emmabean

I'm sure this has been asked before, I wish this place had a FAQ.

But when we arrive in Canada at the end of the month, exactly how detailed is our list of shipped goods meant to be?
Do they want every individual item of clothing listed?

Most of what we are bringing is books and clothes and toys and small items rather than big furniture.

We have receipts for a few of the bigger things but not for everything. Has this been an issue for anyone?

My husband and I are coming on 2 different flights (me with the baby, him with the dog and the cat) - I'm a returning Canadian and he's a new Permanent Resident.

Do we each need to report the goods to follow seperately or should one of us refer to the other's declaration? Does anyone have any experience of that?

Canada Jane

We did our goods to follow as an excel list and listed it as clothes, books, CD's, records, misc paperwork etc.

Remember to give a bulk value for each group of goods in both £ & $.

The only things you need to itemise are large value items such as computers etc where you need to include the serial no's too.

We did not get asked for any additional info such as receipts etc, they just looked at it and stamped it.

Oh, remember to give a total value of everything at the bottom to save time doing it at customs.

I believe the principal applicant is the one who has to declare the goods to follow, but I stand to be corrected.

Good luck
Jane

emmabean

Thank you, that is very helpful!

ann m

On our 'Goods to Follow' list where we need to list the value of the items - is this a 'current' (ie, used and bit knackered) value - or a 'replacement' value - and does this same list link up with the insurance cover by the moving company (or do they do their own valuation) ?

We won't have much of value, apart from a couple of bits of decent furniture and some pictures. The pictures already have a valuation certificate so presumably I list the price as per these, either on goods to follow list, or for the insurance when moving ?

How does one value a box of, say, 100 cd's ? At replacement cost ? Is it wise to under or over value any items, for whatever reason ??!

How do you value a box of photo albums? Or paperwork? Should that be listed as neglible, ie, $0 ?

Help ! Thank you !

hot wasabi peas

I wrote out a list and when I presented it to the customs dude, he was more than happy with it. This is part of it - I included what I brought in my luggage on the flight, a box of clothing that I sent by air the day before I left and all the stuff still on it's way via sea container:

Listing my goods that I am bringing into Canada
Goods with me now:
Item - Make - Value in CND
Laptop - Sony - 1,500
Clothing - various - 500
Kitchenware - various - 100
etc...

Goods to follow:
Item - Make - Value in CND
Books - 8 book boxes of various - 2,000
Clothing- 2 large boxes (one sent by air) - 2,000
Tripod and head - Manfrotto - 600
Rug - woven wool - 500
Ornaments/niknaks - various - sentimental etc...

Chops

I always thought it was the current value that customs were interested in. After all, nothing else would make any sense.

A £10,000,000 painting would have be be listed as such, not the 10 Guineas it was bought for two hundred years ago.

And your old 486DX PC with 64mb that cost £2000 10 years ago is now almost worthless.

They are, from my understanding, interested in high value items that may be subject to import duties.

Ian.

Fluffy Boogie

Hi!
Hope everything went well for you and according to plan. Hopefully you have arrived safe and sound with most if not all of your belongings.
I am in the same situation you were in: me= returning citizen of Canada with PR Dutch common-law boyfriend.
He jsut received his PR visa stamp and we plan to move in a few months and are also only taking clothes, computer, stereo, bike and books/dvd/cds and a few decor things that we have collected over the years. No furniture!
I was wondering if you could fill me in:

Do you have to pay anything as a returning citizen (tax/duty) upon return (ive been away for almost 8 years)? How do you declare as a couple when you land if he is the PR?
If you could let me know what you guys did (from shipping to landing to going to customs) you would really be helping me out.
I keep getting conflicting reports, yes you pay, no you don't.... well, I am sure you are familiar with the feeling...

Thanks and its greatly appreciated!
Fluffy

Biiiiink

No duty on goods you've owned - see this pamphlet for details. http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cp/...rc4105-06e.pdf

As for the list - we did 2 separate ones as Mr B landed long before I "returned". Having said that, the guy at the customs office when we cleared our container could only accept one list he said, not two per household/container. Luckily mine contained everything Mr B's had, so we just used that. This guy was super efficient and complaining about the way the lists had been processed/not processed at the airport, so your officer might not object to two lists per container... who knows!

emmabean

Yes we are here now and everything so far bureaucracy-wise has been incredibly easy. I landed first, with our son, and I declared the goods to follow and the goods accompanying me. If you do this, you get sent to the area (at Pearson at least) where they open suspicious people's suitcases! Except they were really nice to me as I wasn't really suspicious. The officer told me that my husband didn't have to declare goods as well. Our lists were typed up Excel sheets - this was absolutely fine with them. There is nothing for you to pay - they will only have questions if you have individual items over $10,000. Our items totalled that. If you guys are coming together, you can declare the goods together or you can declare them yourself as a returning Canadian and your partner can go and deal with his PR stuff while you declare the goods. I think that would be fine, anyway.
Of course, we only got here 2 weeks ago and we are doing a part crate shipment so we have no idea when our goods will actually get here, but I don't anticipate problems when they do arrive.

Lionel_in_Ontario

I'd like to ask a related question - i've landed and given my goods-to-follow list, and had it stamped and all that...

What's the time limit (if there is one) for importing my goods? I'm not sure when i'll be able to get it all boxed up and shipped.

If anyone knows that would be nice!

Fluffy Boogie

Thanks a lot!
Fluffy

Fluffy Boogie

Good to hear its gone well! Thanks 4 your story, though! great!
Fluffy