The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has added a new requirement that all arriving foreign travelers report any foreign currency worth $10,000 USD or more at the airport.
In this regard, the FBR has released a draught of a new Customs Declaration form for incoming foreign travelers to use when declaring foreign money worth at least $10,000 USD.
On Tuesday, the FBR published an SRO1751(I)/2022 to alter the Baggage Rules, 2006.
Regardless of the amount, arriving travelers must currently declare any foreign currency.
In accordance with the new Customs Declaration for Passengers, accompanied baggage requires an outbound passenger who is in possession of foreign currency exceeding the US $ 5,000 or equivalent, any other prohibited or restricted item, or any other item requiring declaration before Customs to file a declaration in the Form as described in Appendix-C before or on departure, electronically in the WeBOC, or manually at the airport.
Similar to this, every inbound traveler in possession of foreign money over US $10,000 or equivalent, any other item that is prohibited or restricted, or any other item that needs to be declared to Customs must fill out the form found in Appendix C.
Passengers were prompted to indicate whether they were transporting any of the following items: things that are illegal or prohibited, such as weapons and ammo, drugs, psychoactive substances, satellite phones, etc.
Any other items that need to be declared to Customs include gold and precious metals, jewelry, precious or semi-precious stones, foreign currency in US dollars or equivalents, outbound passengers carrying more than US$5,000 or equivalent, and incoming passengers carrying more than US$10,000 or equivalent.
Earlier, the FBR had made it clear that the State Bank of Pakistan had issued notification number FE1/2012-SB dated June 16, 2012, which stipulated that travelers entering Pakistan must bring cash and/or negotiable instruments. This requirement came into force on July 1, 2012.
The FBR has additionally reaffirmed that the necessity for currency declarations from all international travelers has been in effect for more than ten years and was not only recently implemented as a result of any most recent FATF review criteria.
To read our blog on “Fear of hacking forced a 24-hour closure of FBR websites,” click here.
