SCI has contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for assistance in dealing with South Africa’s decision to accept only 1) Form 4457s with expiration dates that follow the date of travel or 2) Form 4457s without expiration dates that show proof of being issued in 2017. Please see this previous article for more background information.
CBP acknowledges that some local port of entry offices around the country have been issuing forms with expiration dates that have already passed or with no expiration dates at all. CBP’s Washington, D.C. office is communicating with branch offices to try to remedy this problem. Although all CBP offices should be using the newest version of Form 4457, some local offices may not yet be aware that the form has been updated.
The current Form 4457 is now available from the agency’s website, located here: https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2016-Aug/CBP%20Form%204457.pdf. The expiration date on that form is 08/31/2019.
According to CBP, individuals who are planning to travel with their firearms outside of the United States, including to South Africa, should obtain and travel with the newest version of the form. To best ensure that the CBP office signs and verifies the correct version of the Form 4457, CBP encourages hunters to download their own blank form/forms from the CBP website and take the blank forms with them to the CBP port of entry office for processing.
CBP personnel at local offices should sign and verify the new forms, even if the traveler already has a Form 4457 for the firearm(s) with which they intend to travel. If hunters encounter CBP personnel who have questions about obtaining and/or signing and verifying the latest version of Form 4457s, hunters are directed to inform those personnel to contact Carrie Ehrgott, International Trade Specialist, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Trade, Washington, D.C., (202) 863-6508.