There is no doubt that travel is one of the favorite leisure activities for United States citizens. And we are not only talking about traveling abroad, but also about traveling within the country itself. There are many places we can visit without leaving the United States, although occasional travel to other areas such as Europe can be exciting.
Also, traveling by plane can be stressful at times because of all the baggage issues, but we must also add that if we carry cash we have to control the amount we take with us. To travel from the United States or to the United States we do not have an exact limit of money that we can take with us, but we must take into account several elements.
How much cash can I carry while traveling in the United States?
The truth is that there are no limits in this regard, but it is mandatory to declare when we carry $10,000 or more in monetary instruments. This means that if we carry less money we will not have any kind of problem and, besides, we will not have to declare anything.
In the case of carrying more than $10,000 in monetary instruments, without the need for them to be the same monetary instrument, we will have to declare it before entering or leaving the United States. Failure to do so may result in fines.
What are monetary instruments?
In most cases monetary instruments are related to cash. Thus, if the sum of all the cash we have is greater than $10,000 we will have to make the relevant declaration. It does not matter if we have part of that money in dollars and part in a different currency.
Likewise, bearer checks, for example, are also considered monetary instruments. Therefore, we must declare them in the same way as if we were carrying cash in our pockets. It is important to make the declaration in order to avoid problems.
What happens if I travel in the United States without declaring the money?
Only in the case of exceeding the limit of 10,000 dollars we will have to declare the money. Of course, we will have to take into account that if we do not do it we will face a fine. And not only that, but we could also go to jail.
As far as the fine is concerned, we can pay up to $500,000. On the other hand, we could also face up to 10 years in jail. For that reason, if we travel from the United States or to the United States we will always have to declare that we are carrying $10,000 or more.
