Camille Baptiste
Travellers bound for Nassau now meet the Bahamas border twice: once online, before departure, and once in person at Lynden Pindling International Airport. The Bahamas has been moving its paper arrival paperwork into digital systems run through the Exempt platform at exempt.gov.bs, the same system the Bahamas Customs Department uses for the C17 accompanied baggage declaration. In 2026 the government went further, piloting a Bahamas Digital Arrival Card that combines the immigration arrival record and the customs declaration in a single pre-departure submission. File online, keep the confirmation the system sends you, and the arrivals hall becomes a verification step rather than a form filling exercise. This explainer covers what is filed, which system does what, what confirmation to carry, and where the rollout still has edges.
Quick Facts
- Customs declaration: Form C17, the accompanied baggage declaration, filed digitally through the Exempt app or exempt.gov.bs
- Digital Arrival Card: Piloted from 5 May 2026 on selected flights, combining immigration and customs details in one online submission
- Agencies involved: Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, the Department of Immigration and the Bahamas Customs Department
- Confirmation to carry: The confirmation email with a copy of your submitted form, plus your Digital Arrival Card number or QR record where issued
- Paper position: Paper forms remain part of the fallback during rollout; the digital route is the faster one where your flight is covered
- Visa position: The arrival card is not a visa and does not change who needs one
- App: The Exempt app is free on iOS and Android and stores your profile for repeat trips
What are the Bahamas’ digital arrival forms?
There are two layers, and understanding both prevents the common mistake of completing one and assuming the job is done. The older layer is customs. Every person entering the Bahamas, resident or visitor, completes a C17 accompanied baggage declaration covering what they are bringing into the country. Bahamas Customs moved that declaration into the Exempt system, available as a mobile app and through the web portal at exempt.gov.bs. Travellers itemise goods, answer the disclosure questions, including the requirement to declare cash or negotiable instruments of B$10,000 or more, and submit before landing. The system produces a record, and a QR code in the app flow, that customs officers work from on arrival.
The newer layer is the combined arrival card. The Bahamas Digital Arrival Card was introduced under a controlled pilot on 5 May 2026 by the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, working with the Department of Immigration and the Customs Department. Instead of a paper immigration card on the plane and a separate customs form after baggage claim, participating travellers register biographical details, passport information, journey details and customs declarations in one online workflow before departure. The government portal’s own confirmation language tells the story plainly: after submission, a confirmation email including a copy of the submitted form is sent for presentation on arrival, together with a Digital Arrival Card number to note or screenshot.
Regional travellers will recognise the direction of travel. Our explainers on the Philippines eTravel system and Indonesia’s All Indonesia card describe the same consolidation: one digital record replacing several paper ones, filed before the queue rather than in it.
What do you actually file online?
For the arrival card, expect the standard pre-arrival dataset: full name as it appears in the passport, citizenship, country of residence, passport details, arrival date, how you are travelling and which island you are arriving on, plus the declarations the form requires. The portal verifies an email address as part of the process, because the confirmation and the copy of the form travel by email. Read the portal’s warning before you submit: a submitted declaration cannot be edited online afterwards, so a mistyped passport number or a wrong arrival date means starting again rather than correcting in place.
For the customs layer through Exempt, the content is about goods rather than identity. You create an account with your citizenship, residence, email and a password, then complete a new C17 for each trip, listing items you are bringing and letting the system calculate any duty and apply exemptions. Returning residents have their own exemption pattern, including a $500 exemption on dutiable goods available twice per calendar year. Visitors with nothing beyond ordinary personal effects still complete the declaration. The app’s own description is blunt on the point: it exists so that everyone travelling to the Bahamas can complete the mandatory declaration before reaching a port of entry.
Does one form cover a family?
The government portal indicates that one arrival card can cover a family within the portal’s definition of eligible family members, which makes the digital route noticeably easier for parents than the old stack of paper cards, one per person, completed on a tray table. Check the portal’s wording for your group before you rely on it, and make sure every traveller’s passport details are entered exactly as printed, children included.
What confirmation should you carry?
Carry three things, in digital and, where practical, printed form. First, the confirmation email containing a copy of your submitted form, which the portal explicitly sends for presentation on arrival. Second, your Digital Arrival Card number, noted or screenshotted before you leave the confirmation page, because the portal itself advises doing so if the email is delayed. Third, for the customs declaration, the Exempt record or QR code generated by the app, which puts you in the digital lane at the customs hall. None of this replaces your passport. The Exempt guidance stresses that identification stored in an app profile is not a substitute for the physical document, which you must still present.
How does the digital filing speed up arrival?
The time saving is structural. In the paper system, the state’s first sight of your information was you, standing at a desk, pen in hand, while a queue formed behind you. In the digital system, immigration and customs hold the record before the aircraft doors open. The officer’s job narrows to matching the person and passport in front of them against data already submitted, and customs can direct filed travellers through the Exempt process rather than rekeying a declaration. For Nassau, where Florida flights, cruise connections and peak weekend arrivals compress demand into the same hours, moving the paperwork upstream is the difference between a queue that processes and a queue that accumulates.
Set expectations honestly, though. The arrival card began as a pilot on selected flights, and rollout status can differ by route and entry point. If your flight is not yet covered, the paper process on arrival remains the fallback, and no traveller should treat a missing digital option as a problem with their booking. Check the official portal and your airline’s guidance in the days before departure, file if your route is included, and keep the confirmation either way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Bahamas Digital Arrival Card a visa?
No. It is an administrative declaration combining immigration arrival information and customs details. Travellers whose nationality requires a Bahamian visa must still obtain that visa in advance through the normal channels, and a confirmed arrival card does not guarantee admission, which remains the immigration officer’s decision.
What is the Exempt app, and do I need it as well?
Exempt is the Bahamas Customs platform, as an app and at exempt.gov.bs, used for the C17 accompanied baggage declaration. Submitting the arrival form through the government portal also registers you for the app, and the government recommends downloading it for a smoother entry, including tracking your form and pre-clearance features.
What happens if I make a mistake on the online form?
Treat the form as final before you submit. The portal warns that submitted declarations cannot be edited online, and incorrect passport numbers, names or dates can cause processing delays. Review every field against the passport, and if an error slips through, follow the portal and support guidance rather than assuming the desk can quietly amend it.
Do I still need to declare cash or expensive goods?
Yes. Digital filing changes the medium, not the obligations. Cash or negotiable instruments of B$10,000 or more must be declared, dutiable goods must be itemised on the C17, and the same penalties that applied to paper declarations apply to electronic ones.
Can I still fill in a paper form on the plane?
During the rollout, paper remains the fallback where the digital card is not yet operating for a route or port. The pilot began on selected flights in May 2026, so coverage expands over time. Where your flight is covered by the digital system, filing online in advance is the intended and faster route.
Before any Nassau trip, recheck the official Exempt portal for the current state of the rollout, file while your details are in front of you, and travel with the confirmation email saved offline. The queue you skip will be the one at the start of the holiday, which is the best one to miss.
