looking to send 3 boxes by courier before immigrating

[bob+senga 11]

Hi

Has anyone actually send over some stuff before they immigrate. Im looking to send 3 medium boxes of old clothes, teddies, shoes, paperwork and some books- nothing of value but all in approx 50kg. have been quoted £121 my transglobal express. Im taking 3 suitcases and 2 cabin bags -75 kg in weight there.

My fiance keeps telling me just to ship the 3 boxes as when i get passports back im likely booking the flights and travel out within 2 days max hopefully-I can fly to canada for £500 for me and daughter and travel over by car ( hell come pick us up).

he tells me just to put on form clothes, books, shoes value $200 as all worn and ship to him.

Im a worrier as you can tell and hate taking chances.

[JFH 12,189]

You will need to provide a copy of your visa to send personal possessions without incurring customs duty. Otherwise it will be considered as imported goods. No point under-valuing the contents to avoid customs duty.

But I have to question the logic of paying £121 to send old clothes and shoes with no real value. How much would the airline charge for an additional suitcase? How much would it cost to replace them? Documents can be sent a little cheaper through Royal Mail than other things as they can go as "printed matter".

[bob+senga 11]

Hi

thanks exactly what i was saying to my fiance he said just say its $$ but they are of value to me as even though there all used they were not cheap clothes/shoes etc.

I do als0 have daugters toys- teddies etc and the docs are her nursery portfollio, school work etc so very heavy lol and thats me taking them out of folders etc.

an extra suitcase is £70 plus £30 to buy a suitcase which will allow me 20 kg hence the boxes covering 50kg is a good move i think and saves me carting even more suitcases bags etc.

Im going to prepare the paperwork and as soon as i have passports ill organise courier for next day.

thanks for advice

[JFH 12,189]

Yes it might make sense to send you courier rather than cart several cases through the airport. I'm using reward mileage to go and have enough for business class one with three large (32kg each) suitcases. My husband laughed and said "and how will you carry three suitcases through the airport?" I'm going to hand a nice tip to a porter.

[bob+senga 11]

wow lucky you business class as well- one of the perks of travelling a lot or working in the industry. 3 suitcases is ok though hire a trolley though 32kg thats heavy.

its all exciting now though more so when we start to plan/ seriously think about flights

[lost_at_sea 995]

For what it's worth - the thing when you ship stuff by boat - they do it on box size, not weight. So a box full of rocks costs the same as a box full of air. That's what we did when we emigrated back to the US.

[NicolaRobert 7]

You can ship it before you leave, but not before you get your visa. From what I can tell anyway. It will need to go through customs and as an immigrant you get a certain allowance for household goods that have been used for more than a year duty/customs free.

When I did my shipping I had to include a copy of my visa and passport, along with a detailed inventory/shipping list, and complete a form for unaccompanied shipping. It's not too complicated, and I had a lot more than you. 8 boxes all told. They were collected on Friday, but will take 6-8 weeks to get there, so I'll be in the US before they arrive.

Shipping to him, it will still have to go through customs. Much easier to send through the right channels and fill in the forms. At least then you know there won't be any issues.

[bob+senga 11]

Hi

Im going to put everything in the boxes now and make a list of them as my passports with visas are being delivered tomorrow- yeah.

Im using transglobal express as they were cheap and will deliver in 4-6 days.

we plan on leaving on Friday- entering via Toronto - we have friends in Buffalo we can visit on way home.

so now its just a mad panic trying to sell/empty a flat- pack cases but at the end of it i shall be on our way to usa at last its been long journey.