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Immigration & Visas vocabulary · Border Control & Entry

Customs

Meaning in immigration & visas, with examples

/ˈkʌstəmz/nounCore term

In immigration & visas, customs means: The government department, and the area at a border, where officers check the goods you bring into a country and collect any taxes on them.

In Turkish: gümrük

How it is used

Always plural in this meaning. You go through customs after passport control and baggage claim. Many airports have a green channel for "nothing to declare" and a red channel for "goods to declare". People moving abroad also deal with customs rules for household goods.

Example sentences

  1. We went through customs quickly because we had nothing to declare.

  2. Customs officers asked me to open my suitcase.

Common collocations

  • go through customs
  • customs declaration
  • customs officer
  • nothing to declare
  • customs duty
  • border controlThe checks that officials make at a country's borders on people, documents and goods entering or leaving, and the area where these checks happen.
  • passport controlThe place at an airport, port or land border where officials check your passport and visa before you enter or leave a country.
  • port of entryAn official place, such as an airport, seaport or land border crossing, where travellers and goods can legally enter a country and are checked.
  • immigration officerA government official who checks travellers' documents at the border and decides, or helps decide, whether they may enter or stay.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Border Control & Entry

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not legal advice.