Goods to follow: to whom should they be addressed?

[fandv]

Hi everyone,

Got some questions about goods to follow and forms B4/B4A:

1. My wife is going to settle permanently in Canada by the end of this month. She is going to send some goods to follow to Canada, via the ocean. The goods will be placed in some boxes. On the mailing label of the boxes, who should be the name of the recipient? Is it herself, or someone in Canada who will be receiving the goods?

2. Here's the thing though....my wife already shipped 3 boxes (via ocean) 3 weeks ago, and on those boxes, she put her name as the sender's name, and my dad's name as the recipient's name. The label on each box had something like this:

Sender: [my wife's name]
To: [my dad's name]
Address: my dad's (Canadian) address

But now we're worrying if that was a big mistake. Because the thing is, as a first time settler, I understand that she will be able to import her goods duty free, into Canada, correct? Later on when she's claiming her goods, how will the CBSA believe that the goods are hers, given that the boxes are addressed to my dad?

3. She has 2 more boxes to ship.....so what should she do then? Address them to herself, as follows?

From: [wife's name]
To: [wife's name]

(Somehow that seems funny/ridiculous? But I can't think of anything else. If you guys have a better suggestion, please let me know.)

4. Do I understand the following correctly?

- When my wife lands in Canada, she will have to show the B4 and B4A forms to a CBSA officer, at the airport

- The CBSA officer will acknowledge that my wife is a first time settler, and thus stamp those 2 forms, as an approval that she can claim her goods (and goods to follow) duty free

- Later on when her goods to follow arrived in Canada, a CBSA officer will call her and request her to come to a port in order co claim her goods. She will then have to show the stamped B4 and B4A forms to the CBSA officer at the port, and claim her goods duty free.

That's it? Anything else I missed?

[[[Some more background info, so that you guys understand the big picture better:

- I'm currently with her, and we'll be flying together to Canada
- The 3 boxes that were already shipped (via ocean) 3 weeks ago, will take up to 70 days to arrive in Canada. 70 days from 3 weeks ago is roughly August 6th. We will land in Canada at the beginning of July]]]

 

[canadianwoman]

She can address the boxes to herself at your father's address (or wherever you want to receive them). I wouldn't worry about the boxes already addressed to your father. Custom's might question them and claim they are a gift. But you can always discuss these things with a custom's agent. If she explains that they are her items, but she didn't have an address to send them to in Canada except for your family, this may be good enough. In addition, she can show the agent that the goods are on her "Goods to Follow" list, and are obviously her belongings. That is, they are her things, and not obvious gifts. For example, it should be easy to prove her clothes are hers, and not a gift.