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Moving Back To The US?

I don't want to have to pay customs duties on my stuff.

Michael David Crawford
June 30, 2007

You need a US Customs and Border Protection Form CBP 3299 - Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles.

If you are either immigrating to the US for the first time, or are a US citizen who has lived abroad more than three years - I have - it allows you to import your personal effects without paying duties.

I was concerned about having to pay duties on my M-Audio keyboard and Blue & White Mac G3.

This was going to be an Ask K5 but I finally found the right query to use in the US Customs website's search box - "unaccompanied articles".

The instructions seem to say that I should present the form to the customs agent at the port of entry, at which point they'll give my stuff to me. I hope I don't have to do that, but can include a CBP 3299 with my shipment.

My plan is to find a friend who'll let me stash my stuff in their garage until I find a place, then ship my stuff via UPS from here to their house.

The last thing I would want is for the UPS man to show up at their door demanding payment of duties. That's the way it usually works when duties are applied.

I have more stuff than I can take on an airplane here in Vancouver, but not enough stuff to hire a moving company, so my plan is to ship my stuff via UPS while I fly down. I've got my ticket now - I'm leaving early Friday morning.

What's This?

Read this essay online or reprint it at:
http://www.vancouverdiaries.com/unaccompanied-articles.html

This is a chapter from The Vancouver Diaries:
http://www.vancouverdiaries.com