The -n option in BCP is supposed to import to it's native format. I haven't had the kind of problem you describe, but then again my business requirements may not be as critical. I can say that I have not had a problem importing integer data types. I seem to have more trouble with the Imp/Exp wizard.

.. copied from somewhere-- can't remember-

-n

Performs the bulk copy operation using the native (database) data types of the data. This option does not prompt for each field; it uses the native values.

-c

Performs the bulk copy operation using a character data type. This option does not prompt for each field; it uses char as the storage type, no prefixes, \t (tab character) as the field separator, and (newline character) as the row terminator.

-N

Performs the bulk copy operation using the native (database) data types of the data for noncharacter data, and Unicode characters for character data. This option offers a higher performance alternative to the -w option, and is intended for transferring data from one SQL Server to another using a data file. It does not prompt for each field. Use this option when you are transferring data that contains ANSI extended characters and you want to take advantage of the performance of native mode. -N cannot be used with SQL Server 6.5 or earlier.