Craddy

Hi All

I've been stalking this forum for so long now I finally have a question for all you lovely people!

I've had a search through various discussions on hiring shipping companies, goods to follow forms, etc. when moving to Canada, and have had a look at what you can bring duty free and whatnot. But I can't seem to piece together what the actual process of physically shipping then collecting your belongings is.

So, I'm wondering if I can have a few people's advice on how to do this. For example, do you give notice in your rented flat, pack all your belongings then hire a company to collect your goods, then leave for Canada the next day. You then arrive with your goods form, show it to customs at the airport?
Even though your goods are with a shipping company? Do you then take your goods form to somewhere to have the goods 'released'? Or do they just get delivered to your new residence? If they're 'released' and accepted as not having to pay duty, what is the next step to get your possessions?

Basically looking for a simple explanation because I'm totally confused at the moment! How did you all go about it?

Sorry ahead of time if I've missed this in the forums and/or I'm just being totally thick lol.

Thanks

Kanukki

I've found this thread to provide quite a useful summary: http://britishexpats.com/forum/canad...advice-882682/

It may not answer all your questions, but hopefully it'll give some insight into the process. I'm currently in the midst of planning my own move, so hopefully some others will also be able to chime in with their experience!

Hurlabrick

Have you read the wiki article on goods to follow? It is here and seems to answer all of your questions.

Goods To Follow-Canada : British Expat Wiki

But yes, basically:

1. Make a summary list and value of the goods to be shipped
2. Get them shipped
3. Land in Canada before they arrive and declare both your 'goods accompanying' and 'goofs to follow' lists to the CBSA agent, they will stamp the list and hand it back to you
4. You will be advised when your goods have arrived in Canada, they will be held in a bonded warehouse near to where you said you would live
5. Arrange a date and time to attend the bonded warehouse and meet up with a customs official there - take your stamped list with you
6. The customs official will check the list and may or may not check the actual goods
7. The customs guy will then authorise for your goods to be released
8. The shipping company should then arrange for the final stage of delivery direct to your address (if that is the service you paid for).

Normally take 2 - 4 weeks from the delivery company packing you up in the UK and arrival in Canada.

All of this pre-supposes that you have enough goods to warrant 'shipping'. Some people move very light and just pay extra for an additional couple of suitcases to go on the flight with them, in which case you do the lot at the airport in one step when you land.

kirstyp

To expand on Hurlabrick’s great overview; on points 1 & 2 regarding the shipping part here’s a bit more on how that works:

1) Choose an International Removal company for your move. Typically, our customers contact us around 3-4 months before they want us to collect their items, but you can do it earlier or later than that depending on your circumstances. This gives you a good amount of time to get quotes, make comparisons and prepare for move day though. There are lots of tips over on our BE forum for International Removals Advice on how to shortlist and choose a removal company, but checking FIDI members that serve your area is a great place to start.
2) Get an in home survey and agree your quote and move plan, this includes the services that you want (do you want packing services? Does anything need crating for extra protection? Do you want any help dismantling furniture etc.). It also covers when you want collection. As the transit time can be around 4-6 weeks door to door you’ll want to consider do you want to time your arrival of goods for as soon as you arrive in Canada (meaning you’ll need somewhere to stay temporarily in the UK before you depart once your things have been packed) up OR do you want to depart soon after packing and then arrange temporary accommodation in Canada while you wait for them to arrive (or somewhere in between both). This is down to personal preference.
3) Provide documentation and complete any customs paperwork with your removal company. They will be able to help you obtain all the forms you need and give you advice and guidance in how to complete them, they may not be able to fill these in for you as you’re legally responsible for declarations but they should be able to explain what they are for and give you any of the information that they have to help you complete them.
4) Before move day, assuming the movers are packing for you, separate out anything you DON’T want packed and moved. Think things that you are taking with you like clothes and everyday use objects, important documents (like your passport!) and any jewellery. Keep it somewhere else (e.g. in a room with a closed door marked ‘don’t pack’) or label it up clearly to show it’s not going – removal company packers are pretty quick and so if you’re not clear about what’s staying things could easily get packed causing you a headache later.
5) On move day your crew will arrive and pack everything up for you. If you’re having a full container shipment they may load it at your home (depending on access) and seal the container before transporting it to the port for departure. If you’re using a shared container service or a container lorry can’t park outside your home they may load onto their own vehicle for transfer into a container back at their depot.

The removal company should be able to give you an estimated date of arrival so you can plan the customs clearance steps and discuss possible delivery dates to your new home as Hurlabrick and the Wiki describe.

Hope that helps!

AshMyl

Timely post - I was about to post a question on the same topic as we are getting ready to ship a container with all our household gear

donnydon

We shopped around for a company to do all the donkey work...it blew our budget!
So we started packing, made a list as we went along (ie:box of childrens toys x4, box of bed linen x2 etc)

We ended up using Upakweship, we had a 3 hr window to fill the container ourselves (had lots of help) more than half was Hubby's tools!

Spent the night in a hotel, travelled to my parents for 2 days (as they lived closer to Heathrow) then flew to our new life!

We had a copy of our 'to follow' list but the Immigration officer at Edmonton didn't look at it.

3 weeks later we had an email saying our good had to be signed for at the Edmonton Customs office.
Hubby drove down, officer went over the list he had...asked if there was any banned items in the load...

then he noticed Hubby's Paslode equipment...!

'do you have any cartridges with it?
Umm yes...!

Apparently they count as explosives!
Hubby got a wrist slap and paperwork signed...!!

Container arrived at our house and we had 2 hrs to unload it...luckily it was an Expat driver from Liverpool, so cup of tea & bacon sandwich got us extra time.

It went quite smoothly for us and we were approx 9hrs from Edmonton so 3 weeks door to door was great!

Craddy

Wow!!! That is amazing thank you everyone for such detailed responses. This is great as I now have it laid out in my head how it works and what to expect. I guess now it'll be deciding how much stuff we have and what route to go down re shipping companies or just extra luggage.

Thank you again, you've helped SO much!!!

donnydon

Hi
Also to add to this...we had the paperwork in hand to prove job offer, LMO (now an LMA) and everything we could think of to present to the Immigration officer.

From receiving the email from the company in Canada offering the job, checking passports where in date, writing to the Council tax office, Inland revenue office, closing down our business, giving notice to the landlord, notice to the children's schools, the bank and ALL the utilities...
was 6 weeks...!
also packing a household ready for a 20ft container, selling cars, tools that couldn't be used here etc etc.

The Immigration officer at Edmonton Airport was thorough!

Have cash (CAD$) to pay permit fee's!

The only thing that later on, caused us a problem was that the Officer only gave Hubby a 1 yr work permit, on the understanding that he MUST gain Journeyman status in that time and would only give us visitor permits with permission to educate the children.

So working full time, studying the Canadian code book and having to sit the exam & practical test was a real ball-ache!

Best advice is make sure the paperwork is near perfect!!
Goodluck