In a recent trip to China and Taiwan I experienced what a "carnet" is for the first time. I am carrying some computer equipment with me and needed to make sure it got through customs. I learned about something called a carnet. It is basically a passport for the equipment. But getting through the international borders can be some what tedious. My company uses a service to draw up the documents. Which are not trivial by themselves. Then they gave a set of instructions that needed to be followed.
1. Get the carnet signed and stamped in the US before you leave
2. When you arrive at your destination get the carnet stamped and signed in customer at customs in the foreign country.
3. When you leave the foreign country get it stamped and signed again by customs
4. When you arrive in the US get it stamped and signed again.
Seems pretty easy. But As I have found the first step can be difficult if you are flying out of a smaller airport or one that does not have a customs office. Sacramento (SMF) for example only has office hours from noon until 3pm, 5 days a week. My flight left at 9am. So I could not get the stamp and signature I needed in Sacramento. My connecting flight was in SFO. They have customs officers 24 hours a day, so it was not a problem. But getting to customs was a bit of a challenge. Since customs is on the other side of the security you have to go out of the secure area. And find the back door to customs and knock on the door. I basically did a lot of asking around. Until I found it.
Once I got to the Customs officer things went pretty quick and it was actually entertaining to talk to these guys. They have some pretty funny stories about people coming in from all over the world, especially in San Francisco. One guy standing in front of me was being pulled aside because he just looked funny I guess. He was wearing a lamp shade on his head an a full length fut coat that looked like it was hand made out of some small animals. He carried a walking stick and was not completely coherent, but very talkative. He was an American that had come from Thailand. They said they pulled him aside because he had medicinal herbs with him. He was going to be there for some time with the customers officers.
Now with the carnet in hand I had find my way out to departures and go back through security and then to my gate. Total time from one plane to the gate of the other was about 1 hour. Good portion of the time as trying to find the back door to the customs office.
So overall if you have a carnet, plan on an extra 30 minutes to an hour at the airport and make sure that the customs office is open before your flight leaves. I also learned that if you just smile a little and laugh with the customs agents and the guy with the lampshade on his head you can have a fun time.
DWP.
1. Get the carnet signed and stamped in the US before you leave
2. When you arrive at your destination get the carnet stamped and signed in customer at customs in the foreign country.
3. When you leave the foreign country get it stamped and signed again by customs
4. When you arrive in the US get it stamped and signed again.
Seems pretty easy. But As I have found the first step can be difficult if you are flying out of a smaller airport or one that does not have a customs office. Sacramento (SMF) for example only has office hours from noon until 3pm, 5 days a week. My flight left at 9am. So I could not get the stamp and signature I needed in Sacramento. My connecting flight was in SFO. They have customs officers 24 hours a day, so it was not a problem. But getting to customs was a bit of a challenge. Since customs is on the other side of the security you have to go out of the secure area. And find the back door to customs and knock on the door. I basically did a lot of asking around. Until I found it.
Once I got to the Customs officer things went pretty quick and it was actually entertaining to talk to these guys. They have some pretty funny stories about people coming in from all over the world, especially in San Francisco. One guy standing in front of me was being pulled aside because he just looked funny I guess. He was wearing a lamp shade on his head an a full length fut coat that looked like it was hand made out of some small animals. He carried a walking stick and was not completely coherent, but very talkative. He was an American that had come from Thailand. They said they pulled him aside because he had medicinal herbs with him. He was going to be there for some time with the customers officers.
Now with the carnet in hand I had find my way out to departures and go back through security and then to my gate. Total time from one plane to the gate of the other was about 1 hour. Good portion of the time as trying to find the back door to the customs office.
So overall if you have a carnet, plan on an extra 30 minutes to an hour at the airport and make sure that the customs office is open before your flight leaves. I also learned that if you just smile a little and laugh with the customs agents and the guy with the lampshade on his head you can have a fun time.
DWP.
