becks_r

Thanks for all the information so far, hopefully I will sort this out today as my shipment is due to dock in US next week!!!!

And Rene, thanks for changing the title
.

Becks

lansbury

The advise given is correct. In order to avoid payment of duty you have to be in the country when your goods arrive. If you are not in the country and customs realize that, they will charge you the applicable duty on whatever it is you are importing.

We arrived in 2006 and apart from faxing a copy of my visa to the shipping agent. There were other documents as well but I can't remember if they included a copy of the entry stamp in my passport or not. Or if I had to show in some other way I was in the US.

Cadenza-93

Hi, I am far from a font of knowledge & experience what it comes to the whole US Customs & Immigration thing, but I thought that I would share my own recent experiences of receiving a shipment on the VWP.

Leaving Thailand after 2 years, my next port of call was California for 90 days and the only place that I want be! Obviously, after time overseas, there's -STUFF, too much to even consider taking as luggage - musical instruments galore, studio equipment, paintings, figurines, teaching resources blah, blah! My only possible course was to ship it, I called Customs in the States, first time I've ever shipped without a visa, the possible outcomes mortified me! I was advised that I could receive a shipment of personal effects in the US on the VWP.

I arranged professional packers so that I would have an actual log of the contents for door to port shipping. I was e-mailed the ship's itinerary, ETA & advised to call the warehouse upon it's arrival. It was in holding at port for approximately 7 days, following that and the payment of $100 of administrative costs we went to the customs office with all the paperwork where they advised us that they wanted time to inspect the contents - no problem & another $30 charge from the warehouse. Three days later we received a call to return to the Customs office, they queried why I was receiving a shipment of what was clearly personal effects whilst travelling on the VWP. I replied that for the past 7 years I had been teaching in International Schools, when leaving Thailand I had no other destination to send my effects to other than here. Directed to my girlfriend, explained out quandary and my long term plan for US visa application etc. The officer ensured that I was aware of the conditions of my visiting status, stamped the release form and wished us both the best of luck.

Long may my positive and courteous encounters with US Customs and Immigration Officials continue!!

henryh

Cadenza, that sounds like playing with fire (or ICE) to me...

Cadenza-93

Henryh, That could well be the case and fire will still burn as dying embers; it may indeed regenerate as "assumpion of intent" at some point, but essentially, I had no other options.

.... Side-stepping the gut-wrenching rant I feel germinating RE Equal Rights!!!

Rete

That is correct. My husband had to arrive first, get the K-1 stamp in his passport and then he had to call the shippers, give them the number and then they were allowed to bring in the shipment without duty.

becks_r

an update........

I contacted my lawyer and after quite a few phone calls to the shipping agents and being sent from one person to another, she was told that she was right, I wouldn't be getting a visa and all I had to do was send copies of the AOS application receipts and my marriage certificate.

This I did and then I got an email over the weekend asking for a copy of my passport, which they should have had anyway from the UK shipping people, but that was easy - I already had a copy on my laptop, so that got emailed straight away.

Then yesterday I phoned them as I had had no reply or phone calls to say all was ok or not. The man I spoke to said there was a problem because my visa had expired!!! So I had to go through the whole lot again, explaining I am legally in the country, in the AOS process etc etc.

He then said he would have to discuss it with someone else there and finally late in the day someone else phoned and said all was ok, they didn't need anything else from me and "this happens all the time as the visa in the passport always expires because the AOS process takes so long. We are used to this as people can't always wait for their green card before they need their belongings"

Argghh - if they are used to this, why didn't they say so in the first place and explain exactly what was needed.

Oh well, all done now - hopefully the final conversation was with the right person and its true, everything is in place for my stuff to be processed by customs without any problems. I will know more about that in the next 10 days or so!!

Thanks for everyone's help with this, I was getting worried to start with and had visions of my container either being dumped in the sea, shipped by to UK or kept in storage for months.....

Becky

henryh

Glad it's worked out. I've heard far worse horror stories about shippers.

becks_r

Well I will be able to sleep better once all my things are here - of course I'm not really living in a house big enough for it all, so fitting it all in will be a challenge. But I will be happy to be sorting that problem out, rather than stuff being in storage forever, or blocked by customs. But one hurdle has been overcome.....

Thanks again Becky

becks_r

hi all

So an update on this - and I did post something about this in reply to another post - my container went through customs without a hitch, they didn't inspect it or x-ray it!!! I think the reason it went through so easy might have been that it was in storage in the UK with the removal company for over a year. So if they thought I was trying to bring things in duty free to then sell on, well they wouldn't be brand new now!!!

Of course this is just speculation, I might have just been lucky. But I was only charged $7.50 for one fee and nothing else so far

So the answer to shipping and being duty free while awaiting AOS is that the local agent here should only need the latest visa page in your passport, which will show an out of date visa stamp. Then the agent will need proof that you are legally here, even though the stamp is out of date, in my case the receipts for the AOS application and the marriage license. Then all should be ok......

Now awaiting delivery date and then hopefully all my things will be intact and look great and I will be happy, even though I will be living in a very crowded house

thanks again for all the replies and best wishes

Becky