Tonga

Direction: travellers arriving in Tonga, by air or by sea. Statutory basis (Customs and Excise Management Regulations 2008, as hosted by the Ministry): a passenger arriving in the Kingdom shall present a completed passenger declaration on Customs Form C18 to the Customs officer on arrival (Regulation 65); Customs Form C18 is the designated passenger's declaration (Regulation 62(a)); a Customs area is designated at each declared port or place for the processing of passengers (Regulation 63); a passenger disembarking from an aircraft or ship shall proceed directly to the baggage place and, after completing immigration processing, to the baggage examination area (Regulation 64(2)-(3)). Current website flow (airport wording): when arriving at any of Tonga's international airports, travellers must proceed immediately to a Customs Officer at the Passport Control booths for immigration clearance; passports valid a minimum of 6 months are required when entering Tonga; after collecting baggage, travellers submit their completed Passenger Declaration to Customs Officers at the Baggage Inspection area, who apply the dual channel system of clearance; baggage and person may be examined; prohibited or restricted goods must be declared. The hosted single-page Form C18 asks arriving passengers (Customs Declaration section, 'Are you bringing into Tonga') to tick for: cash in any currency to the value of TOP10,000 or more; goods over the personal concession for alcohol and tobacco products; goods for commercial or business purposes; goods that may be prohibited or restricted; followed by agriculture quarantine questions (farm or forest visit in the past 30 days, food, animals or animal products, plants or plant products, items such as tents, spiked sporting shoes/boots, soil or water). The cash line is recorded as a form question on the passenger declaration only: the separately catalogued Border Currency Reporting Form was not retrieved this round, the form file on the Ministry server is dated 2021-03-31, and no independent cash-declaration procedure or unconditionally current threshold is asserted. Duty-free quantities are not asserted as a single current rule: the current Duty Free Allowances page and Regulation 77 agree on 4.5 litres of wine or beer, personal effects, and TOP$500 combined other goods, but conflict on tobacco (site: 250 sticks of cigarettes/cigars or 250 grams of tobacco product; Regulation: 500 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 250 grams of tobacco) and spirits (site: 25 litres of portable spirits; Regulation: 2.25 litres of spirits); see unresolved TO-duty-free-tobacco-spirits-official-values-conflict. After-hours Customs attendance fees under Regulation 64(1) are payable by the master of the aircraft or ship, not a passenger form fee. Visa/entry-permit nationality rules are not recorded in this procedure: the captured page contains mutually inconsistent visa statements (see unresolved TO-visa-30d-vs-entry-permit-contradiction).

Direction: travellers departing from Tonga, by air or by sea. Statutory basis (Customs and Excise Management Regulations 2008, as hosted by the Ministry): a passenger departing from the Kingdom shall present a completed passenger declaration on Customs Form C18 to the Customs officer on departure (Regulation 65); Customs Form C18 is the designated passenger's declaration (Regulation 62(a)); a passenger or crew member leaving the Kingdom shall declare to the Customs officer whether carrying prohibited or restricted exports or imports, quarantine-restricted goods, or unpaid dutiable goods (Regulation 75). The current Ministry Customs Forms page catalogues, under TRAVELLERS, a 'Passenger Departure Declaration' carrying form number C18 (the adjacent 'Passenger Arrival Declaration' row carries no form number or link on the current page). The hosted single-page Form C18 cites Regulation 62(a) and 65 and is a combined card: it states the Immigration Officer will detach the departure card, and its printed instruction reads 'PLEASE SUBMIT TO IMMIGRATION OFFICER ON YOUR DEPQRTURE FROM THE KINGDOM' (sic). Which officer finally receives the departing card (Customs officer per Regulation 65, or Immigration Officer per the form print) is not decided by the obtained texts; see unresolved TO-c18-departure-card-recipient-officer. No fee is stated for the form itself; after-hours Customs attendance fees under Regulation 64(1) are payable by the master of the aircraft or ship, not by the passenger.