CBP Form 3078: Application for a CBP Identification Card

CBP Form 3078 is the Application for Identification Card. CBP uses it to run a background check on people who handle imported goods that haven't cleared customs yet, and to issue the card that lets them into CBP security areas at ports and airports. It is a personnel form. Importers rarely file it themselves, but the people moving their freight often need one.

Who needs a card

Under 19 CFR 112.41, every licensed cartman or lighterman, and each of their employees, must carry a CBP identification card while handling imported merchandise that is still in CBP custody. CBP's information collection for the form also lists the other workers who typically apply:

• Airport employees who work in Customs Security Areas
• Bonded warehouse officers and employees
• Container freight station employees
• Foreign trade zone employees
• Centralized examination station employees

The card has to be on the person whenever they deal with that merchandise, and they show it when a CBP officer asks.

How to apply

• Where: The applicant files in person with the port director at the port where they need access.
• Photos: Two color photographs, 1¼ by 1¼ inches.
• Fingerprints: Taken on FBI form FD-258 or electronically when the application is filed.
• Fees: The port director tells the applicant the current FBI fingerprint fee and the CBP processing fee, and both are paid with the application.

The background check

CBP can refer any application for an investigation into the applicant's character. The port director can refuse a card when, in the director's judgment, the person's work with bonded merchandise would put the revenue at risk.

Why it matters to importers

Goods sitting in a bonded warehouse, a container freight station or a foreign trade zone are still in CBP custody. Every person who touches them there needs a valid card, and a lapse at your warehouse or cartage provider can hold up your freight. It is worth confirming with those providers that their staff are carded at each port you use.

Where this fits

Caspian works on the duty side of your imports: auditing entries before and after they're filed and recovering overpaid duty through Post-Summary Corrections, protests and drawback. For the core entry forms, see CBP Form 3461 and CBP Form 7501.

Works Cited:

• CBP: Form 3078, Application for Identification Card
• 19 CFR 112.41, Identification cards required
• 19 CFR 112.42, Application for identification card
• Federal Register: Information collection for CBP Form 3078