CBP's Foreign IOR Rule: Every Importer Must Declare Status

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has an interim final rule, "Heightened Requirements for Foreign Importers of Record," on public inspection as of November 5, 2026, and scheduled for Federal Register publication on November 6. It reads like a rule about foreign companies, but every importer has to answer it: from the effective date, each entry and entry summary carries a declaration of whether the importer of record (IOR) qualifies as a U.S. IOR. Before that date, work out your answer under the new test, put the proof in one file, and confirm your filer can report it. A U.S. address or a Delaware LLC does not settle the answer on its own.

The rule (CBP Dec. 26-19, RIN 1685-AA48, docket USCBP-2026-1387, FR Doc. 2026-22735) takes effect 60 days after publication, and comments close the same day. The public inspection copy has a placeholder for that date, so January 5, 2027 is our calculation from the scheduled publication date. Confirm it against the published version.

What to Do Before January 5, 2027

1. Write down who owns the company. Follow every layer of ownership up until you reach people, not companies.
2. Map your beneficial owners. List each person with 25 percent or more of the ownership interests or substantial control, including senior officers, and whether each is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
3. Run the test below and record the result. Take ownership edge cases to customs counsel. This post is not legal advice.
4. Gather your records. The rule's examples are proof of citizenship or lawful permanent residence, corporate charters, financial statements and records, purchase receipts, and documents of title.
5. Check that your CBP Form 5106 matches. Your importer identity record and your declaration should tell the same story.
6. If you come out foreign, ask your broker in writing whether it is CTPAT validated. CTPAT is the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. Ask about "validated" specifically, because CBP counts "certified" brokers separately.
7. If you self-file, ask your software vendor how it handles the new Yes/No field, and when it will be ready.
8. If this affects you, comment by the deadline at regulations.gov, docket USCBP-2026-1387. CBP posts comments without change, including personal information, so keep private ownership details out.

The Test: Who Counts as a U.S. Importer of Record

Under new 19 CFR 110.2(a), an individual qualifies by being "a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident." An entity must be located in the United States, must be organized under the laws of the United States, and must satisfy one of two alternatives:

• (A) "At all times, at least 51% of beneficial owner(s) of the entity, as defined in § 110.1, must be United States citizens or lawful permanent residents and have control of the entity"; or
• (B) "The entity must maintain direct ownership of a significant amount of unencumbered real property in the United States at all times."

Under 19 CFR 110.3, any IOR that does not meet these criteria is a foreign IOR. There is no third category.

That is why a Delaware LLC does not answer the question. Delaware goes to where the company is organized. It says nothing about whether the company is located here, who its beneficial owners are, or what real property it owns. CBP says the provisions weigh "both substance (such as ownership, physical presence, and U.S.-based assets) and form (such as place of incorporation or organization and address)."

What the Rule Does Not Quantify

"51% of beneficial owner(s)." The regulatory text does not say whether that 51 percent is counted by number of people or by size of ownership interest, and the preamble also uses the phrase "at least 51% beneficial ownership." Take three beneficial owners, two of them U.S. citizens who together hold 30 percent. That company looks different under each reading. We will not guess how CBP counts. If your answer turns on the reading, talk to counsel.

"Significant amount." The rule sets no dollar figure or ratio. The preamble adds only that the property "can be subject to some encumberment, but the net unencumbered value of the real property must be of a significant amount." The text says "direct ownership," so we read a leased warehouse or an affiliate's building as a doubtful fit. That is our reading, not a CBP statement.

Both alternatives say "at all times." CBP's paperwork analysis treats a broker's document collection as one-time for each IOR, but the test itself continues. We would rerun it after an equity sale, a new senior officer, or a refinancing.

Who Is a Beneficial Owner

Under 19 CFR 110.1, a beneficial owner is a natural person who, directly or indirectly, either exercises substantial control over the entity or owns or controls at least 25 percent of its ownership interests.

• Layers count. Where a corporation is owned by another corporation owned by a person, that person "is the beneficial owner of the entity despite the layers of entity ownership." A U.S. holding company does not end the inquiry.
• Control counts without equity. The preamble says substantial control can be exercised by a senior officer such as a president or chief executive officer, by someone with authority to appoint or remove certain officers, or by an important decision-maker on the entity's business, finances, and structure. A hired CEO may count while holding no shares.
• Some people are excluded, including nominees and agents acting for someone else, and employees whose control comes solely from employment, unless they are senior officers.

CBP reviewed FinCEN's definition at 31 CFR 1010.380(d) and then expanded it. It also says it is not bound by FinCEN's interpretation in other contexts. A past FinCEN analysis is a starting point, not your answer.

How CBP Verifies, and Who Decides

Under 19 CFR 110.2(b), the determination "will vary depending upon the circumstances in each instance." To test whether an entity is located here, CBP will consider the size and scale of its operations and whether it is "an instrumentality of a foreign manufacturer without a substantial presence in the United States." Discretionary, non-exhaustive factors are:

1. A principal place of business in the United States.
2. A physical presence where substantial business transactions are conducted, such as paying employees, generating revenue, or operating retail locations.
3. Sufficient unencumbered physical domestic assets.
4. Direct ownership of a significant amount of unencumbered U.S. real property.
5. Gross sales that generally exceed cost of goods sold, and a structure anticipated to generate its own profit.
6. Sufficient capitalization.

"Physical domestic assets" means cash deposited in a U.S. bank account, U.S. Treasury bonds, and real property, inventory, machinery, or equipment physically located in the United States. Receivables are out: CBP says it avoided the word "tangible" because tangible assets may include accounts receivable, "which CBP purposefully excluded."

Under 19 CFR 141.22(b), the decision belongs to the appropriate Center of Excellence and Expertise Director.

If You Come Out Foreign

Under 19 CFR 141.21, a foreign IOR may enter merchandise for consumption only in one of two ways:

• It is CTPAT validated and has the right to make entry. It may then file for itself or hire a licensed broker, validated or not.
• It designates a licensed customs broker who is CTPAT validated to make entry or act as the IOR.

So a foreign IOR without CTPAT validation cannot self-file. Becoming validated may not be open to you either: CBP's analysis says "only foreign IORs that are Canadian are currently eligible for CTPAT validation."

The restriction covers all formal entry types and informal entry types 11, 12, and 13. A footnote extends "entries for consumption" to withdrawals from a bonded warehouse or a Foreign Trade Zone, so routing goods through either does not step around it.

Executive Order 14411 directed CBP to prohibit foreign IORs from filing informal entries. CBP did not go that far here. It says it will monitor those entries, may prohibit them if the validated-party requirement proves insufficient, and welcomes comment on that alternative. CBP's analysis ties the question to its separate low-value shipments proposal, so informal-entry importers should read both.

What an Inaccurate Declaration Can Trigger

The rule adds an inaccurate U.S. IOR declaration, as determined by CBP, to the grounds on which CBP may take two actions, on formal and informal entries alike:

• Live entry (19 CFR 142.13). Release waits on filing the entry summary and depositing all estimated duties, taxes, and fees.
• Loss of immediate delivery privileges (19 CFR 142.25).

Those are the consequences this rule adds for importers, and we will not predict when CBP will use them. Its penalty guideline amendment, in Appendix B to 19 CFR Part 171, is directed at customs brokers. Questions about broader liability go to counsel.

Your identity record carries a related risk. As we covered in our post on Form 5106 and IOR voidance, since September 18, 2026 CBP may immediately void an IOR number if it determines the Form 5106 information is inaccurate or incomplete, and a voided number means you cannot enter merchandise. The new rule reports over 870 Form 5106 accounts sharing one physical address, most linked to foreign entities. Do not leave your two records in conflict.

Why Your Broker Will Ask for Documents

If a broker files for you, expect a request. New 19 CFR 111.29(a)(2) says a broker must verify that a client qualifies before filing a declaration, and "must request and review a client's records." The example records are the ones in step 4 above. CBP expects this to be "straightforward for some IORs and laborious for others."

• Records. Brokers keep verification records for five years from the date of verification. You have your own duties under 19 U.S.C. 1508 and 19 CFR Part 163, and CBP keeps the authority to request proof from you directly.
• Timing. Brokers may request delayed compliance with the verification requirement in 19 CFR 111.29. Requests are due by the effective date (the DATES section says "prior to," Section VII says "by"). All brokers are expected to be in full compliance no later than May 6, 2027.
• Ending the relationship. If a broker that is not CTPAT validated determines you are not a U.S. IOR, it must stop filing entries for you.

Delayed compliance covers that broker verification requirement and nothing else. A self-filer has no May 2027 runway. With no broker in the middle, the rule's instruction to review the requirements and assess the criteria before filing lands on you.

How Big This Is, by CBP's Count

These figures are CBP's. "Active" means at least one entry summary between October 1, 2020 and February 6, 2026.

CBP says 32 percent of foreign IORs have not used a CTPAT-validated broker and must switch or become validated to keep importing. A later table in the same analysis gives 33.8 percent, so read it as about a third.

The caveat is that CBP sorted IORs by the physical address on Form 5106. It acknowledges some with U.S. addresses may be "self-labeling as U.S. IORs in good faith but not meet the standard," so its analysis "may underestimate the true number of foreign IORs." If you assume your address makes you a U.S. IOR, you are making the assumption CBP's own count warns about.

Filing Mechanics: What We Do Not Know

From the effective date, updated Forms 3461 and 7501 and their electronic equivalents must be used for each entry and entry summary. On paper the declaration is a checkbox, which foreign IORs leave blank. Electronically, the filer indicates "Yes" or "No."

That is all the rule says about the electronic field. As of November 5, 2026, we did not find CBP filing guidance on how it will be implemented, which does not mean none exists. Do not assume any filing system is ready until your vendor shows you.

Yes. You still make the declaration on every entry and entry summary, so someone should run the test and keep the file.

Does a U.S. IOR need CTPAT validation or a validated broker?
No. CBP says a qualifying U.S. IOR may keep entering merchandise without validation and may designate a broker who is not validated.

Can a Delaware LLC with an overseas owner still self-file?
Only if it meets 19 CFR 110.2 or is a CTPAT-validated foreign IOR. Anyone else needs a licensed, CTPAT-validated broker. Qualification depends on the facts, and CBP decides on verification.

Does May 6, 2027 give me more time?
Not as an importer. It applies to brokers on verification under 19 CFR 111.29. Once you know your status, our broker versus self-filing framework can help you weigh the options open to you.

Know Your Answer Before the Field Goes Live

Answer the question now, while you have time to fix a records gap or find a new filer. Here is how we help:

• Clear: our licensed brokers file entries at all U.S. ports through our brokerage service, at $100–$250 per entry. If you come out foreign and not validated, your broker must be CTPAT validated, so ask any broker, including us, to confirm its status in writing first.
• Consult: we will go through your ownership chart, records, and Form 5106 with you and show you where they disagree. We will not tell you what CBP will decide.
• Comply: through compliance consulting, we build the status file into a standing record with a named owner and a re-review trigger.
• Automate: our self-filing platform runs $30 per entry and is an option only if you are a U.S. IOR or a CTPAT-validated foreign IOR. Ask us, as you would any vendor, how the new field will be handled before you rely on it.

If you are not sure which side of this test you fall on, talk to our team.