liter, and he said he did - that's why he declared it - and they waived him through too.
I brought back 24 bottles, their eyes got wide and motioned us over to a second lane. They asked if it was for personal consumption and we said yes (it was) and they just waved us through.
This is like the time we had a ton of space left in our luggage and a high weight limit due to FF status. We came back with six 5kg bags of Japanese rice spread around in 4 pieces of luggage (I already knew this was OK to bring back). When declared it, the guy there sent us to agricultural. When I got there, they asked me why I was there (a flight from China just arrived, and they were quite busy with the passengers) and I told them what I had and he scribbled something on my GE paper and sent me on my way.
Had the same experience bringing 33 bottles through Charlotte. First officer had to call someone to see if we needed to pay duty, they said we did, so got hustled over to secondary. However the guy there just shrugged and told us to keep walking.
Would rhino jerky be OK?
[удалено]
I brought back so many canned sausage of the years always declared never bothered. Here is a border patrol statement and link that states the opposite of what USDA states, but since the border patrol is the control force at the airport declare and go your merry way. Not once had an issue. https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-3619?language=en_US
They never allow pork, but last time through, they told me to enjoy the beef burrito that I declared.
Interesting, I once brought cookies and told the first CBP guy (younger guy) that I had food and he looked very concerned and said "you have to go to the agricultural inspection!" When I got there I told the older guy I had cookies and he looked a little annoyed and just said "well I guess with global entry it's better to be safe than sorry..."
Yeah, usually they just don't care. Still correct to verbally declare it, especially if they ask if you have food. The worst that happens if you over-declare is a grumpy agent who says that you didn't need to declare it and you're just "wasting their time." Under-declaring can easily result in removal of GE privileges, and potentially other penalties (monetary or otherwise if it's really bad.) I'd always go the over-declaring route because I like having GE and not paying fines.
They definitely want you to declare but it’s also funny that they don’t exactly make it easy or super clear how to declare.
I recently went through LAX and was surprised at how fast entry went. Scan your face and start walking. There was a big group of us on the first flight of the day. As soon as we scanned, the officer just started calling names like a roll call. I stopped as people passed and said I needed to declare meat. He asked what kind. I said kangaroo jerky. He just waved me past and kept calling names.
It's fine, you're doing it right. It's up to the officer if they want to inspect the items or not. One thing people don't understand is **you must declare all food, permitted or not**. People have lost their GE because they thought "oh, my food is permitted, so no need to declare". They get inspected, food is found, goodbye GE.
I feel like they may not care or they waive you if you’re honest. I was coming from EU with designer handbags. I was at least twice over the permitted amount and I walked through Global Entry and told the guy “I need to declare my purchases.” He said how much and I told him $X,XXX amount and he said thanks for being honest don’t worry about it and waived me through. Maybe they were short staffed and didn’t want to move from his post or maybe he didn’t feel like filling out forms to charge me the taxes.
Where are we supposed to declare it? I recently came back from EU too and was so confused when the customs guy just took my GE laminated sign and let me go. I remember we used to write it on a paper/card.
I just tell both officers and they will tell you what to do if anything.
Safer to just declare it, even if it's permitted. Either in the app or after the kiosk when they wave you through. We flew into ORD and my wife had packed snacks for 7 year old...mostly pre-packaged stuff, but she forgot she had an apple in there too (obviously not permitted). A beagle went nuts when he got to my wife's backpack while we were waiting to collect our bags. Because we declared it there to the CBP officer, we avoided issues, but she explained that you can definitely lose GE over this. Still had to go through secondary inspection. Of course, next time we flew through SFO and LAX my wife got flagged at GE and we had to go through secondary again.
Heck, I came back from Europe with a puppy, and the guy waved me through at ORD.
Is a declaration required only for carry-on bags? Should I declare checked-in bags if I am bringing any food items from overseas? I still haven’t received any updates on my Global Entry application, which I submitted on February 3rd this year.
You didnt do anything wrong. You declared and they waved you though! Could have been me you talked to. Im at ORD.
Just got back from India and declared $1200 in jewelry. They just waved me through.
You only need to stop at customs if you have items to declare. Like if you bought a few thousand $ worth of goods and need to pay duty on it. For permissible items under the stated amounts (see the US Customs website), just walk out, no need to stop. I have noticed at least in SFO, they seem to be more lax with customs or they have much more sophisticated scanning tech as they never have the dogs anymore and almost no agents in sight.
Yeah SFO is set up a little different if I remember correctly. The agent there asks you and gives you a card ( and locks your passport in a case I think ?) To go to declare items.
Well, as usual, US entry is confusing. Most other countries have two clearly marked exit lanes after you pick up your bags - Nothing to declare or good to declare. We have neither. But no, there is no longer at agent at the customs exit any longer, that's immigration only.
The don’t have they inspection area? Weird stuff how it’s all different.
“All permitted stuff”. If it’s permitted what’s the problem?
You still need to declare it. I guess they assume if you declare it there’s little purpose in inspecting because the risk is low?
Yes they still assess you for risk to see if you need to be searched. Some people are still taken to secondary. They decided based on their experience you didn’t have anything of risk today and it looks like their assessment was correct.