Katydid83

Hi there all. My husband has finally received his visa and our movers come on the 29th July! Very excited indeed as I cant wait to get back on US soil (I am USC) after 10 years in England, although I will miss it dearly.

Any help on what we can/cannot bring. I am thinking about my massive range of spices (my hubby loves cooking curries which lead to copious amounts of spices!). Can I bring them with me or do we have to leave them here? What about other food items? I imagine all liquids are banned but just want to double check.

Any advice welcome!

Thanks
Kate

markwm

This: https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...r-personal-use covers what you can bring in your luggage. I would imagine (but do not know for sure) is that there will be, somehwere, a list of food items that can't be brought in by any means. Suggest a trawl on Google or someone else might be along soon who knows where to point you.

Bob

Quite a few threads on this and the wiki up top is a good starting point.

Anything open is always iffy. Your movers will be able to tell you though, so start with them.

Weeze

We were told no spices by our packers, but this seems to urgent you can bring them:
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...9jZ1FybA%3D%3D

Possibly just too much of a pain to declare for removal companies.

Suz16

Hi

We came from Copenhagen, not via the UK, however it was an English moving firm who shipped our stuff. They said while spices weren't forbidden, they didn't recommend bringing them, as it could delay our shipment in customs for an extra 6 weeks. I also had a huge spice collection, but you will be able to replace it all here easily.

We were also told no alcohol, aerosol products or sprays, or food, even tinned or packet stuff.

Your movers should be able to provide you with a comprehensive list of what you can and cannot take.

Pulaski

You may want to shop around movers, because the one we used (Allfreight International) had no problem with sealed bottles of spirits. ... We had to pay $2/70cl bottle duty on them. The concern with foods is that it attracts bugs and rodents, and the bugs may also create a customs issue, so generally "no foods", but sealed in glass jars largely mitigates the bug and rodent issue. I wasn't even aware that herbs and spices were an issue as we brought a couple of dozen glass jars of Schwartz products.

steveq

What does sealed mean here ? As in un-opened, or just locked into bags ? Otherwise we have a LOT of partying to do before we leave.....

Sally Redux

That's what we were told. It's not forbidden, but bringing food, tea, paints could hold everything up while inspected.

WEBlue

Our moving company (Pickering/Allied) representative said the same. No foodstuffs, not even dried like tea & spices. He said that the US is very concerned post-911 with freight coming into the country with anything "organic" inside, even if it's in sealed intact containers. If this material is detected by their scanners it can trigger extra inspections that we would have to pay for.

I gave away all my spices to neighbours before the move.

Bob

And that can add several hundred bucks to the cost, for the inspection and for the storage.

Just get new spices here, plenty of minority type grocery stores where you can get them for much cheaper than the regular grocery stores.

One of cheaper places here where I am is selling jars of herbs/spices for 77c a bottle and in one of the Indian grocery stores, can get a massive bag of various curry spices for a buck or so, when half the amount would be $5 in the regular grocery store.

Pulaski

"Sealed" meaning never opened, as they left the distillery. I did bring a few opened ones that were nearly full, and nobody noticed.

Despite previously stated assertions by some that many containers arriving in the US are opened and and inspected, personally I doubt that more than a tiny percentage of containers of household goods shipped from the UK or western Europe are inspected in any meaningful way (container opened and 30% or more of boxes opened to view the actual contents). Many are X-rayed, and I would expect a fair number subject to robot or canine sniffing, but there are too many containers arriving in the US daily from high risk jurisdictions to physically search and inspect the contents of many containers from the UK.

kirstyp

Congratulations Kate

Here's a thread with some tips on what to take and what to leave behind - being a USC you'll already know alot of it, but hope that the restricted/prohibited bits help

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=783874

ottotheboar

If you put the spices in plastic bags just mail them, we get coffee and others food items mailed over from the UK.
No guarantee they will make it but cheaper than holding up a container in the docks.