Choosing between a continuous bond and a single entry bond comes down to how often you import and how your cargo arrives. A continuous customs bond covers every entry you file at every U.S. port for 12 months; a single entry bond covers one shipment at one port and expires the moment that entry closes. If you import more than a few times a year, ship by ocean, or handle goods regulated by another federal agency, the continuous bond is almost always the better choice. If you’re making a one-time purchase and your goods don’t touch a vessel, a single entry bond can do the job.
What Each Bond Actually Covers
A single entry bond (sometimes called a single transaction bond) is tied to one shipment arriving at one port. Once CBP finalizes that entry, the bond is done. You can’t reuse it, not even at the same port for the next container.
A continuous bond is one guarantee that sits behind every entry you file for a year, at any port. It also covers your Importer Security Filing obligation, in-bond movements, and foreign trade zone operations, so you don’t need a separate instrument each time a new customs obligation shows up.
That ISF point is the one most ocean importers get wrong. Anyone bringing cargo in by vessel has to file an ISF at least 24 hours before loading, and the filing must be backed by a bond.1eCFR. 19 CFR 149.5 – Eligibility to File an Importer Security Filing, Authorized Agents A single entry bond does not cover ISF. If you go the single-entry route for an ocean shipment, you have to arrange ISF coverage separately, and a late or inaccurate filing carries a $5,000 penalty per violation.
How the Bond Amount Is Set
The two bonds are sized on completely different formulas, and this drives the cost comparison.
For a single entry bond, the amount must be at least the total entered value of the goods plus all duties, taxes, and fees.2U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bonds – How Are Continuous and Single Entry Bond Amounts Determined If the shipment contains goods regulated by another federal agency — FDA, EPA, FCC, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and others — the bond has to be at least three times the total entered value.3U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Monetary Guidelines for Setting Bond Amounts The same three-times multiplier applies to quota or visa merchandise. The absolute floor for any customs bond is $100.4eCFR. 19 CFR 113.13 – Amount of Bond
A continuous bond is sized at 10 percent of the total duties, taxes, and fees you paid over the previous 12 months, with a standard $50,000 minimum.2U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bonds – How Are Continuous and Single Entry Bond Amounts Determined Paid $800,000 in duties last year? You’d need an $80,000 bond. First-time importers with no history typically start at the $50,000 floor.
What Each One Costs
Single entry bond premiums generally run about $4 to $7 per $1,000 of bond face value, with minimum charges typically in the $35 to $75 range per bond. That sounds cheap until you’re posting one every week, or until an FDA-regulated shipment triples your required amount.
A continuous bond at the $50,000 minimum usually costs a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars per year, depending on the surety’s underwriting of your risk profile. The break-even is low. Once you’re past a handful of shipments a year, the continuous bond is the cheaper option and stays cheaper.
When a Single Entry Bond Makes Sense
The narrow case for a single entry bond looks like this: you’re making a one-time or trial import, the goods aren’t regulated by another federal agency, they aren’t subject to quota, and they aren’t arriving by ocean vessel. A small importer testing a new product line with a single air shipment fits. So does a business making one large purchase with no plans to import again.
Outside those scenarios, the single entry bond starts collecting hidden costs — ISF coverage you have to arrange separately, the three-times multiplier on regulated goods, and the per-shipment paperwork friction each time.
When a Continuous Bond Is the Right Call
Four situations push importers toward the continuous bond:
- Ocean freight of any kind. The continuous bond covers ISF automatically. Single entry bonds don’t.
- Regulated goods. FDA products, FCC-regulated electronics, quota merchandise, and similar items require three times the shipment value on a single entry bond every time. A continuous bond sidesteps that inflated per-entry amount.
- Any real import volume. More than a few entries a year and the math favors the continuous bond on premium alone.
- Automated entry processing. Most customs brokers require a continuous bond for clients using automated entry systems. A lapse in coverage halts every entry until a new bond is active.
Once the continuous bond is in place, day-to-day operations are largely invisible. Your broker stores the bond number and applies it to every entry automatically.
The Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Wrinkle
A continuous bond does not always end the conversation on its own. If CBP develops a reasonable belief that a continuous bond won’t adequately protect the revenue on goods subject to antidumping or countervailing duties, the port can require an additional single transaction bond on top of the continuous bond. The additional bond amount is typically based on the merchandise value times the applicable AD/CVD rate. This is a case-by-case determination, not a blanket rule.5U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Use of Single Transaction Bonds as Additional Security for AD/CVD
If you’re importing AD/CVD merchandise, expect the possibility of stacked bond requirements and budget accordingly.
Sufficiency Reviews and Long-Tail Liability
Picking a continuous bond isn’t a set-and-forget decision. CBP’s Revenue Division runs monthly sufficiency reviews on every active continuous bond to check that the amount still tracks with your actual import activity.6U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Continuous Bond Sufficiency Review If your duty payments climb and 10 percent of that figure now exceeds your bond amount, CBP issues an insufficiency notice. You have about 30 days to obtain a bigger bond. Miss the window and CBP can suspend the bond, which stops your cargo at the port.
Bond liability also outlasts the bond itself. The surety remains responsible for every entry made while the bond was active, even after the bond expires or is terminated. Liability doesn’t end until CBP liquidates each covered entry and all related claims, protests, and petitions are resolved. For entries involving antidumping or countervailing duties, liquidation can be suspended for years, and the federal statute of limitations gives CBP six years from a bond breach to take action.
Violations trigger liquidated damages claims against both you and the surety. Missing a redelivery deadline, failing to export goods when required, or filing an inaccurate ISF can each generate a separate claim, and multiple violations can produce cumulative claims that exceed a continuous bond’s face value. Interest accrues from the assessment date, so a delayed response only raises what you owe.
None of this changes the basic choice. It just means the continuous bond you pick today has consequences that reach further than the calendar year on the paperwork.