Shipping personal goods *before* landing as PR?

[ilikesushi]

Hi everyone,

I'll be landing as PR soon, and I've been fortunate enough to have secured an apartment that I'll be able to move into in a month (and I'll be landing a day before I move into that apartment).

To make the move easier, I'm hoping to ship over some of our belongings into a Canadian storage facility before landing, if possible. I would want to ship it by FedEx.

My question is, I know we will be provided with a Personal Effects form (the B4 form, I think) for belongings we're bringing into Canada upon landing as a PR, and we won't have to pay duties for items we declare on that B4 form.

But how does it work if we want to ship items before we ourselves land as PR?

This would be around 4 boxes of things such as used clothing/linens, sentimental value items, etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[scylla]

If you ship items before you become a PR, they will be subject to duty.

 

[APPNOV2014NY]

I was in Canada on work permit for 13 months and I had shipped my items ( duty free) before I crossed the border and activated work permit. My mover ( ABF/Upack) accepted my consignment and then waited for me to send them custom documents ( Work permit, stamped Goods to follow etc.). Talk to a renowned mover , they would clarify things for oyu.

 

[spyfy]

Hi everyone,

I'll be landing as PR soon, and I've been fortunate enough to have secured an apartment that I'll be able to move into in a month (and I'll be landing a day before I move into that apartment).

To make the move easier, I'm hoping to ship over some of our belongings into a Canadian storage facility before landing, if possible. I would want to ship it by FedEx.

My question is, I know we will be provided with a Personal Effects form (the B4 form, I think) for belongings we're bringing into Canada upon landing as a PR, and we won't have to pay duties for items we declare on that B4 form.

But how does it work if we want to ship items before we ourselves land as PR?

This would be around 4 boxes of things such as used clothing/linens, sentimental value items, etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

As scylla said: If your shipment clears customs BEFORE you land, it will be subject to full duty.

Generally: Goods can follow you, but you can't follow the goods. Otherwise you have to pay duty for them.

This is how you get around this:
- You can request that goods are stored at a CBSA facility for up to 40 days.
- Then you land in Canada
- Then, AFTER you land, you request that the goods clear customs
- That way you can make use of the exemptions

Have a look at this document
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-2-1-eng.pdf

Go to page 5 and read sections 22 and following.

It should be best if you ask the logistics company how you make use of those rules. They will know all this stuff much better than any forum member can.