Shipping from Canada to US

[TS_123 9]

In regards to shipping my home contents from Canada to the US as an Immigrant, will I have to pay any import fees?  All the items are used items.

 

Thank you
 

[jle2234 68]

Hi @TS_123,

 

My husband and I shipped our furniture and belongings from Ontario to NYC in October 2017. There are no import fees when you are a new immigrant or a returning U.S. resident. The charge from the shipping company was approximately $3,500, which was the minimum charge for an international move. I'd estimate that we moved about the equivalent of a one-bedroom apartment worth of belongings.

 

The process of getting our belongings through customs was easy peasy -- no holds-ups, no fees. Shipping companies deal with this every day, and a proper shipping company will review your customs forms before loading your shipment to ensure they are properly filled out.

 

A small word of caution: We used Atlas Van Lines and could not have been more disappointed by their service. I would advise using a different shipping company, as we had significant damage to our belongings (more than I would say is reasonable, especially for professional movers) and are still fighting for reimbursement. Total damage exceeded $8,000. Large companies, such as Atlas, use local brokers and movers, and there seems to be little oversight regarding how things are handled. When fairly large reimbursement is owed, you run in to infighting regarding whether the parent company or the local brokerage is responsible for the payment. If you have anything that is of particular importance to you (for example, my husband's action figures were damaged, which he has been collecting since childhood), make sure you pack it extremely well; take photos of its original condition and how you packed it for the move; and, if at all possible, carry it with you rather than shipping it.

Edited November 23, 2017 by jle2234

[acidrain 325]

Thank you jle2234 for sharing your experience. I go back and forth whether to have my spouse take time off work and drive a U-haul down (I can't drive those things) or just hire a moving company. Atlas is one of the few that service the area I live in. I am so sorry you had so much damage done to your belongings. That's awful. I am astounded at the cost of shipping items from Canada to the US and the lack of moving companies in smaller cities. I realize people need to be compensated for their time. But I was told for our move I think the cheapest we would be looking at is just under $5,000 if we went with a moving company. The one thing I hate about U-Haul though is they do not put winter tires on their trucks in the winter making it a little scary to drive.

 

I will add the one thing that is so important when shipping items cross border is itemizing your shipment. I tried crossing in Jan to adjust status and was denied. But the border officials did say they very much appreciated my organizational skills when it came to declaring our goods. Experienced moving companies will know how to do this but if you ship them down yourself you must provide a list of everything you are taking across.

 

I numbered each box and put in point form exactly what was in that box. I also included loose items that did not fit into boxes. This helps the border determine which boxes if any they need to go through instead of tearing apart your shipment. This also helps them determine if there would be any import fees such as if you had really expensive artwork, alcohol, smokes or unique goods passing through. For the vast majority of us we have goods worth less than $10,000 garage sale value so we don't have to pay anything. They are also doing their usual search for things like food and if you have over $10,000 cash.

 

For instance I wrote:

Box 1 (the box was labeled with a sheet of paper)

- paperback novels

- wine glasses

- XX shoes

[broppy 204]

On 24/11/2017 at 9:08 AM, acidrain said:

The one thing I hate about U-Haul though is they do not put winter tires on their trucks in the winter making it a little scary to drive.

Hah! Winter tires are overrated. Even if you can stop on a dime, you're still at the mercy of the car behind you. And with a fully loaded U-Haul, the car behind will probably out brake you even with bald summer tires...

[jle2234 68]

On 11/24/2017 at 10:08 AM, acidrain said:

Thank you jle2234 for sharing your experience. I go back and forth whether to have my spouse take time off work and drive a U-haul down (I can't drive those things) or just hire a moving company. Atlas is one of the few that service the area I live in. I am so sorry you had so much damage done to your belongings. That's awful. I am astounded at the cost of shipping items from Canada to the US and the lack of moving companies in smaller cities. I realize people need to be compensated for their time. But I was told for our move I think the cheapest we would be looking at is just under $5,000 if we went with a moving company. The one thing I hate about U-Haul though is they do not put winter tires on their trucks in the winter making it a little scary to drive.

 

I will add the one thing that is so important when shipping items cross border is itemizing your shipment. I tried crossing in Jan to adjust status and was denied. But the border officials did say they very much appreciated my organizational skills when it came to declaring our goods. Experienced moving companies will know how to do this but if you ship them down yourself you must provide a list of everything you are taking across.

 

I numbered each box and put in point form exactly what was in that box. I also included loose items that did not fit into boxes. This helps the border determine which boxes if any they need to go through instead of tearing apart your shipment. This also helps them determine if there would be any import fees such as if you had really expensive artwork, alcohol, smokes or unique goods passing through. For the vast majority of us we have goods worth less than $10,000 garage sale value so we don't have to pay anything. They are also doing their usual search for things like food and if you have over $10,000 cash.

 

For instance I wrote:

Box 1 (the box was labeled with a sheet of paper)

- paperback novels

- wine glasses

- XX shoes

That's a great point about organizing your boxes, @acidrain! Even though the shipping company numbered our boxes and made the manifest for us, I still labelled specifically what was in each box (ex. "Kitchen -- Drinking Glasses", "Bedroom -- Linens") to avoid our items being searched by customs. They were not searched.

 

I'm not sure about other visas, but I was immigrating on an IR1 visa and had no limit as to the value of items I could import without fee. There are a few restrictions; for example, you have to have owned and been using each item abroad for a minimum of one year. I don't think they'd care about things like clothing, but they don't want you buying a brand new living room set and importing it without fee. Here is the customs form for importing unaccompanied (via shipping company) goods, which will give you an idea of the restrictions: https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CBP Form 3299.pdf

[TS_123 9]

On 11/24/2017 at 10:08 AM, acidrain said:

Thank you jle2234 for sharing your experience. I go back and forth whether to have my spouse take time off work and drive a U-haul down (I can't drive those things) or just hire a moving company. Atlas is one of the few that service the area I live in. I am so sorry you had so much damage done to your belongings. That's awful. I am astounded at the cost of shipping items from Canada to the US and the lack of moving companies in smaller cities. I realize people need to be compensated for their time. But I was told for our move I think the cheapest we would be looking at is just under $5,000 if we went with a moving company. The one thing I hate about U-Haul though is they do not put winter tires on their trucks in the winter making it a little scary to drive.

 

I will add the one thing that is so important when shipping items cross border is itemizing your shipment. I tried crossing in Jan to adjust status and was denied. But the border officials did say they very much appreciated my organizational skills when it came to declaring our goods. Experienced moving companies will know how to do this but if you ship them down yourself you must provide a list of everything you are taking across.

 

I numbered each box and put in point form exactly what was in that box. I also included loose items that did not fit into boxes. This helps the border determine which boxes if any they need to go through instead of tearing apart your shipment. This also helps them determine if there would be any import fees such as if you had really expensive artwork, alcohol, smokes or unique goods passing through. For the vast majority of us we have goods worth less than $10,000 garage sale value so we don't have to pay anything. They are also doing their usual search for things like food and if you have over $10,000 cash.

 

For instance I wrote:

Box 1 (the box was labeled with a sheet of paper)

- paperback novels

- wine glasses

- XX shoes

Yes, I received a quote from Atlas at it was way too expensive.  We are going with orbit international...will let you know how it goes on Dec 29th.