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Ports, Terminals & Transit

International Mail Facility

Also known as: IMF, international service center, ISC, mail facility

An International Mail Facility is a Postal Service facility, staffed by CBP officers, where inbound international mail is presented to Customs before it enters the domestic postal stream. Every parcel arriving in the United States by post passes through one.

The major facilities sit at airports — John F. Kennedy in New York (port 4701), Chicago O'Hare (3901), Los Angeles (2704), Dallas–Fort Worth, Miami (5206) and San Francisco (2709) among them. Which one holds a given parcel is a function of where the flight landed, not where the addressee lives: a package addressed to Alabama can sit at JFK, and the entry is filed to that facility's port rather than to a local one.

IMFs are not open to the public and do not hand parcels over a counter. A parcel leaves an IMF when CBP releases it back into the mail, and where CBP has asked for something that release normally depends on providing it.

The JFS takeLicensed customs broker · Filer 82G

The single most useful thing to know about an IMF is that it is not a place you can visit or collect from, and that ringing round rarely moves anything. People lose their first week trying, and the week matters because a Form 3509 carries a deadline.

Which facility holds your parcel is worth checking early, because it decides the port the entry is filed to and it is frequently not the one nearest you. Mail is presented to CBP where the aircraft landed. A parcel addressed to Alabama arriving on a flight into JFK is a New York filing, and telling us "it is in Alabama" sends everyone to the wrong port.

CBP staff at the facility cannot file your entry and are not permitted to recommend a broker. That is not unhelpfulness; it is the rule they work to.

Where it matters for compliance

  • The facility holding a parcel, and its port code, are printed on the Form 3509 notice.
  • In practice the entry follows the goods, to the port of the facility holding them. 145.12(a)(4) itself provides that where a shipment is addressed to a point that is not a CBP port, the port specified in the notice is the one nearest the destination — so read the notice rather than assuming either way.
  • IMFs are not open to the public and do not release parcels over a counter.
  • 19 CFR 145.12(a)(4): where formal entry is required, the addressee is notified of the arrival of the shipment and of the method by which entry is to be made.

Related terms

Customs EntryA customs entry is the formal declaration an importer or its broker files with the customs authority to secure the release of imported goods and to account for the duties and taxes owed.Formal EntryA formal entry is the full customs filing: a complete declaration of what the goods are, what they are worth, where they were made and what is owed on them, transmitted electronically to CBP and secured by a customs bond.ManifestA manifest is the comprehensive list a carrier files describing all the cargo aboard a conveyance — each shipment's shipper, consignee, description, quantity, and weight — submitted to the customs authority before or upon arrival.Country of OriginCountry of origin is the country in which a product was grown, produced, manufactured, or last substantially transformed, and it is a decisive factor in determining the duty rate, eligibility for preferential treatment, exposure to trade-remedy orders, quota limits, and marking requirements.

Reviewed by a licensed customs broker. Definitions are general information, not legal or customs advice for a particular shipment. Duty rates, tariff programs and agency requirements change frequently.