Frequently Asked Questions

There are three ways to get your e-Manifests to Customs:

ACE Secure Data Portal

CBP offers a free web-based portal for creating and filing e-Manifests. Once your company has a portal account, you type each manifest into a fill-in form in your browser. It works, but it means manual data entry for every crossing.

Internal EDI interface

Fleets with in-house EDI capabilities can build their own e-Manifest connection to ACE or purchase existing record layouts from a provider. The cost and complexity of maintaining EDI limit this option to fleets with the volume and resources to justify it.

Certified Service Provider

A certified service provider, like Greeneye, files e-Manifests with Customs on your behalf. You can submit trips by web, email, or phone, saved drivers, trucks, trailers, and shippers are ready for the next trip, and you get confirmations as soon as Customs accepts each one. You don’t need an ACE Portal account to use a service provider.

For northern border applicants, drivers must complete a FAST Commercial Driver Application for the United States and Canada. The application will first be risk assessed by a Canadian consortium of the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA), Citizenship and Immigration Service for Canada (CIC), and Canada’s Agence de Revenu (ARC). Upon approval from Canada, CBP will conduct a full U.S. based risk assessment.

Applicants identified as low risk will report to an enrollment center where they will be interviewed, have their original identification and citizenship documents reviewed, fingerprinted, and have a digital photo taken. Low-risk applicants will then be issued a FAST Commercial Driver Card. You can learn more about FAST by visiting the Canadian Border Services Agency’s Free and Secure Trade program page.

• Dedicated lanes (where available) for greater speed and efficiency in the clearance of FAST Trans-border shipments
• Reduced number of examinations for continued compliance with Customs FAST requirements as well secondary priority processing
• A strong and ongoing partnership with the Canadian Partners in Protection (PIP) and Customs (C-TPAT) administrations
• Enhanced supply chain security and safety while protecting the economic prosperity of the United States, Mexico, and Canada
• For carrier participants, the knowledge that they are transporting shipments for a C-TPAT approved importer, and on the southern border, a C-TPAT manufacturer

Short answer: Yes. Customs has recently stated that they will accept FAST IDs as a valid travel document when filing e-Manifests. The FAST information that Customs has on file includes the travel document information (passport, etc.) that was presented when the driver applied for the Card.

One travel document is required for a driver to be setup and approved in the e-Manifest program. This document can be one of the following:

• Birth Certificate
• Border Crossing Card
• US Visa
• Passport
• US Permanent Resident
• Certificate of Naturalization
• Citizenship Card
• Reentry Permit
• Refugee Permit

If your driver doesn’t have a Birth Certificate Number or Passport Number, your best bet will be to get a Citizenship Number in Canada, or a Travel Document in the US.

Follow this link to get a Canadian Citizenship Card. Note: it will cost you $75.

Follow this link to get a US Travel Document (PDF). Note: it will cost you $170.

There are a couple of requirements when it comes to picking your Trip Number for an e-Manifest:

• This number must be unique and can’t be used again as a trip number.

Our recommendations:

• If you’ve already got a unique Bill of Lading (PAPS) Number, use that for your Trip Number.
• Otherwise, we recommend using the numeric part of the PAPS number with a suffix of “a”. For example, with PAPS number GEYE123456789, the Trip Number would become 123456789a

Do not place PAPS barcode labels on any forms to be handed to CPB officers in primary booths if you have filed ACE e-Manifest.

If invoices and PAPS bar-coded manifests are provided to the driver, they should remain in the driver’s control and not be given to CBP except upon request. CBP Officers will use these documents in the case of system downtime or validation/examination of shipment.

PAPS labels are no longer required, but a PAPS/Shipment Control Number (SCN) is. Having PAPS labels created makes it easier to quickly assign a number to your shipment, although it is not necessary.

If you don’t use PAPS labels, Greeneye recommends a date/time format for your number. For example: GEYE103020071301. When using your own number, be sure to clearly identify the PAPS/SCN on your paperwork.

Either a Manifest Form 7533 or an e-Manifest Trip Receipt is required by CBP at time of crossing. Here’s a sample e-Manifest Trip Receipt.

Greeneye can email you your Form 7533 and/or e-Manifest Trip Receipt when your e-Manifest Trip is confirmed.

No, just one of the two is required.

A Manifest provides US Customs information for physical goods moved between a shipper and a deliver to. Generally, an Entry provides US Customs shipment and product level information for financial transactions of goods between a seller and a buyer.

For more details please see our article, Understanding the Difference Between e-Manifests and Customs Entries

Yes. After 90 days of not signing into your ACE Portal Account, Customs will disable your login. You can get back into your account by calling the ACE Help Desk at 703-921-6000.