Hi all
I'll be landing at Vancouver airport soon with COPR.
I learnt that I need to take photos of all the gold and jewelry I have and print 2 copies.
Do I need to take photos of each item separately?
For example if I have gold bars, necklace and rings, is it better to take photos separately for each item or can I take one photo all together?
Or one photo for gold bars, and one photo for necklace and rings?
Thank you for your help
)
The list and photos you take basically is for you to follow the process and declared what you brought in, and what their value would be. Since you are new immigrant, you are allowed to bring as much as you want/can, and you can say what those items are worth without any proof. You can do whatever you want, and if you take the picture with everything together, and say "Gold jewelry, total value $20000", that's fine. In fact, you do not even need photos, and just declare that you have such and such $ worth of jewelry. If CBSA asks you specifically, you just show them the items.
For the purpose of bringing them out of Canada in the future, and then back again duty free, photos alone is not enough. You would need a formal appraisal done. If you do not have that appraisal, and stamped by CBSA that they were imported tax free, then when you bring those items into Canada at a future date (after bringing them out of course), you will be subjected to duty.
If they only come into Canada and never leave again, then not having formal appraisal would not hurt you.
You can get an appraisal done later in Canada, and show that and the items at customs office at the airport before departure. There's a card (used to be a card, it could be a form now) where you itemize the things you will be bringing out, and that gets stamped. If your items have a serial number, then the appraisal is usually not necessary as that would identify the item without any confusion. That card just proves your item was already in Canada, and not purchased outside, when you bring them back into Canada on our return.
If the items are in the "goods to follow" category, then it can be trouble without the appraisal report, as CBSA at the airport would have no way of knowing what the value would be. My guess is that no one would ship valuable items with their shipment of furniture and household items, so it doesn't matter.
