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Status Model of Packages at Customs

This article provides a comprehensive overview of all statuses throughout the customs process, explaining what each status means and how packages transition between them.

Written by Support
Updated today

Overview


Introduction

Every package in customs progresses through different statuses during its processing lifecycle. It's critical to understand the meaning of each status, as available actions and features, as well as the visibility, are directly related to or restricted by its current customs status.


Statuses overview

This is a short overview of all available statuses. Continue with the next section for more detailed explanations and available status transitions.

Status

Short description

Pending

Package was created but not yet pre-alerted to customs

Notified

Customs was notified about the existence of the Package

Submitted

Package was announced to Customs

Selected for control

Package selected for control by customs

Documents needed

Additional documents are needed to complete customs

Green

Package was cleared

Failed

Package failed customs


Statuses in detail

If you are developing integration with MotionTools, note that the status names shown on the Dashboard may slightly differ from the names used in the API. To receive notifications for every status change, you can subscribe to the corresponding webhook event. Learn more in our API docs.

Overview of status transitions

A package doesn't necessarily go through all available customs statuses. Some statuses may be skipped depending on the type of shipment and customs clearance process.

All transitions between statuses can be triggered via the MotionTools Admin Dashboard, via API, or via a bulk processing job based on CSV files.

Pending

pending

The package was created in MotionTools but has not yet been pre-alerted to customs.

Available transitions

Transition name on API

Pending → Notified

prealert

Notified

notified

Customs was notified about the existence of the package.

Available transitions

Transition name on API

Notified → Submitted

announce

Submitted

submitted

A package was announced to customs.

Available transitions

Transition name on API

Submitted → Green

approve

Submitted → Selected for control

selected_for_control

Submitted → Document needed

documents_needed

Submitted → Failed

fail

Selected for control

selected_for_control

A package was selected for control by customs.

Available transitions

Transition name on API

Selected for control → Green

approve

Submitted → Failed

fail

Documents needed

documents_needed

Additional documents are needed to complete customs.

Available transitions

Transition name on API

Documents needed → Green

approve

Documents needed → Failed

fail

Green

green

A package was cleared by customs and can continue the delivery process. As this is an end event, no transitions are available.

Failed

failed

A package failed customs. As this is an end event, no transitions are available.

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