US import filing: ISF and AMS, who files what and by when

The two US ocean import filings, and why they are separate

A US-bound ocean shipment triggers two separate advance filings with CBP, and they are easy to confuse because they share one deadline. They have different owners, different legal bases, and different consequences.

The first is the Importer Security Filing (ISF), the advance security filing commonly called "10+2". It is codified at 19 CFR Part 149, and the ISF Importer, or an authorized agent such as a customs broker or forwarder, submits it in English through a CBP-approved electronic system. The importer is legally responsible for the ISF even when it delegates the filing to an agent.

The second is the carrier's advance cargo manifest, transmitted through the Automated Manifest System (AMS) under 19 CFR 4.7. The vessel carrier files the manifest, and where a non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) meets CBP's conditions it may transmit its own house-level cargo data directly to CBP.

Both filings run on the same clock for ocean cargo: the core ISF elements and the AMS manifest each fall due 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port. That shared deadline is the source of the confusion. The ISF is the importer's security filing, carrying the importer's own bond exposure; the AMS manifest is the carrier's or qualifying NVOCC's filing. This guide treats the two as one origin-side documentation workflow while keeping them distinct by who files, on what clock, and what the exposure is. The European Union runs its own advance security filing, the ICS2 ENS, covered in the ENS rejection guide. The dates and figures below are current as of July 2026 and are sourced to the eCFR and CBP.

ISF versus AMS at a glance

Read across each row to see how the two filings differ by owner, legal basis, deadline, and exposure. The one column they share is the ocean deadline.

The ISF-10: the ten elements the importer files

The "10" in "10+2" is the importer's ten data elements, listed at 19 CFR 149.3(a) and set out in the table below. For a standard import shipment, the ISF Importer or its agent files all ten (on the distinction between house and master bills of lading, see HBL versus MBL).

Eight of the ten are due no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port: seller, buyer, importer of record number or foreign trade zone applicant identification number, consignee number, manufacturer or supplier, ship-to party, country of origin, and the commodity Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) number.

Two elements carry flexible timing. The container stuffing location and the consolidator (stuffer) may be provided as early as possible, and in no event later than 24 hours before arrival in a United States port, or upon lading at a foreign port that is less than a 24-hour voyage from the closest United States port. These two flexible-timing importer elements are separate from the carrier's two "+2" requirements, which the following section covers.

The ISF-10 elements

The ten elements in regulatory order, from 19 CFR 149.3(a). Elements 1 through 8 are the core elements due 24 hours before lading; elements 9 and 10 carry the flexible timing described above.

The '+2' and ISF-5: what the '10+2' name actually means

The "+2" in "10+2" is filed by the carrier, and it is the point most often gotten wrong. It is two carrier requirements that sit outside the importer's ten: the vessel stow plan (19 CFR 4.7c) and container status messages, or CSMs (19 CFR 4.7d). The incoming carrier submits the vessel stow plan no later than 48 hours after the vessel departs the last foreign port, or before arrival for voyages under 48 hours. These are the carrier's obligations. They are never two of the importer's ten elements.

The "10+2" name therefore combines the importer's ten elements with the carrier's two, filed by two different parties.

A reduced filing applies to some cargo. For a shipment made up entirely of foreign cargo remaining on board (FROB), or intended for in-bond immediate exportation (IE) or transportation and exportation (T&E), only five elements are required, the ISF-5: booking party, foreign port of unlading, place of delivery, ship-to party, and commodity HTSUS number (19 CFR 149.3(b)).

AMS and the 24-hour rule: the manifest side

AMS is the manifest side of the same origin-side moment. For US-bound ocean cargo, CBP must receive the electronic equivalent of the vessel's Cargo Declaration (CBP Form 1302) 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port, transmitted through the Automated Manifest System or another CBP-approved electronic data interchange system. This is the 24-hour rule, codified at 19 CFR 4.7(b).

The vessel carrier files the manifest. Where an NVOCC delivers cargo to the vessel carrier for lading at the foreign port and meets CBP's conditions, the NVOCC may transmit its own house-level cargo data directly to CBP through the vessel AMS system, received 24 or more hours before the cargo is laden at the foreign port. An NVOCC that does not self-file discloses the data to the vessel carrier to file.

The 24-hours-before-lading requirement carries a bulk and break-bulk exemption. Carriers of bulk cargo, and carriers of break-bulk cargo to the extent provided in 19 CFR 4.7(b)(4)(ii), are exempt with respect only to that cargo; for those voyages CBP must instead receive the electronic cargo declaration 24 hours before the vessel arrives in the United States.

Per-carrier manifest specifics, such as advance-manifest windows and surcharges, sit on the carrier documentation pages and the documentation handling page rather than here. For two worked examples, see the COSCO documentation and Evergreen documentation pages.

Frequently asked questions