How to Fill Out and Submit CBP Form 5129: Crew Member’s Declaration

CBP Form 5129, the Crew Member’s Declaration, is the one-page written declaration that crew on vessels and aircraft in international traffic use to report articles they’re bringing ashore in the United States. You fill out Section I yourself with your arrival details and an itemized list of what you acquired abroad, then hand the form to a Customs and Border Protection officer at the port of entry, who calculates any duty in Section II and collects payment before you leave the terminal. Blank forms are available as a PDF on the CBP website and are typically distributed on board before arrival.

Who Has to File One

The declaration requirement applies to anyone employed in the operation of a vessel, vehicle, or aircraft engaged in international traffic, regardless of citizenship. Deckhands, engineers, flight crew, stewards, and similar personnel are all covered. It also covers someone traveling back aboard a carrier as a passenger if they served as crew on the outbound trip.¹

Three groups on board are specifically not crew members for customs purposes and clear customs as passengers on Form 6059B instead:

U.S. military and civil service personnel operating a government-owned or government-controlled carrier.
Pilots and crew on private aircraft, whether or not the flight crossed a border.
Anyone on board with no role in the operation, navigation, ownership, or business of the carrier.²

When a Written Form Is Required

Regulation lets an officer accept an oral declaration if everything you’re carrying qualifies for duty-free treatment and you have nothing beyond basic personal effects for use in port.¹ In practice, a written Form 5129 is required whenever:

Your articles exceed the $200 duty-free threshold.
You’re carrying items intended for sale, barter, or exchange.
An officer determines a written declaration is needed for orderly processing or to protect the revenue.

Many carriers require every crew member to submit one on every arrival regardless of what they’re carrying. Treat the written form as the default.

Filling Out Section I

Section I is the biographical and arrival portion you complete yourself. Use pen, typewriter, or another permanent method. Pencil is not acceptable.³

The fields ask for:

Carrier: vessel flag and name, or airline and flight number.
Date of arrival: the date the carrier reaches the U.S. port.
Port of arrival: the specific U.S. port where you’re clearing customs.
Last name: as it appears on your passport or merchant mariner credential.
Rank: your position on the carrier, such as First Officer, Chief Engineer, or Steward.
Date of birth: match your identification exactly.
Address while in the United States: street, city, state, and ZIP, even for a temporary stay.

Below the biographical block are three yes-or-no screening questions. Question A: are you carrying any fruits, plants, meats, or other agricultural products? Question B: have you visited a farm or ranch outside the United States in the last 30 days? Question C: are you carrying more than $10,000 in currency or monetary instruments? A “yes” to any of these triggers additional inspection or paperwork, covered below. Sign and date the form at the bottom of Section I.³

What Goes on the Itemized List

You must list every article you acquired abroad, whether you bought it, received it as a gift, or obtained it some other way. Organize the list as the form instructs:

List articles to be landed separately from items staying on board.
Give commercial goods, meaning anything intended for sale, barter, exchange, or carried as a favor for someone else, their own separate listing.
Include the serial number for cameras, radios, and similar electronics.

State the price you paid in U.S. dollars, or the fair value if the item was a gift or wasn’t purchased. Keep receipts. If an officer questions a stated value, a receipt is the fastest way through the conversation.³

What You Can Leave Off

A narrow set of voyage necessities is exempt. You can skip listing necessary clothing, toiletries, and purely personal effects used exclusively during the trip. The form also exempts one open (seal broken) liter of alcohol; up to 300 cigarettes, 50 cigars, or 2 kilograms of smoking tobacco, or a proportionate combination; and any articles previously cleared through CBP that are covered by an existing receipt or release form.³ Everything else goes on the list.

The $200 Exemption and Duty on the Overage

Crew members get a $200 duty-free exemption each time they arrive, as long as they’re leaving the carrier only temporarily and intend to resume work on a carrier in international trade. The $200 covers merchandise for personal use, including gifts for people in the United States. Items bought on behalf of someone else or for business purposes don’t count toward the exemption.⁴

Within that $200, the alcohol and tobacco allowance is one open liter of alcoholic beverage, plus 300 cigarettes, 50 cigars, or 2 kilograms of smoking tobacco, or a proportionate mix. These must physically accompany you when you arrive.⁴

Anything over the $200 is subject to duty. For personal, non-commercial articles valued at $1,000 or less after the exemption, a flat 3 percent rate applies. Articles acquired in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands get a lower flat rate of 1.5 percent.⁵ The CBP officer fills in the tariff description, rate, and duty amount in Section II. You pay the total before your documents are returned. Articles worth more than $1,000, and goods with a commercial purpose, take standard Harmonized Tariff Schedule rates instead of the flat rate, which usually means a higher bill.

Currency and Agriculture Questions

A “yes” on Question C means you’re carrying more than $10,000 in coin, currency, traveler’s checks, money orders, or negotiable instruments in bearer form. You must also file FinCEN Form 105 at the time of entry. The threshold applies to the total you’re carrying, not per instrument type, and for groups traveling together it’s collective, not per person.⁶ There’s no cap on how much you can bring in, but failing to report can result in seizure of the entire amount.

A “yes” on Question A brings in a CBP agriculture specialist to inspect what you’re carrying. Meats, fruits, vegetables, plants, seeds, soil, and animal products all require declaration. If you answered “yes” to Question B about a farm or livestock visit in the last 30 days, the specialist may also inspect your shoes and luggage for soil that could carry foreign diseases. Prohibited items that go undeclared are confiscated, and civil penalties for a first offense with non-commercial quantities can reach $1,000.⁷

Handing In the Form at the Port

You present the completed Form 5129 to a CBP officer at the port where you’re landing your articles. When practicable, clearance should happen and permission to unlade should be obtained before articles are removed from the carrier. Where no revenue risk exists, officers may examine and clear articles at the customs office on the pier or at the landing place itself.¹

The officer reviews your declaration, may ask you to confirm details verbally, and can inspect your baggage. If duty is owed, the officer calculates it on the form and collects payment the same way passenger duties are collected. Once that’s done, your documents come back and you proceed. If you’re continuing on the same carrier to another U.S. port without re-entering, you generally make your entry at the port where the movement begins rather than at each subsequent stop.¹

Penalties for Leaving Something Off

Any article not included in your declaration, and not mentioned before a baggage examination begins, is subject to forfeiture. On top of forfeiture, you face a monetary penalty equal to the value of the undeclared article. If the undeclared item is a controlled substance, the penalty is the greater of $500 or ten times the item’s street value.⁸

Nonresident Crew Passing Through

A different rule applies if you’re a nonresident crew member who has been permanently discharged and are only passing through the United States as a passenger to reach a destination outside the country. You may bring articles valued at up to $200, including up to 4 liters of alcohol, through the U.S. duty-free, provided you itemize them on Form 5129 and attach a written statement confirming your discharge date, your intention to depart the U.S. as a passenger, and that the articles will leave the country with you. The port director may verify these facts with the carrier agent or port captain before granting the exemption.⁹

1
eCFR. 19 CFR 148.62 – Declaration and Entry of Articles by Crewmembers
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eCFR. 19 CFR 148.61 – Status as Crewmembers
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Form 5129 – Crew Member’s Declaration
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. Government/Military Personnel or Crew Member Exemptions
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eCFR. 19 CFR Part 148 – Personal Declarations and Exemptions
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Money and Other Monetary Instruments
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bringing Agricultural Products Into the United States
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1497 – Penalties for Failure to Declare
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eCFR. 19 CFR 148.66 – Nonresident Crewmember Exemptions