Entry Requirements & Customs

Entry Requirements

For an up-to-date country-by-country listing of passport requirements around the world, go to the "Foreign Entry Requirement" Web page of the U.S. State Department at http://travel.state.gov/foreignentryreqs.html.

Iceland is in the Schengen European visa zone, so Americans, Australians and New Zealanders don't need visas for stays of up to three months -- but that three month clock starts ticking as soon as you enter the EU. In other words, if you've just been in the UK for two months, you only get one month in Iceland. To get a visa for a longer stay, US residents must apply for at the Royal Danish Consulate General in New York or the Consulate General of Norway in Minneapolis; weirdly, the Icelandic Embassy in Washington DC does not issue visas.

EU residents can stay in Iceland as long as they like without visas.

No matter where you're from, your passport must be valid for three months after you intend to leave Iceland.

Allow plenty of time before your trip to apply for a passport; processing normally takes 3 weeks but can take longer during busy periods (especially spring). And keep in mind that if you need a passport in a hurry, you'll pay a higher processing fee. When traveling, safeguard your passport in an inconspicuous, inaccessible place like a money belt and keep a copy of the critical pages with your passport number in a separate place. If you lose your passport, visit the nearest consulate or embassy of your native country as soon as possible for a replacement.

Customs

What You Can Bring Into Iceland

Visitors are allowed to bring into Iceland:

• Up to 3 kg of food, worth up to ISK 13,000
• One mobile phone per person

Two of the following:

• One liter of spirits, one liter of wine, or six liters of beer
• 200 cigarettes or 250 grams of other tobacco products
• Up to 100 days' supply of medicine for your personal use

Other personal travel effects that you intend to consume in Iceland or leave Iceland with

Items that require permits include:

• Fishing and riding gear requires a certificate of disinfection from a veternarian
• Firearms require a permit from the Icelandic police
• Radio transmitters, receivers for other than broadcast stations, and remote controls require a permit from the Post and Telecom Administration
• Flowers and plants require a "phytosanitary certificate" endorsed by both the home country and Iceland

Forbidden items include:

• uncooked meat and meat products, milk and eggs
• Hand-to-hand weapons, crossbows and handcuffs

What You Can Take Home from Iceland

Returning U.S. citizens who have been away for at least 48 hours are allowed to bring back, once every 30 days, $800 worth of merchandise duty-free. You'll be charged a flat rate of duty on the next $1,000 worth of purchases. Any dollar amount beyond that is dutiable at whatever rates apply. On mailed gifts, the duty-free limit is $200. Be sure to have your receipts or purchases handy to expedite the declaration process. Note: If you owe duty, you are required to pay on your arrival in the United States, either by cash, personal check, government or traveler's check, or money order, and in some locations, a Visa or MasterCard.

To avoid having to pay duty on foreign-made personal items you owned before you left on your trip, bring along a bill of sale, insurance policy, jeweler's appraisal, or receipts of purchase. Or you can register items that can be readily identified by a permanently affixed serial number or marking-think laptop computers, cameras, and CD players-with Customs before you leave. Take the items to the nearest Customs office or register them with Customs at the airport from which you're departing. You'll receive, at no cost, a Certificate of Registration, which allows duty-free entry for the life of the item.

You can bring fish, but not meat, into the US. So feel free to stock up on that Icelandic salmon, but not the lamb.

With some exceptions, you cannot bring fresh fruits and vegetables into the United States. For specifics on what you can bring back, download the invaluable free pamphlet Know Before You Go online at www.cbp.gov. (Click on "Travel," and then click on "Know Before You Go! Online Brochure") Or contact the U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20229 (tel. 877/287-8667) and request the pamphlet.

For a clear summary of Canadian rules, write for the booklet I Declare, issued by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (tel. 800/461-9999 in Canada, or 204/983-3500; www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca). Canada allows its citizens a C$750 exemption, and you're allowed to bring back duty-free one carton of cigarettes, 1 can of tobacco, 40 imperial ounces of liquor, and 50 cigars. In addition, you're allowed to mail gifts to Canada valued at less than C$60 a day, provided they're unsolicited and don't contain alcohol or tobacco (write on the package "Unsolicited gift, under $60 value"). All valuables should be declared on the Y-38 form before departure from Canada, including serial numbers of valuables you already own, such as expensive foreign cameras. Note: The $750 exemption can only be used once a year and only after an absence of 7 days.

Iceland is in the EEA, which shares a customs union with the EU. So Citizens of the U.K. will go through a separate Customs Exit (called the "Blue Exit") especially for EU/EEA travelers. In essence, there is no limit on what you can bring back from a EU/EEA country, as long as the items are for personal use (this includes gifts), and you have already paid the necessary duty and tax. However, customs law sets out guidance levels. If you bring in more than these levels, you may be asked to prove that the goods are for your own use. Guidance levels on goods bought in the EU/EEA for your own use are 3,200 cigarettes, 200 cigars, 400 cigarillos, 3 kilograms of smoking tobacco, 10 liters of spirits, 90 liters of wine, 20 liters of fortified wine (such as port or sherry), and 110 liters of beer.

The duty-free allowance in Australia is A$400 or, for those under 18, A$200. Citizens can bring in 250 cigarettes or 250 grams of loose tobacco, and 1,125 milliliters of alcohol. If you're returning with valuables you already own, such as foreign-made cameras, you should file form B263. A helpful brochure available from Australian consulates or Customs offices is Know Before You Go. For more information, call the Australian Customs Service at tel. 1300/363-263, or log on to www.customs.gov.au.

The duty-free allowance for New Zealand is NZ$700. Citizens over 17 can bring in 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, or 250 grams of tobacco (or a mixture of all 3 if their combined weight doesn't exceed 250g); plus 4.5 liters of wine and beer, or 1.125 liters of liquor. New Zealand currency does not carry import or export restrictions. Fill out a certificate of export, listing the valuables you are taking out of the country; that way, you can bring them back without paying duty. Most questions are answered in a free pamphlet available at New Zealand consulates and Customs offices: New Zealand Customs Guide for Travellers, Notice no. 4. For more information, contact New Zealand Customs, The Customhouse, 17-21 Whitmore St., Box 2218, Wellington (tel. 04/473-6099 or 0800/428-786; www.customs.govt.nz).