(If this has been addressed elsewhere or in another Forum, please advise or move)
I travel internationally fairly often and am used to filling out the US customs declarations form upon my return to the US. Coming back from Cancun to EWR last month, I duly filled out the form, went through immigration and as I only had carry on breezed thru baggage claim, but didn't see the usual officers taking the forms anywhere. Exiting, I asked an official and he took my form ( without even looking at it), and tossed it in the garbage. Just last week, coming into JFK on DL from MAD we didn't even get a form to fill out. Again, with only carry on, breezed through. Not complaining, but when did this change? Also how are those 'protectors', who lambast me about bringing in vacuum packed deli from Europe feeing knowing that Im now exposing the entire US population to all sorts of ills, without seeing them declared and me being if not arrested (for bringing in these forbidden items), at least fined ��

We recently returned from Japan and Taiwan through SFO. To our surprise, we were not asked to complete a US customs declaration, either a paper one or an electronic version through a kiosk. Have these been entirely abolished for US citizens?

Suppose we had been carrying $750,000 in gold or jade products. How would these have been discovered?

The paper forms are still handed out on many flights and can still be used by US citizens at many airports of entry, even when/if directed to APC kiosks.

Imports can be declared via electronic means as well and supplemented by written or oral declarations.

No questions at all; no forms, no kiosks: nothing. The immigration inspector asked a few questions about our trip and our home community, but that’s all. No queries anywhere about goods being brought in or anything about prohibited items, like certain fruits or meats. In the customs area, everyone walked through an area of apparently unstaffed counters without interacting with any personnel.

Except it being at the airport, the above sounds a lot like what used to be the norm for my Canada-US road crossing trips around say Niagara Falls. Even without submitting a customs declaration form, border control authorities (CBP predecessor) still managed to search/question some people on a more targeted basis.

With regard to customs control, it seems like CBP is trying to move more in the direction of the EU countries in regard to how and where they direct resources for customs searches. Customs declaration forms aren’t a common submission for passengers entering the EU/Schengen zones, and yet there is flagging “behind the scenes” and targeting at the airports from time to time. The CBP is sort of headed in the same direction, but with way more resources per arrival passenger from beyond the customs zone than is the case in the EU/Schengen countries.

Thats my thinking too. If there is no line then maybe quicker to go to an officer instead of a kiosk and then no delays due to a couple of candy bars.

I have never seen all the crew members held up until the very last passenger of my wide body flights have cleared into the baggage claim area. Given the pace at which some passengers get to the baggage claim, that could be a very long wait.

I see these forms handed out on most flights of mine back to the US, and on them I’m often amongst the minority of passengers who don’t take the forms. Even many GE members seem to take the forms from the FAs/airline, but I guess those are the ones who are infrequent users of GE kiosks even with their GE membership. I always have a few spare forms that are mostly filled out because sometimes they speed things up for me.

I am curious when the latest batch of these forms handed out on planes were printed out, but not so curious as to invest anything in finding out.

This is a massive improvement - breezed through quickly even though I checked the declare box. Was asked what I was declaring I said 2 botttles and some cookies. CBP lady just waved me on. Long lines for non GE US citizens.

Good to see CBP now focused on narcotraffickers and foreigners bringing weird foods as they should be.

still GE paper receipts but collected before you enter baggage claim. No more paper customs forms for US citizens who don’t have GE but of course they have to wait in line for an agent.

So am I right in assuming you no longer have to declare items purchased abroad then? I feel like CBP always made it a big deal to declare items being brought in. If I’m bringing more then my exemption allows how would the average person know how or where to declare those items? Or is CBP just not focused on collecting duty anymore?

I get that you are still declaring items through GE or kiosks, but not having been up to an immigration booth for years, it sounds like it is now up to the immigration officer to record the items you’re declaring. It’s welcome to see CBP focus their efforts on targeting items which are possibly disruptive or harmful to the population.