You’re expecting an international delivery from UPS and have received a “Your Package Has Been Released by the Government Agency” tracking update.
What does this mean exactly? Has something gone wrong? Which government agency are they talking about?
Let’s take a look…
Summary: Your Package Has Been Released by the Government Agency
The UPS “Your Package Has Been Released by the Government Agency” tracking update means that the shipment has passed through customs and has been released to UPS for delivery. Essentially, the package has successfully passed customs clearance.
Your Package Has Been Released by the Government Agency – Guide
The Government Agency referred to in this update is customs. Every country in the world has a government agency that deals with imports in some way.
In the US this would be United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the UK it would be HM Revenue & Customs.
Your package will have to go through customs clearance when it arrives in the destination country.
The “Your Package Has Been Released by the Government Agency” alert is simply informing you that this has successfully been completed.
- Related Content: UPS “Clearance in Progress” – How Long Will it Take and More?
Where is Your Package When You Receive this Update?
Your package is inside a UPS International sorting hub at the import location when you first receive this update.
The next step is for UPS to receive the package from customs and for it to physically enter the UPS delivery network in the destination country.
From here, it will be loaded onto a mode of transport toward the regional area of the recipient.
There are exceptions to this in terms of where your package is when the update is sent.
In the screenshot above we can see that the item has actually been scanned as out for delivery. After this, the “Your Package Has Been Released by the Government Agency” is sent.
While on the surface this is completely illogical, the most likely reason behind this is a delay in the “Package has been cleared…” update being sent.
A technical hitch in terms of the delayed update, combined with a fast shipping process on the part of UPS, (i.e they loaded the package onto a truck for delivery as soon as they received it from customs), means the updates are out of sync.
In short, this is nothing to worry about. Anomalies sometimes happen and your package is on its way.
- Related Content: UPS “Your Package is Pending Release from a Government Agency
Tracking Stuck on “Your Package Has Been Released by the Government Agency”
If your tracking ends up stuck at this update for several days, the likely reason is that UPS has been delayed in receiving the shipment from customs.
With thousands of parcels flowing through any international hub daily, some will slip through the net and not be picked up straight away.
Generally, staff within the UPS delivery network should notice the wayward package before long and it will resume transit toward the destination address.
However, in situations where days are passing by without further updates, you have more than enough grounds to contact UPS to get the shipment moving again.
- Related Content: Import Scan UPS – What it Means & What to Do
Final Words
Overall, the “Your Package Has Been Released by the Government Agency” update is a good one to get. It means that the shipment has cleared customs and will now be handed to UPS to complete delivery.
In other words, the package will be with you soon.
I’m a 25 year veteran of USPS. I’m retired now, but as the editor of Mailbox Master, I can’t quite remove myself from the carrier industry just yet. 🙂
