Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

Hi all,

My partner and I have been living in Canada for 3 years (2 as Temp Resident, 1 as PR), but when my partner and I moved across we left a significant amount of personal effects in the UK in our parent's attic etc.. We brought over the important things when we first moved using Form B4, but after a decent amount of searching, I can't find an equivalent for bringing over more now that we are settled and established in Canada.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks!

Re: Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

When you did your formal landing to become PR's did you declare the goods still in the UK as goods to follow? If you did then no problem. If you didn't then you may have problems depending on the value of the goods and type of goods.

This link explains it
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publicat...2-2-1-eng.html

Re: Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

Hey thanks for that - I did read it but I wasn't sure if someone who has been (and technically is) resident in Canada counted as a settler.

Re: Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

You just have to import them like any other goods. You may have to pay duties etc. I did something similar about 4 years ago.

Re: Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

While here on a work permit you are a Temporary Resident so that link doesn't apply HOWEVER you applied for PR status while here and given a COPR form to do your official landing. At this point you now become a Settler and that is where you should have declared any goods to follow. If you didn't then legally the goods outside of Canada become subject to any applicable duties and taxes however if the goods are of minimal value CBSA could overlook them as not being declared as goods to follow and not demand payment.
You will decide if they are worth bringing over and then seeing what happens.

Re: Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

Ok thanks, most of it is pretty low value stuff like books etc. so we'll see.

Re: Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

I was wondering about this myself. There should be a system in place for it IMHO otherwise you have to categorise literally everything you own on a goods list just in case you do decide to ship it over later.

If it clearly isn't something brand new or meant for commercial sale then you shouldn't be expected to pay taxes on it IMHO.

Re: Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

OK lets add a bit of humour to my reply but with thinking like an officer

1. Do you have X Ray vision and can see whats inside a box and if not why would you assume I have?
Yes we have X Ray machines but seriously with thousands and I mean lots of thousands of packages, boxes, sea containers, wooden crates etc then its impossible for Customs to inspect each and every one of them.
Do we need to inspect each one then no we don't however the odd person who has sent the box or whatever has sometimes lied as to what is inside. I won't post hundreds of links proving this.
So I now have a decision to make do I accept the declaration if any on the box telling me whats inside or do I have a quick look?

So the box tells me it has used clothing in it. Is it the persons who is receiving the box used clothing or did they purchase articles of used clothing from Ebay etc and might have a significant value especially if collectors items.

As a new Permanent Resident doing the landing you are expected to declare goods in your physical possession and any goods to follow at a later date. This information is available on the internet via a variety of open sources so the PR has some responsibility to do their homework. If the goods are declared then no taxes are payable UNLESS the goods are brand new and have never been used.

If people did their homework and asked questions before doing stuff rather than asking after they have a problem then most of these problems would not happen.

Oh but who has time to read 20 or less pages from an official Government website or link posted by me on this forum telling people what they need to do before they actually do it?

Its like the old story of booking a holiday and turning up at the airport with no passport or a visa for the country they plan on visiting. They are pissed at the poor airline agent and say "Why didn't somebody tell us we needed this or that"

My reply would be "Well I would have told you if you had asked me or I knew you were travelling to X country"

Re: Importing Personal Effects From the UK After Living In Canada for 3 Years
 

It isn’t that difficult. For mine I just put 4 boxes of books, 2 boxes of clothing items etc. I didn’t write individual items.