St. Thomas, USVI ... page 2

The currency in the US Virgin Islands is the US Dollar. While St Thomas has a much busier pace of life than you'll find on the other Virgin Islands, it's still much more laid back than that of most mainland urban cities.

Charlotte Amalie is a port of call for many cruise ships, and is a duty free port -- In fact, all of the US Virgin Islands are considdered Duty Free Ports. What this means to you is that you will be exempt from paying import duties on the first $1600 of purchases, every 30 days. (Note: this is for US Residents ... other countries will have different laws).

A beautiful beach in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

A beautiful beach in St. Thomas, USVI
photo by Ariane Middel used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License (CC BY 2.0)

You can even mail $100 of gifts every day you are there, but you must claim them all when you leave. One quick tip: save all the receipts from your purchases/gifts ... it will make the declaration process much easier and transparent!

Nighttime at a resort in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
photo by Ariane Middel used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License (CC BY 2.0)

US Residents that are 21 years or older may bring back up to 5 liter of alcohol per person. You can even bring back a 6th liter, provided that one of the bottles was made in the Virgin Islands. This exemption includes Cruzan Rum, which has a factory (and tour) on St Croix.

Every visitor that are 21 or older are allowed to bring some items into the US Virgin Islands duty-free. For example: 1 liter of alchohol, 200 cigarettes OR 100 non-cuban cigars OR 3 pounds of smoking tobacco, and $100 in gifts (more restrictions apply, like staying at least 72 hours in the US and only claiming the exemption every 6 months ... check with US Customs for specific information).

Visitors to St Thomas and the rest of the US Virgin Islands are NOT allowed to bring in foodstuffs (e.g. canned food, cooked meat, fruits, etc.) or plants (e.g. seeds, vegetables, tropical plants, etc.).

There is also a $10,000 limit on the amount of cash that a foreign tourist may bring into the US before they have to declare the amounts to US Customs.

St. Thomas, USVI 2