Resettling Canadian+Spouse: Declaring "my" or "our" household goods to customs?

[The Littlest Hobo]

Hey again, oh wise purveyors of typed wisdom...

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself and wondering about the process of resettling in Canada. In particular, what to do about our shipment of household goods: As I am the Canadian moving back 3 months before my spouse hopes to follow, I figured I would just claim the whole shipment of stuff as mine when I arrive since it's going to arrive shortly after me, and it's not an unreasonable amount for one person. Obviously we are shipping our goods together in only one small container. But actually, although most is common property some is clearly either mine or his (clothes and shoes and his books in a language I cannot speak...).

Now I only just thought of something: what happens when he lands, they ask him where his things are? I think it would be rather difficult to believe he has only 2 suitcases to his name... Would that maybe cause him or I any trouble?

What is the process for those of you moving home, has anyone dealt with this or know where to look into it? What about those of you who are applying outland even though you're unofficially living in Canada already? Did you get a lot of questions about this when you did your Peace-Bridge-Drive-Thru-style landing manoeuvre? I might just call Customs Canada, they've always been super helpful with my cheese-related questions in the past.

Any help is muchly appreciated, and I'll letcha know if I find out myself.

Toodles,
TLH

[tgchi13]

Well, we shipped everything up from NC and I told customs it was from my "seasonal" residence.  Didn't get much grief at all.

I'd suggest, unless someone has a better idea or one more straight forward to do the same, your husband can just say household goods were shipped separately, in advance or (better maybe) will be arriving shortly.  Any 'gender distinguishing' items he brought with him crossing the border.  Personally, I'd say shipped separately which is blanket enough to be honest and hope not to be pushed for details.

[ange]

Hi,
We are arriving in Canada together so the 'goods to follow list' that I"ll give to the immigration officials will be from both of us. However, I (Canadian) have to pay taxes on items over a $10000, and also on items that are newer than 6 months. That is not the case for my husband. So we'll just say that all the stuff is his, except if they ask questions than we can always say its common property. We also have 1 container, about 12 cubic meters, with furniture & stuff too. And then we also have two babies, so a bunch of the stuff is theirs as well. We can import, tax free, Furniture Utensils Books Musical instruments Antique Collections (stamps, coins, pictures) & Jewelry. There is a rule that within a year after your first arrival in Canada as a landed immigrant you are entitled to bring to Canada free of duties and taxes those of your personal belongings which you declared upon initial arrival. That rule doesn't apply to me though.
I made a list of every item in the container...in great detail! I hope that we have done this right. I will also be calling the Canada Border Services Agency to confirm.

[The Littlest Hobo]

Thank you ange, that is super helpful! Got me off to a good start and I found more on the CBSA's website including this, which made me laugh (and may be useful for you?):

Used or second-hand mattresses: You cannot import used or second-hand mattresses into Canada unless you have a certificate verifying that the mattresses have been cleaned and fumigated in the country of export. A letter, or any other document that clearly demonstrates that this requirement has been met, is acceptable if it is signed by a person qualified in cleaning and fumigating.

Purely by coincidence we recently decided we will buy a new bed and mattress in Canada after our move, but we were originally thinking of bringing ours since my husband is ridiculously tall so has an extra-long custom mattress and special bed frame.

Funny because our shipping company didn't mention it and they did tell us about all other restricted/banned items... and we did an itemised tour of the house so they could give us a quote on the move.

I still get the impression I'll have to claim it all as mine, and I hope it doesn't seem weird when he shows up to land with only 2 suitcases...

Good luck with your packing!
TLH

[ange]

Hey,
we had IKEA mattresses and we had also decided not to buy new ones! Good thing too! There is one baby mattress that went into the container. If that's a problem I guess they can throw it out. It's not that big of a deal.
The packing was finished last week already. IT was a LOT OF WORK! Not the packing so much, but making the itemized list to go with it. And of course organizing a life...what to keep, what to throw...
We didn't use a professional moving company but bought a bit of space in a container from someone we heard of via via. It saved us a lot of money. Movers were going to cost us around the 7000 EURO! Our stuff isn't really worth that, so now we got it for the awesome price of 1500 DOLLARS! Quite a difference!

Have you already made some decisions on when you plan to move? Are you going to move regardless of whether the PR is in or not?

Hey, stop stressing! it's christmas & enjoy the season!
Ange

[The Littlest Hobo]

Heya,
they have checklists and stuff on here http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/noncan-eng.html probably you've seen it already but still, the checklist is nifty! It only seems to mention mattresses for returning Canadians, so maybe it doesn't apply for new Canadians? (though it might be something which could catch you)

Cheers,
TLH

[The Littlest Hobo]

Hi again,
I finally called and asked the CBSA because I didn't see anyone on here with the same experience. They told me that if I am married, household goods are common property thus I can claim them as mine.

Then I asked "what if they demand a receipt to prove I've owned something for more than 6 months (requirement for returning Canadian) and the receipt is in my husband's name, not mine (e.g. our computer), and anyway we've been married for only 3 months, will I have any problems?" He said "oh! uh... I don't know, I guess it would be ok. I wouldn't worry about it."

So I won't (because I'm so good at following instructions!)

So if any of you returning Canadians are in the same boat, you can quote this directly from the mouth of the New Brunswick CBSA horse.

OK, back to packing!

Cheers,
TLH

PS One HUGE word of advice based on my experience: Don't move in the winter! The chances are the shipment will freeze which can damage electronics with LCD screens and anything liquid. Although technically you shouldn't have liquids in there, it's amazing all the sneaky places they end up: bike lube, printer ink cartridges, craft supplies like paints and glue... ugh! Even my snow globe collection!!! We are carrying all this stuff in our airplane checked luggage, the allowances of which, if you don't know already, the major airlines are in the process of CUTTING IN HALF as we speak!!! So consider yourself warned...

[whoopi83]

He said "oh! uh... I don't know, I guess it would be ok. I wouldn't worry about it."

So I won't (because I'm so good at following instructions!)

LOL! Excellent.

For anyone who is worried about having only rwo suitcases, please don't be, because that would be me - genuinely.  Sold everything except a laptop...

[Suin]

when I received visas with passport back I was already living in Canada. so we drove to the US and back to make landing. I had nothing with me except my documents. they asked me about things to declare, I said I had nothing with me, so they asked to make a list of goods I would be bringing later. when I made the approximate list, they had a look and said that these things do not need to be declared. so I was just fine.