Duty-free baggage allowance for Bangladesh (65 kg)

The baggage allowance is the one most travellers have never actually looked up, because the airline’s weight limit usually bites first. They are two different limits with two different owners.

The short answer

65 kg of accompanied baggage, duty-free, for a traveller aged 12 or over.
40 kg for a traveller under 12.
This is a customs allowance. Your airline’s checked-baggage limit is a separate contract and is usually much lower.

Two limits, two owners

Your airline decides what you may check in and what excess costs. Customs decides what enters Bangladesh without duty. You can comfortably be within your airline allowance and still be thinking about the customs one — for example if you are carrying a lot by hand, or travelling with someone whose allowance differs.

In practice the customs weight allowance rarely binds for an ordinary visit. It becomes relevant when a family is moving a household, or when one traveller is carrying for several people.

Weight is separate from the item rules

A common misreading: people assume that if they are under 65 kg, everything inside is duty-free. It is not.

The weight allowance and the item allowances are independent. Gold bars attract duty by the tola regardless of what the suitcase weighs. A third new phone is over the allowance whether the bag is 20 kg or 60 kg.

Think of it as two gates, both of which you must pass:

Is the total weight within your allowance?
Is each restricted item within its own allowance?

Children’s allowance

A traveller under 12 has a 40 kg allowance rather than 65 kg. The calculator has an under-12 toggle that applies the lower figure.

Note that this is the child’s own allowance, attached to the child as a traveller — it is not a reduction of an adult’s.

Which channel do I use?

Weight alone rarely sends you to the red channel. If you are over the allowance, or carrying commercial quantities of anything, declare.

What we could not verify

How unaccompanied baggage and air cargo are treated against this allowance. This page covers accompanied baggage only.

Common questions

How much baggage can I bring in duty-free?

It is widely reported as 65 kg for a traveller aged 12 or over, and 40 kg for a traveller under 12. We have not verified either figure against the Baggage (Import) Rules text - they appear only in secondary sources, not on the NBR/HSIA page - so treat them as indicative and confirm at the desk.

Is the customs weight allowance the same as my airline allowance?

No. Your airline checked-baggage limit is a separate contract and is usually much lower. Customs decides what enters Bangladesh without duty; the airline decides what you may check in and what excess costs.

If I am under the weight allowance, is everything inside duty-free?

No. The weight allowance and the item allowances are independent. Gold bars attract duty by the tola whatever the suitcase weighs, and a phone over the yearly allowance is over it whether the bag is light or heavy.

Does a child allowance add to mine?

The lower figure for a traveller under 12 is the child own allowance, attached to the child as a traveller - it is not a reduction of an adult one. The same unverified caveat applies to both weights.

Does this cover unaccompanied baggage or air cargo?

No. This page covers accompanied baggage only. How unaccompanied baggage and cargo are treated against the allowance is something we have not verified - ask NBR, or Customs at HSIA.