[EricH]

I'll tell you part of what's going on. VENUE policies. In some venues, FIRST can't get clearance to have teams bring their robot in, no matter how close the teams are located.

Second, FIRST has volunteered to help teams make arrangements to ship to Bag-and-Tag events if necessary (i.e., the Brazil teams). What those arrangements are, I don't know, and as long as they work, I don't particularly care.

I don't know if you have asked FIRST about your customs question, but CD is not the official venue for that. You need to contact FIRST about that if you have not done so already, and if it's been a while since you did, you may wish to remind them. (Or just plan to have an unbag at the border...)