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Customs Clearance

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Nat’s MacBook Pro arrived to Kuwait but got held up in customs so today I woke up early and headed to the cargo terminal outside the airport to clear it. I was expecting the process to be long and difficult but surprisingly it was pretty easy. The hardest part was knowing where to go first after that everyone just points you in the direction you have to go next. These are the steps I had to take, click on the map for a larger version:

customs clearance map

1) I headed to the NAS building (National Aviation Service)
2) Once you go up the steps into the NAS building you will be greeted by a security desk where you have to exchange your civil ID card for a pass
3) You then have to walk through the cargo bay and head to the back offices
4) Once you enter the office head to the counter marked on the map. I paid KD3 here.
5) After paying the KD3 fee and getting a print out I was sent to an adjacent window to get another stamp
6) I then had to go back to the cargo bay where I gave my papers to a worker who went and got my package from inside their warehouse. Once the package comes out a customs officer has to check it. After checking, the package was taken away again and I got another paper which I needed to take to the building across from NAS.
7) When I entered the building across from NAS I headed to a window at the far end corner where I presented my papers. I had to buy a stamp for KD1.
8) After getting another paper with the stamp I had to go to the window in front of him where I handed in my papers and paid KD1.
9) I then headed back to the NAS offices and back to the window on the far end where my paper was stamped one more time.
10) I then had to take that paper into the cargo area and get another stamp from this small desk in the middle.
11) They sent me to a window in front of them where I got another paper printed out
12) I finally went back to the middle desk where I got my last stamp and they told me to pick up my package.

All in all it took me around an hour to clear my MacBook Pro and only paid KD5 in total. Now that I know what I have to do I think I could clear a package a lot quicker next time around. Everyone there was pretty helpful and it was very crowded. I was there around 9:30-10 but the earlier the better I guess.

34 replies on “Customs Clearance”

this kind of posts is exactly what keeps me coming to this blog. well done Mark.

I have a question though, you had to pay only 5 dinars? dont they usually take some kind of percentage on computers? as I’ve mentioned before I ended up paying 60 dinars for my macbook. now i’m about to order a thinkpad and been worried about customs again.

1. So is this THE place to go to when a package is held by customs?
2. Do they call you informing you that a package is held? Or its upto you to track it and figure that its arrived in Kuwait and held up?
3. Any other info on customs charges? As mentioned above, someone paid 60kd and you paid 5kd.

Kuwait: Yes this is where to go when customs get held. USWS called me and told me the package was held so i passed by them, picked up the papers I needed and headed to the cargo terminal at the airport. I only paid KD5 to clear a 2000$ laptop.

you mean you only paid KD 5 for delivering a laptop?

no weight charges?
no delivery charges?

I mean I paid KD 5 for 3 dvds delivered from aramex which I orderd from Amazon

No I paid 5KD to clear the items from customs, shipping fee is different and thats handled through your shipping company like Aramex or in my case U Shop We Ship.

oh gosh !!!! DHL pay me 10 kd custom clearance for 2 tshirts which cost me 19 kd both !!!!!!!
DHL @ HOME IS SHITTTT they r new though but they really stealling money for nothing .. i want my 10 kd back loool

Chubby: What you paid probably also includes their fee for clearing the stuff for you. Shipping companies can clear the stuff but they usually take longer to do and charge you a fee to do it. Since I needed the laptop urgently I did it myself.

When you need to create a “government job” for every Kuwaiti, you get this nonsense. From what I understand, at the age of 21, every Kuwaiti is handed a red ink pad and a rubber stamp. At that point, a policy is changed to somehow “include” them in the stamping process.

3azeez: Exactly.. This is why I come back here… for the humor.

This should be a case study for streamlining operations.

Just look at how many buildings you had to go to; if all those operations were in one place, it would have probably cut your time by a good 40 – 50%.

Burhan, it’s not about streamlining. It’s about getting rid of the “BS” in the process.

Another example:
Draw a map of how many police stations and stamps you need to get a police report. Bonus credit: List the times each station is open.

Mabrouk Mark,,
You were lucky customs did not ask you for a “bayan”, because then,
it would take you 2-3 days and at least 5% local taxes (but may be
computers are exempt),, I am not sure

Mark, I have a package with USWS at customs and they sent me an email just asking me to fill a form plus invoice and ID copy and send it back for them to process… why did they ask you personally to follow up?

edit: I just read your post about you wanting to clear it yourself, but they did not ask me if I wanted to do so, hence it appeared as if I did not have a choice! hope they (usws) do not charge me much :s

i cleared items before there . it was ramadhan and i was fasting , it was my first time and it was harddddd i was there around 1 P.M or 2 PM the customs were closed 😀 but the indian guy told me talk to ilthabe6 he might let you take it without customs , ilthabe6 was shayeb and nice and signed the paper and i took my laptop and iphones without paying more than 1 KD. law imkhaleet-hum 7ag il DHL ibyakhthon more than 50-80 KD .
DHL fees for clearnce and hadiling + NAS fees + TAX madre shino + 5% of the bill + CBK fees …. bla bla bla !! witha wasla weekend ibyakhthon NAS artheya ba3ad !!

but now i prefer sara7a EMS , ilmumtaz .. kaifan .. sij iylaw3on ilchabd .. o eydawkhon ilras .. wil mukan eyeeb ilyahad .. but still you will pay nothing + finishing the process within 10 mins + the shipping fees is nothing compared to aramex and dhl + kaifan not airport + open until 7:30 PM + i send the driver to bring my stuff + with USPS Express international i get my items within 3-4 days maximum and sometimes 2 ! with priority 6-10 days Max . if its less than 2-3lb will be delivered to ur home 😀

Hi, this is good info. i am planing to Import DSLR camera from US.
Is any thing tariff we have to pay for that…!I mean customs Duty!
if you know let me know in the earliest.

Thanks in advance.
Yogeesh

I have an electric guitar that’s been held up at customs for 3 days now. It was shipped by DHL. How much time does it take for them to clear the package?

hi, first congrats on the new Mac and I wanted to ask how to came to know that it is stuck with the customs as I recently ordered some things from china and want to know what to do next.
thanks

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