Practical Travel Safety Issues - Alcohol Declaration - Global Entry

I'm flying home from LHR soon and am playing on bringing alcohol quantities over the 1L duty free limit (3x750mL beer + 1L scotch). Before I had GE, I declared it on the landing card and was never charged duty. Now that I have GE, I want to be sure to follow the rules. I've only used GE a few times since I got it and don't recall a question on alcohol. Is there a generic "I have goods to declare" question? I can't remember specifics about what was asked at the kiosk.

I figure worst case I get a receipt without an X and insist I talk to a CBP agent anyway.

If I were you, I would just go through the standard customs & immigrations lanes, declare your liquor overage, pay duty and be on your way. Don't risk your GE/NEXUS card by making one tiny mistake.

If I were you, I would just go through the standard customs & immigrations lanes, declare your liquor overage, pay duty and be on your way. Don't risk your GE/NEXUS card by making one tiny mistake.

Silly advice. Use the Global Entry lane, not the standard lanes, and declare to a person. There is no need to wait in the standard lanes, despite your inclination.

Just did this a couple of months ago coming back from Australia with 2 cases of wine. On the GE kiosk, there is no specific question about liquor; however, I was told to answer Yes to the question that asks if I am bringing back more goods than allowed by my exemption.

I got the receipt with the X, went to the CBP agent as the next in line, declared my wine. He stamped my receipt and off I went. No problems.

To follow up, I said yes to the second question (about exceeding duty free limits), got an X, and declared the alcohol to the officer. No duty was charged and it added all of 90 seconds to the process.

As an aside, DTW immigration was great. It's much nicer than ATL, JFK, SJU, and others I've been through. They even had a dedicated customs line for GE, something I haven't seen before. When I was waiting for my bags, the ag beagle came up and poked his nose into my wife's bag. I told the handler that there was candy in the bag and she said "If that's candy then we have a problem". I told her I declared it and she replied "No, not you and me, me and the dog!"

I would go through the GE line.

In the US, Immigration and Customs are two separate processes. GE qualifies you to pass through Immigration via the GE line, then you may enter the customs process and declare your items.

There is no question on the paper form or at the GE kiosk specifically about alcohol. You don't even need to choose an option at the kiosk that will get you an X unless the value of the alcohol is going to put you over your $ value exemption for goods. Getting the X means you have to see a passport officer..just skip that and go to the customs line and you can declare it there if you want.

If you're not bringing back cases of booze or very expensive booze.. they're not even going to waste their time collecting duty of a few $ per bottle.

You don't even need to choose an option at the kiosk that will get you an X unless the value of the alcohol is going to put you over your $ value exemption for goods.

This is incorrect. You're exceeding the duty free exemption for important of alcohol. It's based on volume in addition to the dollar limit (http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/kbyg/paying_duty.xml) exemption. You therefore should answer yes to the question about exceeding the duty free exemption at the GE kiosk.

As others have said, you'll get the X, and a CBP officer at passport control will stamp the form and direct you to the duty counter if they decide to collect the import duty.

My experience was a bit different. I declared at the kisok (case of wine), got the X, and the officer stamped and wrote something on my card. Customs guy looked at it puzzled, asked what I had, scratched his head, and said sorry, I had to to to Agriculture! The immigration guy thought I needed to go there for some reason. I go over to agriculture, they ask what I had, they scratched their head, mumbled something about the immigration guy not knowing what he was doing, stamped my card and I was out of there.

Anyhow, nobody wanted to ding me for extra duty - which they rarely ever do for this amount of overage.

It was the proper procedure, but the immigration guy got it all wrong.

My last experience with an X'd card at IAD left me never wanting to see one again. And it was a simple error at the kiosk rather than me wanting to declare something. 30+ minutes later, I cleared immigration after no one could figure out why I needed to see them in the other room. In light of that, please bear with me as I try to reconstruct what I am supposed to do when I want to bring a lot of booze in. [at IAD for example]

1. At the kiosk, make sure that I check that I am exceeding the duty free limit and get my X'd card
2. Walk to baggage claim and find my hard shell full of booze [yea for me!]
3. Show my X'd card to customs agent on the way out and explain that I am declaring said booze.
4. Hopefully get an ok and walk on out. Alternatively, get sent to pay duty and then walk out.

Is that about it?

Cheers -

My experience was a bit different. I declared at the kisok (case of wine), got the X, and the officer stamped and wrote something on my card. Customs guy looked at it puzzled, asked what I had, scratched his head, and said sorry, I had to to to Agriculture! The immigration guy thought I needed to go there for some reason. I go over to agriculture, they ask what I had, they scratched their head, mumbled something about the immigration guy not knowing what he was doing, stamped my card and I was out of there.

Anyhow, nobody wanted to ding me for extra duty - which they rarely ever do for this amount of overage.

It was the proper procedure, but the immigration guy got it all wrong.

my experience is that CBP Almost always refers you to Ag if you get an X. even if you've explained the X.

My last experience with an X'd card at IAD left me never wanting to see one again. And it was a simple error at the kiosk rather than me wanting to declare something. 30+ minutes later, I cleared immigration after no one could figure out why I needed to see them in the other room. In light of that, please bear with me as I try to reconstruct what I am supposed to do when I want to bring a lot of booze in. [at IAD for example]

1. At the kiosk, make sure that I check that I am exceeding the duty free limit and get my X'd card
2. Walk to baggage claim and find my hard shell full of booze [yea for me!]
3. Show my X'd card to customs agent on the way out and explain that I am declaring said booze.
4. Hopefully get an ok and walk on out. Alternatively, get sent to pay duty and then walk out.

Is that about it?

Cheers -

Don't you still have to be cleared by a passport control agent before step 2 (above)?

Don't you still have to be cleared by a passport control agent before step 2 (above)?

I don't recall being stopped there? At IAD it's card, bags and then customs. At least back in Feb it was

1. At the kiosk, make sure that I check that I am exceeding the duty free limit and get my X'd card
2. Walk to baggage claim and find my hard shell full of booze [yea for me!]
3. Show my X'd card to customs agent on the way out and explain that I am declaring said booze.
4. Hopefully get an ok and walk on out. Alternatively, get sent to pay duty and then walk out.

Is that about it?

Cheers -

At least at DTW, they had a sign saying if you had no X you could walk past the immigration booth; if you had an X you had to stop and talk to the guy. IIRC, ATL has a similar sign.

I told the immigration officer that I got the X because I had to declare excess alcohol. He asked how much, said he wasn't going to bother with duty, stamped my receipt, and welcomed me home.

After getting my bags, I passed through customs. He also asked about the X, I explained why, and he waved me through. I was never sent to ag, presumably because I got the X for answering "Yes" to the duty free limits question and not for a random secondary.

I don't recall being stopped there? At IAD it's card, bags and then customs. At least back in Feb it was

I once got an "X" at JFK (T8, AA). When I went to the first available pp agent, he looked at his computer screen and escorted me to a "special room"--there was one person ahead of me, and after about 5 minutes I was cleared. I asked why I had gotten the (dreaded:D) "X", the agent thought it was fingerprint related. I have not gotten an "X" on any of my 5 other intl. flights since then.
[I did get a followup email from GE, asking me to describe my incident.]

I don't recall being stopped there? At IAD it's card, bags and then customs. At least back in Feb it was

On top of the X on the receipt it will say REPORT TO PASSPORT CONTROL. Bypassing this step could cost you your membership to GE.

On top of the X on the receipt it will say REPORT TO PASSPORT CONTROL. Bypassing this step could cost you your membership to GE.

Might there be two different messages, one for passport "failure", one for customs "failure"?

If the X is because you are above the duty-free limits, wouldn't it make sense to deal with customs? If the X is because your fingerprints didn't scan or there was some sort of passport issue (or random check), then going to passport control would make sense.

Might there be two different messages, one for passport "failure", one for customs "failure"?

If the X is because you are above the duty-free limits, wouldn't it make sense to deal with customs? If the X is because your fingerprints didn't scan or there was some sort of passport issue (or random check), then going to passport control would make sense.

CBP officers at primary ("passport control") have a computer in front them and can quickly determine the cause of the X and clear it on the spot when possible. The officer at primary can also write on the ticket which secondary you need to be directed to at the exit.

Declared items can be 'cleared' by any CBP officer who has the requisite knowledge; duty (below a certain amount) on declared items can be waived by any CBP officer taking a declaration. Why burden the officer at the exit-- and there is sometimes a long line at the exit-- with something like this that can quickly be resolved at primary? Non-GE passengers making mundane declarations in which CBP has little interest are sometimes dealt with at primary.

I've developed habit of holding my passport open to the picture page, with the kiosk receipt visible and not covering the picture. As I approach either the Immigration or Customs folks I will make eye contact and make sure they hear me state "Global Entry". Often their body reaction will indicate whether they are waving me on, or would like me to stop.

If in doubt, I will stop. Obviously for Customs they need to grab the receipt.

That's indeed the way to go. If it's between the liter allowed and the 3.8 liters / gallon or 4 liters they will often let the duty pass.

Just did this a couple of months ago coming back from Australia with 2 cases of wine. On the GE kiosk, there is no specific question about liquor; however, I was told to answer Yes to the question that asks if I am bringing back more goods than allowed by my exemption.

I got the receipt with the X, went to the CBP agent as the next in line, declared my wine. He stamped my receipt and off I went. No problems.

Just did this a couple of months ago coming back from Australia with 2 cases of wine. On the GE kiosk, there is no specific question about liquor; however, I was told to answer Yes to the question that asks if I am bringing back more goods than allowed by my exemption.

I got the receipt with the X, went to the CBP agent as the next in line, declared my wine. He stamped my receipt and off I went. No problems.

Exactly. Most of the time, they will thank you for being so honest, because GE secondaries for customs are exceedingly rare (and the only time I got one is when they decided to harass something like half my flight from PTY on a dragnet).

Don't you still have to be cleared by a passport control agent before step 2 (above)?

Yeah, but its quick. They often seem bothered.

At least at DTW, they had a sign saying if you had no X you could walk past the immigration booth; if you had an X you had to stop and talk to the guy. IIRC, ATL has a similar sign.

I told the immigration officer that I got the X because I had to declare excess alcohol. He asked how much, said he wasn't going to bother with duty, stamped my receipt, and welcomed me home.

After getting my bags, I passed through customs. He also asked about the X, I explained why, and he waved me through. I was never sent to ag, presumably because I got the X for answering "Yes" to the duty free limits question and not for a random secondary.

Yeah, this is the common thing that happens. I truly think they are happy that GE people declare at all, because of the trust involved.

That's why I don't get why the land border people aren't nicer to NEXUS holders.

CBP officers at primary ("passport control") have a computer in front them and can quickly determine the cause of the X and clear it on the spot when possible. The officer at primary can also write on the ticket which secondary you need to be directed to at the exit.

This is a much needed improvement. A few years back, I received an X at ORD coming back from FRA and when I went to the CBP officer, he asked me why I got the X. He asked me if I answered yes to the currency question, food question, etc. I told him there was some sort of message when I did the fingerprint scan but by the time I noticed it, the next screen came up. He stamped my receipt so, back then, they had no way of telling why you got the X.

I have 1L of alcohol
I have two boxes of store-bought shortbread (sealed)
and I have a cheap set of whisky glasses.

I am global entry. As I recall, the questions asked are slightly different on the GE screen than on the paper form. In this case, I don't have goods that exceed the duty, so I answer no to the question about declaration and shouldn't in theory get an X, correct?

I have 1L of alcohol
I have two boxes of store-bought shortbread (sealed)
and I have a cheap set of whisky glasses.

I am global entry. As I recall, the questions asked are slightly different on the GE screen than on the paper form. In this case, I don't have goods that exceed the duty, so I answer no to the question about declaration and shouldn't in theory get an X, correct?

The question asks if you are in excess of your allowable exemption. If you answer no to that question and all of the other questions, you almost certainly won't receive an X.

thanks. As postscript, the questions are indeed more specific on the kiosk and for etoh, it's about exceeding the allowed, so no problems. I did find another helpful answer in the thread, "Global Entry, is it worth it?" Post #809. This is definitely a time saver.