How to Fill Out C5 Form, the Jamaica Immigration Form - Common Mistakes to Avoid

Pay attention to the eight Yes or No questions that are on the form.

Are you bringing plants or animals or their products into Jamaica?

Do your part to keep Jamaica safe. Do not bring plant or animal material into the island.

Don’t forget the fresh fruit you brought with you as a snack on the airplane that you might have forgotten about.

If they find you with undeclared food items, or any of the things mentioned in the question, the items will be confiscated.

If you are bringing in kosher meats, this should have been arranged ahead of time, and a permit or a meat inspection certificate obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture. 

Are you bringing pharmaceuticals?

They aren’t asking about medicines for your personal use. Those are fine.

In fact, you should bring some common over-the-counter medicines with you such as Tylenol, Imodium, Benadryl, and Neosporin – the same sort of thing you would have in a medicine kit at home.

Make sure that your medicines are in the original prescription bottles, especially if they are narcotics.

If you are on narcotic pain medicines, make doubly sure that you have enough for your trip because it is extremely difficult to get narcotic prescriptions filled in Jamaica.

Repeat x 2.

Also, the narcotics must be in the original prescription bottle bearing YOUR name.

Do you have goods exceeding your duty-free allowance?

Pay attention to your duty-free limits. The form states a US$500 limit per person over age 18 on personal and household effects that are not for resale or in commercial quantities.

Technically, the US$500 duty-free allowance is for holders of a Jamaican passport but now it seems they are being more lenient. Clearly, it depends on the customs officer whom you encounter.

For tobacco products, all passengers are allowed either 200 sticks of cigarettes, 50 cigars, or 230 grams of tobacco. You are not allowed to have all three limits.

In terms of alcohol, the limit is 1 liter of spirits and 1 liter of wine. It does appear that this can be combined.

Do you have items to be declared? Do you have gifts or articles for resale?

Items to be declared generally relate to items that will be left on the island.

Tourists coming to stay at hotels or villas generally have nothing to declare because they are just coming for vacation.

So, for example, if you will be visiting family and friends on the island and you have gifts for them, customs would expect that you would declare those items.

A tourist getting married in Jamaica or a Jamaican bride bringing her own wedding dress wouldn’t pay duty on the dress.

You do not need to declare your laptop, your iPad, your cell phone, or your camera. In this day and age, they expect people to have these things.

What if you are bringing donations?

It becomes tricky if you are bringing items to donate, say to a school or an orphanage. There is a formal process to go through, which most people don’t do, primarily because it is such a hassle.

If you are a tourist and your donations fit in one suitcase, generally, no one would even notice. If you are a tourist hauling two big suitcases, someone will probably notice you.

If, for example, you are bringing loads of donations for a school, the Ministry of Education and the school would need to be contacted ahead of time so that someone from the school can be waiting for you to accept the items. Sometimes an official letter from the government acknowledging your gift will suffice.

The items won’t be confiscated but you could be required to pay duty based on the value that Customs assigns to them.

If you are definitely below the $500 limit and you go easy with the excess luggage, you should be fine.

If you have a lot of items you are donating and you don’t want to be hassled on arrival, then go through the proper channels. Let the organization to which you are donating do the legwork. That is the least they could do.