[Username Protected]

A question that we often get asked is: “When departing the USA, does the departure time I put in my APIS manifest really matter?” The answer is most definitely, Yes!.

When you submit APIS and DHS sends you the confirmation email clearing you to depart, that confirmation is based on the information that you submitted on the manifest, including the departure time. On occasion, CBP conducts random inspections on departure (it has happened to me) even when the departure location is not an airport where CBP is present. They will dispatch one or two officers to your departure location and typically arrive about 1 hour before your planned departure time and they may wait up to 1 hour after your planned departure time. If they arrive and you have already departed or if they arrive and you make them wait and then depart after they leave, you could be subject to enforcement action. If you need to depart earlier or later than the time you submitted in your APIS manifest, contact the CBP port that has jurisdiction over your departure location and advise them of the new time. Once they approve it, then you are back in compliance. Don't forget to ask for the name, badge number or initials of the officer that granted you approval in the event that there is ever a question about who authorized the change in time

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(Username Protected),

Any issues filing a new APIS with the updated departure time? Trying to contact the CBP port is sometimes painful.

[Username Protected]

Hi (Username Protected),

What I can tell you is that CBP would expect the phone call to update the departure time. When you file a new manifest, they will take the most recent manifest and any approvals related to the prior manifests become void. One risk you run is that if there are any delays in getting the confirmation email from DHS for the newly submitted manifest, you are now unable to depart. CBP does not like duplicate manifests cluttering up the eAPIS system but I cannot see a regulatory issue why you can't do what you describe but I can say that it is not the solution that CBP would like.

CBP has completed Airport Fact Sheets for about 255 of the approximately 350 airports in the USA where they are present. These Fact Sheets contain airport specific details for:

• Hours of service and office hours for CBP
• Contact information for CBP at that port including afterhours numbers, cell phones, etc.
• Permission to Land procedures
• What to expect in the inspection process such as where to park, where you will be processed, documents they will ask you for, how waste will be handled
• Any special procedures for that airport

The Contact information should help you with contacting CBP without having to submit a new manifest and waiting for the apporval and the 1 hour wait time requirement

I hope that this helps