Timor-Leste

Legal basis: Instrução do BCTL n.º 4/2017 on the import and export of cash (Jornal da República, Series II no. 16, 21 April 2017; in force 30 days after publication), which expressly revokes the 2009 instruction (Instrução Pública n.º 4/2009) — the former USD 5,000-era regime is not current. Without authorization, no person may import or export cash — in US Dollars or any other currency — of an amount equal to or greater than USD 20,000 (USD 20,000 or more), in either direction (bringing into or taking out of Timor-Leste). Comparator note: the art. 3(1) prohibition and the current Customs guidance both use “equal to or greater than” (“$20,000 or more”), so exactly USD 20,000, too, must not be carried without authorization and prior authorization should be obtained first; however, the application duty in art. 4(1) is worded for cash that “ultrapasse” (exceeds) the amount referred to in art. 3(1) — on its face strictly more than USD 20,000 — so whether the art. 4 application details (Anexo I form, at least 5 business days' advance filing, fees) apply unambiguously at exactly USD 20,000 is a wording difference the cached texts do not resolve (bounded unknown; see TL-bctl-art4-equality); this record does not advise carrying exactly USD 20,000 without authorization. Who applies and when: the person who will transport the cash (requests must be signed by that person) submits the written authorization request on the form in Anexo I of the Instruction, at least 5 business days before the proposed transport date (later requests are treated as urgent), to BCTL, Department of Supervision of the Financial System, Licensing and Regulation Division, Avenida Xavier do Amaral n.º 9, Díli, or by e-mail to dsflicensing@bancocentral.tl, with the supporting documents listed in art. 5(6). The application is a written paper-form process (Anexo I form, submitted to the BCTL division or by e-mail); no traveller self-service online application portal is described in the Instruction, so the channel is recorded as paper. Fee (art. 7): USD 100 for a non-urgent request, USD 300 for an urgent request, paid to BCTL on submission — this is the BCTL authorization-request fee, not a border declaration fee; the structured fee field is recorded as unknown because the amount is not a single value. Urgent route: export — the cash is delivered to BCTL and the decision comes within 48 hours; import — the request is submitted with the urgent fee and the decision comes within 72 hours; if no decision is taken within the deadlines, the request is treated as rejected. Authorization validity: maximum 20 business days from issuance, for a single import or a single export. Use at the border: the traveller presents the authorization to the Timor-Leste customs authorities at the moment of entry or exit; on arrival the traveller must also declare the cash to Customs and show the BCTL authorization (Customs guidance, which warns that failing to declare goods or cash totaling USD 20,000 or more may be a criminal offence). Additional restriction: cash of USD 150,000 or more is only permitted in the situations listed in art. 3(3) (e.g., through a bank or financial institution duly licensed in Timor-Leste, or documented exceptional hardship, including medical emergencies). Sanctions: fines of 20% of the amount transported or to be transported (max USD 5,000) for breaching the USD 20,000 / USD 150,000 thresholds, and 50% of the excess (max USD 5,000) for exceeding the amount stated in the authorization.

All arriving travellers are legally required to complete a paper Customs Arrival Declaration form with eight questions (downloadable from the Customs website); if no form is available on arrival, the traveller instead makes a verbal declaration and Customs asks the relevant questions. Personal baggage and gifts must be non-commercial. Each adult traveller aged 17 or over has a duty-free allowance of goods up to USD 300, with per-traveller item limits: 200 cigarettes, or 100 cigarillos (max 3 g each), or 75 cigars; cut tobacco: the Customs page states 30 g while the underlying Decreto-Lei n.º 8/2006, art. 13(1)(a)(iv), states 300 g — the two official figures conflict tenfold and the limit actually enforced is unknown, so no single figure is asserted here (unresolved item TL-cut-tobacco-30g-vs-300g); perfume 75 g; eau de toilette 0.375 L; still wine 5 L; distilled beverages and spirits above 22% vol. and non-denatured ethyl alcohol of 80% vol. or more: 1.5 L (quantity per Decreto-Lei n.º 8/2006, art. 13(1)(b)(i); the Customs English sentence is garbled); coffee 1 kg or 400 g of extracts; tea 200 g or 80 g of extracts; medicines for personal needs. Travellers under 17: the Customs guidance states that they cannot bring tobacco or alcohol and that other goods may still be brought in duty-free up to USD 300; the statute says the opposite — Decreto-Lei n.º 8/2006, art. 13(2), grants travellers under 17 no global duty-free allowance at all (and no tobacco or alcohol allowance). Guidance and law conflict, and which rule is applied at the border is unknown, so no duty-free entitlement is promised here for under-17s. Goods worth more than USD 300 must be declared to Customs on arrival — the traveller is legally obliged to inform Customs, and failure can draw a fine or legal action. Goods valued less than USD 1,000: Traveller's Declaration (IT4) — Customs completes a simple electronic form with the traveller's assistance (passport number, name, address, invoice or receipt, country of purchase, currency of purchase, flight number), makes the electronic declaration in the customs processing system (ASYCUDA World) right away without a Customs Broker, issues a payment slip, and the traveller pays the calculated duties and taxes by debit or credit card or at a bank (Customs accepts no cash directly); there is no fee for the declaration itself — the only costs are the duties and taxes shown on the electronic payment slip. Goods exceeding USD 1,000: Commercial Import Declaration (IM4) — the traveller must contact a Customs Broker who declares on the traveller's behalf. No traveller self-service online declaration channel is evidenced on the official pages consulted: the electronic filing is completed by Customs staff (IT4) or a Customs Broker (IM4), and the online report form on the Customs page is only a channel for reporting improper payment demands or misconduct (Customs Hotline 12200), not a declaration channel — this is what the consulted official pages show and does not prove that no online channel exists anywhere. Cash: for cash of USD 20,000 or more (equal to or greater than USD 20,000), obtain prior BCTL authorization and, on arrival, declare the cash to Customs and show the authorization — see TL-bctl-cash-authorization; separately, the AML law requires declaration of cash of USD 10,000 or more (equal to or greater than USD 10,000) when entering or leaving — see TL-aml-cash-declaration.

Legal basis: Lei n.º 17/2011 (AML/CFT law), art. 7(1), in the wording republished as current by Lei n.º 5/2013 (Jornal da República, Ministry of Justice). Any natural person who, on entering or leaving Timor-Leste, transports cash or bearer negotiable instruments of an amount equal to or greater than USD 10,000 (USD 10,000 or more) must declare the amount carried to the customs authorities. The duty applies in both directions — entering and exiting. Channel note: recorded as conditional — the duty is triggered by the amount carried and falls due at the border whether entering or exiting; no dedicated form or online channel for it is described in official guidance (see TL-cash-declaration-channel). Copies of the declarations are transmitted immediately by Customs to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF); where there is founded suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing, or where a false declaration is made, Customs seizes the undeclared amount in whole or in part, with judicial review within three business days; under art. 32(1)(a), non-declaration of currency or bearer instruments of USD 10,000 or more is an infringement punishable by a fine of USD 250 to 150,000 for individuals. Currency-status caveat: the cited text is the 2013 republication; whether art. 7 was further amended after 2013 cannot be verified from the cached sources (bounded unknown). Coverage gap: the current Customs traveller guidance describes cash declaration on arrival only from USD 20,000 or more (the BCTL authorization threshold) and does not mention this lower USD 10,000 duty; how a traveller makes this declaration (whether through the same paper Customs Arrival Declaration form or another form or channel), and the exit-side channel, are not described in the available official traveller guidance (bounded unknown). No fee for this declaration is evidenced.