Package arrived at destination country: what happens next

"Arrived at destination country" (or "arrived in the destination country/region") means the carrier reports that your international shipment, or the load it travels in, has reached the country it is addressed to. It is a useful milestone, but more steps usually follow: customs and a local delivery network.

What the status means, and what it doesn't

The shipment has been received in the destination country, typically at an airport, an international mail center or the import hub of the carrier. Some carriers report this when the flight or container arrives, before the individual package is processed. The status doesn't tell you whether customs has started, whether any charges are due, or when the local carrier will take over.

The usual steps after it

The order and the details depend on the route and the service, but most shipments go through these steps:

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  Customs clearance. Imports may be checked and, where the rules require it, taxes or duties are assessed. Many shipments are cleared within a day or two; some are held longer for inspection or missing information. The rules depend on the country, the value and the type of goods.
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  Payment of import charges, if any. Some marketplaces collect taxes at checkout; otherwise the carrier or postal service may ask you to pay before delivery. Check any such request on the carrier's own website or app, reached by typing its address yourself, before you pay.
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  Handover to the local carrier. For postal and economy services the national post or a local courier takes over. Many international postal tracking numbers (13 characters, such as RB123456785CN) keep working with your national post; courier handovers sometimes come with a new number, shown in the latest events.
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  Sorting and delivery. The package goes through the local network like any domestic one: sorting center, delivery depot, out for delivery, delivered, or a pickup point or parcel locker.

How long does it take from here?

Often from a few days to two weeks, sometimes longer. Express services that clear customs themselves are at the fast end; low-cost postal shipments, busy seasons and shipments held by customs are at the slow end. A few days with no new event right after this status is common: the package may be waiting for customs or for its first scan by the local carrier. Our guide to tracking that stops updating covers these gaps in more detail.

When the tracking stops after this status

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  Look for a handover event ("handed over to…", "received by local delivery company") and the name of the local carrier, then track the number with that carrier.
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  Try the same number with your national postal service: many postal numbers stay the same across borders.
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  Check the estimated delivery date. If it has passed, or the shop's usual delivery time is clearly exceeded, contact the seller. They can ask the carrier where the shipment is, and on marketplaces they are the ones who resolve non-delivery. Keep the buyer protection deadline in mind while you wait.

Tracking the journey across carriers

Trackful shows the events of the route in one history, including the local carrier's events when the tracking services it uses report them, and the Android app notifies you when the status changes, for example when the package is out for delivery or ready for pickup.