Travel Notice: Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) Final Rule Requirement

BG0520E | Date: 2005-09-28

For Carriers

The CBP Final Rule requires that all commercial inbound and outbound air and sea carriers collect and submit certain data on all passengers and crew members prior to entry to or departure from the United States. Carriers are required to reprogram their reservation systems and begin to collect and transmit the APIS data elements by October 4, 2005. The Final Rule requires the carrier industry to submit APIS data in an electronic interchange approved by CBP.

For Passengers

The CBP Final Rule requires that all passengers submit data that includes the following: the country that issued the passport or alien registration number; the passenger's or crew member's full name, date of birth, passport or alien registration number, country of residence, and U.S. destination address (foreign nationals only); and the locator number for the passenger's airline reservation data. For crew members and non-crew members, the address of permanent residence and the pilot certificate number are also required.

On April, 7, 2005, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published the CBP Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) Final Rule in the Federal Register. The rule requires all commercial air and sea carriers to submit advanced information on all passengers and crewmembers prior to entry to or departure from the U.S.

The APIS Final Rule mandates that inbound commercial air and sea carriers electronically submit passenger data prior to arrival in the U.S. The APIS Final Rule also requires that air and sea carriers electronically submit passenger data prior to departure from the U.S. The rule is the first consolidation of regulations from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs Service, now part of CBP. The publication of this regulation expands the mandate to include inbound and outbound APIS data from commercial air and sea carriers.

APIS data continues to serve as an enforcement tool to identify suspect or high-risk passengers, while facilitating the travel of law-abiding passengers — a majority of the passengers — through the entry and clearance process.