For licensed customs brokers
Overflow filing under filer code NQR
A full week, an absence, or a permit in transition: we file the entries you cannot get to. The importer signs a power of attorney directly with us, you keep the client, and the rate is the one printed on our pricing page.
Who this page is for
Four reasons a broker calls another broker
This page is written for licensed U.S. customs brokers, not for importers. If you clear your own book and occasionally need a second set of hands on the keyboard, this is the arrangement.
A week you cannot staff
Surge volume, a client who suddenly ships, a stack of entries that would take your one open pair of hands all day. We file the overflow under filer code NQR so the deadline holds.
Coverage during an absence
Planned leave, or something you did not plan. Your importers keep clearing while you are out, on powers of attorney signed directly with us, and we do not market to them while you are gone or after you are back.
A permit lapse or a license in transition
A national permit is required to transact customs business. If yours has lapsed or a missed triennial report suspended the license, we can file for your importers on direct POAs until you are reinstated.
Rates you can check before you call
The whole card is published. Same numbers our direct importers pay, so an overflow decision does not need a negotiation first.
One correction first
Districts are gone, so overflow is about capacity
Customs broker districts and district permits are gone. CBP's final rule "Modernization of the Customs Broker Regulations," published October 18, 2022 and effective December 19, 2022, transitioned every broker to a single national permit valid throughout the customs territory of the United States, and the companion rule eliminated the district permit fee at the same time.
So no U.S. broker is port-limited today, and nobody needs a local filer to clear at a distant port. What still runs short is time. Staffing, a busy stretch, an absence, or a permit that lapsed while the license stayed good: that is the work this page is about.
How it works
Four steps, and the POA is step two for a reason
01
You send the file
Documents, the importer of record, and the deadline you are working to. Tell us what you have already done so we do not redo it.
02
The importer signs a POA with us
CBP's model power of attorney does not let an agent appoint a subagent, so we take our own, signed by the importer of record and verified by email code. Standard KYC runs at the same time.
03
We file under NQR
Entry, ISF, and PGA filings transmitted by ABI to ACE. A licensed broker confirms the classification before anything goes out.
04
Billing goes where you want it
You pay us at published rates and bill your client yourself, or the importer pays us directly. Duties never run through us; the importer pays CBP.
Your client gets a portal login only if you ask for one. Left alone, the documents, the draft entry, and the status sit in your account, and you pass along whatever you want to pass along.
In writing
What we will do, and what we will not
The reason a broker hesitates to hand off an entry is the client on the other end of it. Here is the commitment, stated plainly enough to quote back at us.
We will
- File the entries you hand us under our license and filer code NQR.
- Take our own power of attorney from the importer of record, because there is no subagent shortcut.
- Charge the published rate. No overflow surcharge, and no referral fee in either direction.
- Tell you before the deadline, not after it, if we cannot make one.
- Hand back entry numbers, filed 7501s, and the working file whenever you ask.
We will not
- Solicit, market to, or pitch your importers. Not during the work, and not afterward.
- Quote or move freight. Borderless does not sell forwarding of any kind.
- Open a portal login for your client unless you ask us to.
- Charge a percentage to advance duties. Your importer pays CBP directly, prepays by wire, or we pay it on net terms and bill at cost.
- Pay you for a referral or take a fee from you for one.
Pricing
Published, so there is nothing to negotiate
These are the same rates our direct importers pay. No partner tier and no overflow premium, and you can see the number before you call.
| Rate | Per formal entry | Monthly | Built in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | $149 | $0 | ISF, 5 HTS lines, 1 PGA agency, 0% disbursement |
| 12-month agreement, under 80 a month | $79 | $0 | 5 HTS lines; ISF $20 when we file it, PGA $35 per agency |
| From 80 a month | $55 | $0 | $45 from 250 a month; an importer's continuous bond included |
| 500 and up, quoted | from $39 | quoted | Quoted to your book on committed volume |
ISF is bundled on pay as you go and $20 on the agreement when we file it. A partner-agency filing is $35 per agency on the agreement, and one is included on pay as you go. Duty disbursement is 0%: duties pass through at cost whether the importer pays CBP directly, prepays by wire, or we pay it on net terms and bill at cost. A new importer's first formal entry is $99 all in, which is a cheap way to test the handoff on one file before you route anything that matters.
Brokerage fees are on net terms on approval. New accounts are billed twice a month for the first three months, then monthly, and per-filing invoices roll into one statement with a due date. The full detail lives on thepricing page.
Permit lapsed, license in transition
A clock you can stop worrying about for a few weeks
Two lapses can take a working brokerage off the board without anyone having done anything wrong on an entry.
The permit user fee. Under 19 CFR 111.45(b), a broker who fails to pay the annual permit user fee has the permit revoked by operation of law. CBP publishes the amount and the deadline each year, and the 2026 fee was $185.38, due no later than January 30, 2026. 19 CFR 111.19(a) is unambiguous about what that costs you: a national permit is required for the purpose of transacting customs business throughout the customs territory of the United States.
The triennial status report. Under 19 CFR 111.30(d), the report is due February 1 of each third year. A broker who has not filed by March 1 of the reporting year is suspended by operation of law on that date, and filing the report with the fee within 60 calendar days of the suspension notice reinstates the license.
In either case the importers do not stop importing. Borderless can file for them on direct powers of attorney while you cure the lapse, at the published per-entry rate, and hand the work back once your permit is live again. Two limits worth saying out loud: we cannot cure the lapse for you, and we do not take custody of your brokerage records.
The honest capacity line
A licensed broker reviews and signs off on every entry that leaves here. That is why the work is careful, and it is also why there is a ceiling on it. Borderless takes overflow only where the deadline you give us is one we can hold, and when a week is full we say so when you ask rather than after we have your file. You are a broker. You already know what an overcommitted desk costs.
Broker questions
The four that come up first
Can you file on our power of attorney instead of taking a new one?
No. The model CBP power of attorney at 19 CFR 141.32 grants the agent full authority to act, but it carries no clause letting that agent appoint or empower a subagent, and 19 CFR 141.46 requires a broker to obtain a valid power of attorney before transacting customs business in a principal's name. So every overflow entry needs a power of attorney signed by the importer of record and running to Borderless. Signing is an e-signature in our portal, and it does not disturb the power of attorney that importer already has with you.
Does 19 CFR 111.36 complicate a broker-to-broker arrangement?
Not the way it complicates a forwarder arrangement. Paragraph (a) opens with the words 'When a broker is employed for the transaction of customs business by an unlicensed person who is not the actual importer,' and paragraph (b) bars agreements with an unlicensed person under which fees inure to that person. A licensed broker is not an unlicensed person, so neither one bites. Paragraph (c) sets conditions on compensating a freight forwarder for referring brokerage business, and we pay no referral fees and accept none, so it never comes into play either. The power of attorney still has to come from the importer, which is the answer above.
Our national permit lapsed. Can you file for our importers in the meantime?
Yes, on a direct power of attorney from each importer of record. 19 CFR 111.19(a) is plain that a national permit is required for the purpose of transacting customs business throughout the customs territory of the United States, and 19 CFR 111.45(b) revokes the permit by operation of law if the annual permit user fee goes unpaid. A missed triennial status report runs on a separate clock: under 19 CFR 111.30(d) the license is suspended by operation of law on March 1 of the reporting year, and filing the report with the fee within 60 calendar days of the suspension notice reinstates it. We can carry the filing work while you cure the lapse. We cannot cure it for you, and we do not take custody of your records.
Can you take our volume this week?
Sometimes yes and sometimes no, and you get the real answer the day you ask. A licensed broker reviews and signs off on every entry Borderless transmits, so we take overflow only where we can meet the deadline you give us. When a week is full we say so up front rather than accepting the file and discovering it together.
Sources
Regulatory text on this page was verified September 2, 2026 against primary sources:Federal Register, "Modernization of the Customs Broker Regulations" (published October 18, 2022, effective December 19, 2022; single national permit);19 CFR 111.19(national permit required to transact customs business);19 CFR 111.30(triennial status report, March 1 suspension, 60-day reinstatement);19 CFR 111.36(relations with unlicensed persons, and the forwarder-referral conditions);19 CFR 111.45(revocation by operation of law, including for the permit user fee);19 CFR 141.32(the model power of attorney form, which carries no subagent clause);19 CFR 141.46(a broker must obtain a valid power of attorney before transacting customs business); andFederal Register notice 2025-21732 (the 2026 customs broker permit user fee of $185.38, due January 30, 2026).
Written by Borderless CHB. A licensed broker (CBP filer code NQR) confirms classification before any entry is filed. Regulations change. If you spot a stale citation here, tell us and we will fix it.
Hand off the week you cannot cover.
Tell us the entries, the deadline, and what you have already done. You get a straight yes or no on capacity, and the rate is already published.