E-APIS from Domestic to USVI?

[planestupid]

I am doing my best to try and figure this out.

Have a trip leaving the mainland US going to the USVI.

Do we have to file with E-APIS on the outbound to USVI?

Does the 30N' rule apply if we preclear in USVI?

Mainly I want the answer for the E-APIS question. Do we file APIS going down there or not?

 

[TFaudree_ERAU]

Short answer, yes.

To give you an idea of how screwed up this whole thing is, I asked a customs officer a similar question a while back.

To summarize: "Going to the USVI, you are treated like a domestic flight, except having to file eAPIS. Coming back, you're treated as an international arrival, including filing eAPIS."

 

[planestupid]

Short answer, yes.

To give you an idea of how screwed up this whole thing is, I asked a customs officer a similar question a while back.

To summarize: "Going to the USVI, you are treated like a domestic flight, except having to file eAPIS. Coming back, you're treated as an international arrival, including filing eAPIS."

Thanks for the reply.

Seems going down and comming back is really straight forward. What we have decided to do for any future trips is to treat it like an international. Which basically it is. Notify APIS on the way down and back, pre-clear in USVI, notify CBP before takeoff, or do ADCUS in the Flight Plan, then call once on the ground. We figure it best just to cover all of our bases. Seems like in our conversation with CBP they really could care less about USVI though. They almost act nonchalant but as soon as you let your guard down that's when they're gonna strike.

:beer:

 

[TFaudree_ERAU]

Thanks for the reply.

Seems going down and comming back is really straight forward. What we have decided to do for any future trips is to treat it like an international. Which basically it is. Notify APIS on the way down and back, pre-clear in USVI, notify CBP before takeoff, or do ADCUS in the Flight Plan, then call once on the ground. We figure it best just to cover all of our bases. Seems like in our conversation with CBP they really could care less about USVI though. They almost act nonchalant but as soon as you let your guard down that's when they're gonna strike.

:beer:

Do NOT rely on ADCUS! Call customs yourself!

If this is going to be a regular thing for you, I would highly recommend a term Border Overflight Exemption (BOE). If you've got more than 15 days until your trip, you can request a single use BOE. For a term BOE, all crew members and at least one passenger have to be approved and listed on the BOE. For a single use, all crew members and all passengers must be listed. Contact your local CBP office to get the process started.

If you pre-clear at STT, make sure you give yourself PLENTY of time. Use a handler from one of the FBOs. We use(d) Alliance Aviation. It's a small time operation (out of a trailer), but they really have their act together. They'll meet you over at customs (at the airline terminal; gate 12 I believe) and walk you through the process. The only drawback to the whole thing is that if an international arrival is even close to landing when you get over there to clear, they'll make you wait, as they give them priority. We waited for nearly 2 hours when a LIAT Dash 8 arrived from St Maarten.