Moving to US with K1 - importing personal goods - not possible prior to wedding?

[TabeaK 516]

Hi everyone,

as I have nothing but time while being stuck at TSC, I have been researching moving my stuff over to the US when it is finally time.

I have been in touch with one international mover who told me they cannot import personal goods on a K1 prior to being married. I.e. they need the wedding certificate.

Huh? I am not sure if they are not simply clueless because K1s are rare...

Does anyone have any experiences?

The CBP website states imports of personal goods are allowed provided you have a valid visa - which you obviously would have with K1. As long as you provide Form 3299 with unacompanied goods. Or so I thought...

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/107/kw/3299%20moving%20to%20US

[N&S 32]

My importer (UK at that point) wasn't able to move stuff until I had physically set foot in the US and I believe that is the law (i.e. your stuff isn't allowed to arrive before you). And seeing that I sent a pod by sea, it certainly didn't arrive until I was well in the middle of waiting for my AOS to be actioned...

[TabeaK 516]

That obviously would be totally fine - sea freight takes 6-8 weeks from Europe anyway, but they said import of personal goods on a K1 is not possible, period.

I bypassed the clueless German guys and went straight to the US subsidiary who are trying to get a statement from their customs brooker.

[Elizabeth+Fred 35]

Hi everyone,

as I have nothing but time while being stuck at TSC, I have been researching moving my stuff over to the US when it is finally time.

I have been in touch with one international mover who told me they cannot import personal goods on a K1 prior to being married. I.e. they need the wedding certificate.

Huh? I am not sure if they are not simply clueless because K1s are rare...

Does anyone have any experiences?

The CBP website states imports of personal goods are allowed provided you have a valid visa - which you obviously would have with K1. As long as you provide Form 3299 with unacompanied goods. Or so I thought...

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/107/kw/3299%20moving%20to%20US

When I moved, last December, I was told that it is *easier* for them to handle it AFTER you have

arrived in the U.S. They still need your full details, including A-number, as this is used to 'prove'

to Customs that this person (you) has just moved for immigrations, and, thus, the goods are to

be considered 'household goods, not for resale".

So, no, marriage is not the key here, actual immigration status is, apparently. They waited with

doing the paperwork until I told them AOS was filed for (and NOA received), and I gave them

the AOS receipt number to make it easier.

Didn't have any problems.

Also, when entering POE, I noticed that this time, the CBP officer drew a big red line across

the white Customs form (when I asked him what to declare as 'value', as I was neither a tourist

nor a returning citizen/resident.) The Customs officer saw the red stript, tapped his hat and

said 'welcome to the U.S., you're all set!". So, all my worried about the stuff I brought with me

(I am a HAM Radio operator, and had LOTS of that stuff with me!!!) were for nothing :-)

--fred

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

~ Moved from K-1 Process to Moving to the US and Your New Life in America - topic about moving to US ~

[TabeaK 516]

You have to arrive in the US first before any import is processed, as per the rules, anyway.

But I definitely don't wanna wait until AOS - what do you do with your stuff in the meantime? You can't go back, after all, for at least 3 months.

And I think moving is stressful enough, I'd like to have my familiar things around me as soon as possible.

Had another chat with some US customs broker who told me a K1 is totally fine for importing stuff - you just need to make sure you arrive stateside before the boat does.

Now, finding a shipper that is cognizant of the rules...

[HK12 273]

I imported my goods before AOS had been filed, but after I entered on the K1. That was with regular DHL, though. I did not have any problems.

[Marco&Bettina 502]

Are we talking about furniture or just small stuff you could also easily pack into boxes? When I speak for myself,i sold or gave away all my furniture when I was still in Germany and just brought my personal for me most important stuff. I was actually traveling with 3 suitcases with mostly all my clothes and personal items like pictures of family and friends. The boxes I packed were all shipped by dhl to my now husband address. If I was you I'd really think about to not ship any furniture and save that money to buy new stuff in the states. Dhl actually has reasonable prices to ship the boxes internationally.

[TabeaK 516]

Did you run into any customs issues? WHat did you declare on the customs documents? Values?

I am wondering about shipping stuff - but how do I declare to avoid getting hit by import duties...

[Marco&Bettina 502]

Did you run into any customs issues? WHat did you declare on the customs documents? Values?

I am wondering about shipping stuff - but how do I declare to avoid getting hit by import duties...

That was my wife that responded to you yesterday. But you're not importing anything. You already own it. You're merely shipping stuff you own from one location to another. I believe some or all of her boxes were opened but nothing was taken.

[TabeaK 516]

Thanks! Do you mind asking your wife how she declared the content?

And did she ship it to herself? I.e. in her name, both sides of the Atlantic?

[Marco&Bettina 502]

Thanks! Do you mind asking your wife how she declared the content?

And did she ship it to herself? I.e. in her name, both sides of the Atlantic?

She shipped it to me as she was not a resident of America at the time she sent the packages. I'll get back to you on the declarations.

[Marco&Bettina 502]

My wife just said "you have to declare everything what's in there I mean I had something like an extended list of content and was writing down what exactly is in there. Like tea, swimwear, DVD, shoes, summer clothing and all that stuff."

[Marco&Bettina 502]

This is betty again. I just wanna correct my husband. When I was shipping these boxes to him, it was a day before I left Germany. Since I'm not working, I actually received all my boxes myself. None of my boxes were opened. I was afraid they would take my Nintendo Wii or other electronic devices like hardware or cell phones. Everything was okay. I think they probably just x- ray the content. And I was declaring the stuff as explicit as I could.

[AlissaCarly 44]

I sent my stuff by UPS to myself at my fiancée's address two months before I arrived, not a problem at all. I just wrote up Excel forms stating, per box:

- description of item (jeans, hat, Nintendo Gaming Console etc)

- number of items (3 pairs of socks, 4 DVDs etc

- item count (per piece, per pair, per box etc)

- material item is made of (plastic, cotton, wool, steel etc)

- country it was originally produced in

- current estimated value of the item (by now after years of use, not what I first paid for it)

And then I added to every item description: NOT FOR RESALE.

Customs never opened any of my boxes. I had 12. The more you write down, the less they are inclined to check it.