New Customs Regulations | Debbie's Caribbean Resort Reviews Forums

I know it is early days, but for those who have been/returned, can you give us a sense of what is happening at the airports with the customs officials now that the new rules are in place?

Thanks!

I can’t imagine how a normal tourist could detect any change. The new regulations are still phenomenally lenient by any measure.Of course it’s a different story for mules bringing in goods for resale…Cheers,

Terry

	I did not see any changes. We went into Cuba and out without any checking of our bags. We had one bag per person and I believe if we had many bags they would probably check us out as on the airport exit there was a person who was counting bags. This was Havana airport.

Terry

I’m with you Terry. I don’t see how the new rules woulds affect the average tourist. Even the ones who bring down a half a suitcase full of gifts for their frens and strangers.

Terry

I’m with you Terry. I don’t see how the new rules woulds affect the average tourist. Even the ones who bring down a half a suitcase full of gifts for their frens, strangers or even real friends and family. The limits in most cases are quite generous and in fact they are now actually written down rather than being at the whim of Aduana.

Has anybody here ever been stopped and questioned about your imports or required to pay import duties on particular products.I bring in suitcases filled with stuff. Blow dryers, curling irons, blenders, computers, clock radios, hard drives…etc.. never any problems. Last time I brought in over 20 pairs of new shoes in one suitcase alone, and nobody even batted an eye. The other suitcase had 5 curling irons, 2 blenders, a dvd player, 3 cell phones, a faucet kit, 100 meters of electrical wire and 2 wireless home phones…. I just walked right out the door without anybody saying anything.I wanted to bring in some power tools and a toaster oven too, but I decided to leave them in Canada because I thought I might have trouble. But has anybody else been able to get these through without getting slammed with duties?The only time I have ever had to pay a duty was when I brought in a large air conditioner, last year. They wanted $160. Despite my best effort to convince him, he would not believe that it was for my own personal use and that I would bring it back to Canada after my trip (haha). The officer showed me on his little computer that the base rate for the unit was $160 in duty fees. I asked to speak with the boss. She came down and we negotiated for about 10 minutes and finally they let me pass by only paying $80. (We split it down the middle). I honestly had a feeling that I could have negotiated for an even lower rate, but my bus was waiting and I had to run. Anyway, I was still pretty happy, and I completely expected to have to pay a duty anyway… I anticipated even more actually.

But does anybody else have stories about importing large items?

I’ve arrived at the holguin airport with many items over the years. I’m married to a Cuban. When you marry a Cuban, you marry the family as well and there is always a need. I’d have to say the largest or most uncommon item I brought was a quick cut saw or gas powered concrete saw. I passed threw without paying as it was not included on their list of tools. I had to explain what it was. I bring a lot of tools there for my father in law among everything else people have posted above. Negotiating at the airport or just plain refusing to pay very high import duties has worked well for me. One time for a large flat screen tv they wanted to charge me $600. I said I would pay $30. After a lot of discussion the duty gradually came down until their frustration swayed them to my price. I paid $30.
I’m planning to live there for 6-8 months a year and I’m curious about importing a shipping container. I know once I’m a permanent resident, I can import one. Does anyone have experience with, or knowledge of this process?

I recently returned from Holguin (Thursday). It seemed to be business as usual although I did see a lot of flat screen TVs unloaded as cargo from our plane, which flew out of Montreal. From what we could see, there was little commotion but we did see longer line-ups at the "something to declare" desks.

We had no trouble bringing a suitcase of goods for our friends in the countryside, although there was nothing in our bag that would trigger an "alarm" when going through the xray machines.

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