I will be visiting Pak after a few years and wanted to know what is the official policy on custom duty and how is being regulated ? Is some sort of bribery expected ?
I have been looking for any info online but could not find anything useful.
That depends upon what you are taking and from where you are going. Untill then its hard to explain custom duty.
If you are just visiting with normal stuff, there shouldnt be anything to worry about. Otherwise if there is some declarable stuff, then you may end up paying.
Our fella @Captain1 moved recently so he may know more about it.
I will be flying to Islamabad International Airport from US via Turkey.
How can I find out what items need to be declared ? I will be taking gifts which so far include shoes, clothes, a small exercise machine (waiting to receive it and hopefully
it fits inside my luggage). I don’t think if i am taking too much.
I will be taking two cell phones – Roaming and 1 local for which i found the follow article: https://www.dawn.com/news/amp/1450813 but haven’t seen any official policy online.
This brochure of FBR covers most of the things. It does not mention rule about laptop though. In case you are carrying 2 laptops per person then 1 can go through without duty but on second one you will have to pay duty if customs checked your baggage. As far as currency is concerned, taking in currency is ok but taking out amounts $10K+ is serious crime. Also PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) is bringing in some changes to block imported mobile phones whose taxes haven’t been paid, so read up on that a bit too.
Thanks for sharing. So based on this you are only allowed duty free gifts up to $100. That does not seem right ! Am I missing something here ?
I found this under “Duty free allowance for foreign nationals and tourists”: Other goods of the value not exceeding US $100.
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Thanks for sharing. So based on this you are only allowed duty free gifts up to $100. That does not seem right ! Am I missing something here ?
I found this under “Duty free allowance for foreign nationals and tourists”: Other goods of the value not exceeding US $100.
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The $100/= gift limit for foreign nationals is correct, although price estimation is at the discretion of the inspecting officer in absence of receipts. If you have such items, remove their price tags, receipts, packaging and boxes so they will look like personal use item. Usually inbound passengers are not pulled aside for customs inspection but if they are, all such things come up. I’ve had issues with second laptop, hi-end camera lens and multi-function printer-scanner-fax machine on different occasions.