Royal Mail: Item Has Left the Overseas International Processing Centre

You’ve posted a package overseas using Royal Mail and have received an “Item Has Left the Overseas International Processing Centre” tracking update.

What does this mean exactly? Where is your package when you see this update and how long until it arrives?

Let’s take a look…

Item Has Left the Overseas International Processing Centre – Guide

This is a relatively straightforward alert sent by Royal Mail.

When an international shipment is posted using Royal Mail, it will eventually end up in the destination country for delivery.

However, Royal Mail is clearly not responsible for delivering the item once it has arrived there, (you do not see many Royal Mail vans driving the roads of New York, for example).

Instead, the local postal service (in New York this would be USPS) in the destination country will make the final delivery.

When you receive the “Item Has Left the Overseas International Processing Centre” it is stating that the package has left the International Processing Center at the import location of the destination country.

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Again, using the aforementioned Big Apple scenario, the package would arrive in the USA at the USPS NY International Service Center (i.e the International Processing Center).

Once it has passed customs clearance, handed back to USPS, and dispatched out of the ISC, the “Item Has Left the Overseas International Processing Centre” will be triggered.

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What Happens After the “Item Has Left the Overseas International Processing Centre” Alert?

Assuming the local postal service inside the destination country is not experiencing any major delays, the package will be dispatched to a facility closer to the recipient’s address, before going out for final delivery.

This can take anything between 1 and 5 days depending on variables such as the distance from the import location to the delivery address, and the service speed purchased for the shipment.

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Tracking Stuck on “Item Has Left the Overseas International Processing Centre”

It is important to realize that if your tracking is stuck on this alert, the most likely reason is that the Royal Mail tracking page has stopped providing updates.

However, in most cases, you will be able to type your tracking code into the tracking page of the local carrier responsible for delivery and find new updates there.

You can also choose to use a universal tracking app such as 17Track or ParcelsApp.

This is especially useful if you do not know which carrier is going to be responsible for delivering the item.

If the said carrier has scanned the package and created an update, one of these apps should be able to locate the details.

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If this does not work, and several days to a week pass with no further updates or confirmation of delivery from the recipient, you should contact Royal Mail customer services.

They will make inquiries on your behalf.

However, contacting the local carrier too, (or getting the recipient to start making inquiries on their end), will help speed up the process.

Essentially, the fact this particular update has been sent means that the local carrier does have the item within its delivery network.

• Related Content: Item Has Left Our International Processing Centre – Royal Mail

Final Words

Overall, the “Item Has Left the Overseas International Processing Centre” alert means that the item has departed the main processing center at the import location of the destination country.

It is now inside the delivery network of the local carrier and should be with the recipient very soon.

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