Wife And I Moving To Thailand

[Thaicoon]

Hi guys, i think i am right but would like confirmation off you guys, hoping to make the big move in 2007, if everything go's to plan, Wife and i want to ship a 20 foot container to Thailand from UK, we understand if a thai national is returning to her homeland, there is no duty to pay on Personal and household goods, (shipping must be done in her name) we will not be bringing any electrical items, as already have in the house in Buriram, just Oriental furniture, Leather sofas etc, some of the furniture was purchased at the Rosewood Room in Pattaya about 15 years ago, so coming home, i understand that electrical appliances sometimes are highly taxed, as a mate got taxed 50,000 baht for a washing machine.

Also has anyone got details of packer and agent in UK, and can ship and deliver items straight to house in Buriram, somebody that has done this, advice please,

thanks guys...........

[jcgodber]

30 December 2006

'Thaicoon'—

I too have done the same. A few years ago I moved from California to Sa Kaeo here in Thailand. You are correct about the wife being allowed to bring all of her acquired household goods back to Thailand duty free, just once.

Before I had made the move I was advised to ship just as much as possible. This is good advice. I loaded a container with absolutely everything I owned except for my car and my electric golf cart.

My container took just about 30 days to make the trip to my front door here in Sa Kaeo. The container was never even opened by customs. I did submit a COMPLETE list of contents of all that I shipped to my shipping agent. In retrospect, I should have got a 40-foot container and gone out and bought still more stuff to take to Thailand.

If you like I will P.M. you a complete list of what I shipped.

Here is a very partial list of the things that I brought.

Gas BBQ

All kitchen stuff, dishes, small appliances

Grandfather clock

Many wall clocks

Electric gate opener

Dinning room furniture

All furniture- rugs-pictures

A 220-volt refrigerator (special order in U.S.)

All clothing

All my shop tools. Drill press table saw etc

Power lawn mower

Quality door locks for all doors all keyed to the same key

Bathroom fixtures towel bars medicine cabinet wall light

All table lamps and floor lamps

Water pumps for the garden water fountains

Garden water hose and reels, brass water nozzles and faucets

An alarm system

All of my computer stuff, fax, printer, scanner

You mentioned something about not bringing any electrical appliances, Why? You are very lucky to be coming from a 220V country, bring everything and more.

I even brought many cases of canned goods (food) that were unavailable here in Thailand.

I hope that this will help you a little please contact me if I can be of any more help.

Jim Godber

//email removed//

[Ahnsahn]

30 December 2006

'Thaicoon'—

I too have done the same. A few years ago I moved from California to Sa Kaeo here in Thailand. You are correct about the wife being allowed to bring all of her acquired household goods back to Thailand duty free, just once.

Before I had made the move I was advised to ship just as much as possible. This is good advice. I loaded a container with absolutely everything I owned except for my car and my electric golf cart.

My container took just about 30 days to make the trip to my front door here in Sa Kaeo. The container was never even opened by customs. I did submit a COMPLETE list of contents of all that I shipped to my shipping agent. In retrospect, I should have got a 40-foot container and gone out and bought still more stuff to take to Thailand.

If you like I will P.M. you a complete list of what I shipped.

This is good to know! What was the cost to ship the container from the States? Was the the cost based on weight or container size? Any additional costs when you picked up your container at Thai port?

[Thaicoon]

30 December 2006

'Thaicoon'—

I too have done the same. A few years ago I moved from California to Sa Kaeo here in Thailand. You are correct about the wife being allowed to bring all of her acquired household goods back to Thailand duty free, just once.

Before I had made the move I was advised to ship just as much as possible. This is good advice. I loaded a container with absolutely everything I owned except for my car and my electric golf cart.

My container took just about 30 days to make the trip to my front door here in Sa Kaeo. The container was never even opened by customs. I did submit a COMPLETE list of contents of all that I shipped to my shipping agent. In retrospect, I should have got a 40-foot container and gone out and bought still more stuff to take to Thailand.

If you like I will P.M. you a complete list of what I shipped.

This is good to know! What was the cost to ship the container from the States? Was the the cost based on weight or container size? Any additional costs when you picked up your container at Thai port?

I do know that if you ship a container, they go on the size not weight, as used to ship 40 footers from Thailand to UK, goods to sell retail in my shops, but now want to ship personal effects, the reply on this post has helped me a lot, and that is great news to know the seal has not been broken on the container (not opened) thanks guys.

[Somtham]

Hi guys, i think i am right but would like confirmation off you guys, hoping to make the big move in 2007, if everything go's to plan, Wife and i want to ship a 20 foot container to Thailand from UK, we understand if a thai national is returning to her homeland, there is no duty to pay on Personal and household goods, (shipping must be done in her name) we will not be bringing any electrical items, as already have in the house in Buriram, just Oriental furniture, Leather sofas etc, some of the furniture was purchased at the Rosewood Room in Pattaya about 15 years ago, so coming home, i understand that electrical appliances sometimes are highly taxed, as a mate got taxed 50,000 baht for a washing machine.

Also has anyone got details of packer and agent in UK, and can ship and deliver items straight to house in Buriram, somebody that has done this, advice please,

thanks guys...........

One caveat is that your wife has to prove she's been out of the country one year or more. If less than one year she will not qualify for the returning national duty free allowance.

Totally agree with JC. Get a 40 footer and load it up. The cadded cost from a 20 to a 40 is minimal. Also, I've done 3 moves in/out of Thailand and have to highly recommend Transpo- Asian Tigers. Here's their website. http://www.transpo-intl.com/

The lady I worked with here in Thailand is Preeya. She'll let you know who to use in the UK.

rgds

[loong]

One piece of advice to antone doing ths. Don't even consider trying to ship items and collect them at the port yourself. Always use an agent that will deliver to your door and take care of all of the paperwork at fixed price. A few friends have come very unstuck by trying to do it themselves. They've had to pay out too mch tea money to get the goods released!

[thaihome]

Best advice, get an agent in UK that will do door to door service. You will need to give them your wife's passport when the container arrives in Thailand. Do not go to port yourself.

Asian-Tigers-Transpo is good (Singapore-BKK & BKK-Beijing). Santa Fe (Guangzhou-BKK) is also good. We have used JVK for local move, I understand they have international service as well, would try it since the local service was so good.

You pay by volume to pack and move. Container shipping charge is by unit.

TH

[raro]

We are in the shipping business and have handled lots of inbound shipments in the past. The issue is rather complex and needs careful preparation.

If you arelegally married to your wife, she is NOT considere a returning Thai, as Thai customs assume that YOU bought the goods and hence they have to be taxed.

There is much more to it, pm me ifyou like, we have offices in Bangkok and Pattaya.

raro

[Thaicoon]

We are in the shipping business and have handled lots of inbound shipments in the past. The issue is rather complex and needs careful preparation.

If you arelegally married to your wife, she is NOT considere a returning Thai, as Thai customs assume that YOU bought the goods and hence they have to be taxed.

There is much more to it, pm me ifyou like, we have offices in Bangkok and Pattaya.

raro

Iam Legally married to my wife, in the UK we got married, she still has a thai passport with indefinate stay visa, and in her maden name, also in march 2007 is one year untill she was last in thailand.

Also, can my wife still use her Thai passport for visits to the UK, after shipping items, as us both will have to go back and forth as our 0ne Daugter (Thai) my stepdaughter is in boarding school, do the thais put a black mark in the passport ?.

Edited December 30, 2006 by Thaicoon

[The Skipper]

Go pick up the shipment personally to see Thai Corruption at its finest.

The whole place is overrun with organized crime.

Recently, Seagate pulled out of a deal here because of the system.

40,000 new jobs went to Malaysia.

So a few short sighted, greedy, pricks, enjoy the proceeds from some shipments but the Country loses 40,000 jobs and more.

[Bryan in Isaan]

I did this in 2001, from Seattle, USA to our village in NE Thailand. Asian Tigers and their USA affiliate shipped a 20 ft box door to door for about $4000. We brought in 4 used computers to donate to a village school. I thought I could get some paperwork to help us get them into the country tax free, but could not, so we had to pay about $100 more to get the box delivered. I had a beautiful lawn mower and Troy rototiller which I left because I heard I could not import them without paying heavy machinery taxes. I'll always regret not bringing them. Can't get any like them in Thailand. It would have been worth paying the tariff. Bring your power tools AND your fancy hand tools. You can get cheap, simple tools in Thailand, but it's difficult to find anything elaborate or specialized. Mechanics and carpenters in Thailand, the ones who buy tools, are usually poor laborers, not wealthy weekend hobbyists or craftsmen as you might find in the west, so the poor laborers are who the tool suppliers cater to.

Washing machines are better wherever you come from. You can get good refrigerators and freezers in Thailand so you decide whether or not you want to bring yours.

My wife and I are legally married in the USA. She is still a Thai citizen but was out of Thailand for many years.

One more thing - make sure you have the storage space equal to where you come from, shelves, storerooms, attics, etc. In the poor village where we ended up they don't have storage space because they have nothing to store. We had piles of boxes for years. Plan ahead.

Good Luck,

Bryan

Edited December 31, 2006 by Bryan in Isaan

[dutch]

http://www.transpo-intl.com/[/url]

The lady I worked with here in Thailand is Preeya. She'll let you know who to use in the UK.

rgds

2 years ago I worked also with Preeya from Asian Tigers.

Perfect job.

one 40 ft container without any problem or extra money (may be that was already included in the price )

Stuff was transported,unloaded and unpacked and fitted and hanged,whatever was needed.

A 100% correct loading list with all items specified per box.We really shipped ALL.

incl.3 tv's and 3 dvd's.They were called resp. TV-Kareoke station- Videogames station

They will provide you with a list and advise you how to fill in your paperwork.

Customs are not interested in the marriagal status of your wife.They will only check(the transport company will do too,at least that is what Asian Tigers did!!) how many times your wife returned during the last 1 1/2 year.

I did a door to door delivery and never was at the customs in person.Asian Tigers went with my wifes passport to their office and brought it back to the hotel the same day.

[dutch]

Make sure that your future place can deal with a 40ft trailer.

Road-corners-streetlights-electricity wires and so on.

I provide Asian Tigers with pics of the local situation.

[DD18]

Will be able to tell you what cost of 20ft container UK to Phuket is on Wednesday when Britannia come to pack. 2 years ago it was just over £3700 door to door using Britannia/Asian Tigers, 10% was the duty paid.

[WilliamCave]

Good topic, I my self will be sending (hoping to) a container from Canada. I want to bring my own personal tools I love to tincker and build things. There are many other items I will send in a container also. Can a shipping company in thailand tell me what products to avoid sending. My wife is Thai and we will be out of the country for more than a year with our kids.

I want to send my Motorcycle(HarrlyDavidson) there and a car (LandRover)with the container is there duty on theses items for my wife if it is in her name .

[Thaicoon]

Thanks guys, great replies, very helpfull, where would we be without this brilliant site, Thaivisa.

I have plenty of storage places, as we have a couple of empty properties in buriram, so no problem there, also built the main house in 2000, some rooms in the house are furnished, but have a lot of stuff to get to thailand, after reading these posts i am going to bring all tools etc, also at the sales today in the UK, the price of top quality kitchens are so cheap, this is one room we have never done, as i want a western kitchen, it is quite big, about 28 foot long by 15 foot wide, i can get all units, not including worktops for about 5 gran, including an island with built in frige and cooker, top quality, so thinking of bringing a complete kitchen to thailand. as it will be flatpacked, my wife has been in the UK for 10 years so should not be a problem. Thanks guys for your response.

Happy new year everybody.

[DD18]

Update - cost of 20ft container door to door UK to Phuket, including packing etc (2 days worth 184 pieces) £3100.

Company Eric Delo (Britannia) and Asian Tigers for other end.

[autonomous_unit]

Wow, and here I thought we overpacked with one roughly 4 foot cube (64 cubic feet)!

[thaihome]

We are in the shipping business and have handled lots of inbound shipments in the past. The issue is rather complex and needs careful preparation.

If you arelegally married to your wife, she is NOT considere a returning Thai, as Thai customs assume that YOU bought the goods and hence they have to be taxed.

There is much more to it, pm me ifyou like, we have offices in Bangkok and Pattaya.

raro

This thread is full of personal experiences that totaly refute your lame attempt to drum up business (and probably a kickback).

My wife, with my surname, brought in a full (20ft) container from China with no duty and no bribe. We simply gave her passport to agent (Santa Fe) and the next day truck showed up (container broken down as too narrow for container).

TH

[loong]

i can get all units, not including worktops for about 5 gran, including an island with built in frige and cooker, top quality, so thinking of bringing a complete kitchen to thailand. as it will be flatpacked, my wife has been in the UK for 10 years so should not be a problem. Thanks guys for your response.

I'm not sure, but please check re the position of bringing brand new goods. It may not be allowed to buy new goods to import.

[Axel]

A basic rule: To be eligible for tax and duty free allowance, the importers are required to have owned, possessed, and used the household effects before they return to Thailand to resume residence.

Have a look into the Thai customs site for genral information.

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...nuNme=HouseHold

[raro]

We are in the shipping business and have handled lots of inbound shipments in the past. The issue is rather complex and needs careful preparation.

If you arelegally married to your wife, she is NOT considere a returning Thai, as Thai customs assume that YOU bought the goods and hence they have to be taxed.

There is much more to it, pm me ifyou like, we have offices in Bangkok and Pattaya.

raro

This thread is full of personal experiences that totaly refute your lame attempt to drum up business (and probably a kickback).

My wife, with my surname, brought in a full (20ft) container from China with no duty and no bribe. We simply gave her passport to agent (Santa Fe) and the next day truck showed up (container broken down as too narrow for container).

TH

When was that?

[thaihome]

We are in the shipping business and have handled lots of inbound shipments in the past. The issue is rather complex and needs careful preparation.

If you arelegally married to your wife, she is NOT considere a returning Thai, as Thai customs assume that YOU bought the goods and hence they have to be taxed.

There is much more to it, pm me ifyou like, we have offices in Bangkok and Pattaya.

raro

This thread is full of personal experiences that totaly refute your lame attempt to drum up business (and probably a kickback).

My wife, with my surname, brought in a full (20ft) container from China with no duty and no bribe. We simply gave her passport to agent (Santa Fe) and the next day truck showed up (container broken down as too narrow for container).

TH

When was that?

2 years ago

TH

[jcgodber]

Back in the U.S. I walked into a big Home Depot home improvement store and bought along with many, many other things, Kitchen cabinets. These were simply added to the inventory list as kitchen furniture and NOTHING was ever mentioned about used or unused. They were broken down and in a flat pack.

Everything arrived at my front door here in Sa Kaeo.

Jim

[autonomous_unit]

Why would you buy new furniture to ship? I can understand some appliances due to lack of local selection (if you are bringing 220V), but you can get nice materials and custom work for cheap here, such as teak tables and many varieties of granite/marble for counter tops.

[raro]

We are in the shipping business and have handled lots of inbound shipments in the past. The issue is rather complex and needs careful preparation.

If you arelegally married to your wife, she is NOT considere a returning Thai, as Thai customs assume that YOU bought the goods and hence they have to be taxed.

There is much more to it, pm me ifyou like, we have offices in Bangkok and Pattaya.

raro

This thread is full of personal experiences that totaly refute your lame attempt to drum up business (and probably a kickback).

My wife, with my surname, brought in a full (20ft) container from China with no duty and no bribe. We simply gave her passport to agent (Santa Fe) and the next day truck showed up (container broken down as too narrow for container).

TH

When was that?

2 years ago

TH

There you go...the law has changed sometimes early 2006. Also the import of used vehicles has been prohibited since.

[wontok]

A very useful thread....

Has anyone experience to confirm that my wife will not be able to import her own effects because customs will assume they are mine? I can't find anything to suggest this on the custom's website.

Has anyone sent a container from Australia and can recommend a company to use?

Finally - Although we (my wife and family) have been living outside Thailand for many years, she visits her family in Thailand twice a year most years, sometimes for a month or more. We plan to move permanently to Thailand later this year and want to bring a container of our household effects, under her name of course. Will she have to stay out of the country for a single period of a year before we can do this?

Thanks for any advice

[JiaJia]

sending by air is valued by the weight; while by ship is valued by the volume.

here the rule is very simiple:

- seletct a good agency in your home country provding door-to-door service.

be sure your agency has a good cooperator in thailand (most of the moving companies cooperate with another in the destination); be sure that the thai agency goes along well with the custom officers.

- make a clear list (itmes / quantities / value) for your shipment.

in this case, the custom will work very efficiently, instead of fulling devote themselves onto their duties: open the cartons and check the items one by one, then naturally "take" away some stuff from your cartons without notification.

well, that's the lesson i got from my shipping experience (a every bad one !!). i still don't understand why they didn't tax on certain stuff, but simply "took" them away from my cartons... ahhh... my shipmemt was made end of the year, so... those "missing" stuff became to be xmas or new year gifts to the officers' wivies and kids???

from australia, a friend of mine once used WALKER moving & storage, but not moving to thailand. dunno if WALKER has an office or partnership in thailand. you can try to google it.

and attached a doc provided from an agency before my shipment (not the one i chose at the end, but a better one). it might not be an updated one, but still useful, somehow.

M_Svcs_Customsregulation_Thailand.pdf

[paulsmithson]

Myself and my Thai wife are also moving permanently to Thailand, hopefully early in march of this year.

We have had two quotations for a 20ft container door to door service.

One quotation is almost double the cost of the other yet the cheaper quotation is more detailed advising us of the name and address of their agent in BKK who will be dealing with the shipment there.

Llike the Op my wife retains her Thai passport in her maiden name.

We are taking our prized leather suite, electrical goods, computers etc, and a host of handtools as both my wife and myself are hobbyists and like constructing model buildings etc. This is the only area about which I have any concerns as their face value is many thousands of pounds

We have photographic evidence of some of the projects my wife has undertaken using these tools so hope to get them in tax free as they are her hobby and not intended to be used commercially.

Any advice or observations welcomed.

[CTM]

A very useful thread....

Has anyone experience to confirm that my wife will not be able to import her own effects because customs will assume they are mine? I can't find anything to suggest this on the custom's website.

Sounds like one of those made up on the spot by an official looking for a bribe to me. All the more reason to get door delivery and not put a farang name anywhere on the paperwork.

All you guys who married overseas and never registered the marriage in Thailand should be fine. Have the wife ship from herself to herself under her maiden name on the passport.

Finally - Although we (my wife and family) have been living outside Thailand for many years, she visits her family in Thailand twice a year most years, sometimes for a month or more. We plan to move permanently to Thailand later this year and want to bring a container of our household effects, under her name of course. Will she have to stay out of the country for a single period of a year before we can do this?

Thanks for any advice

There are some rules regarding time in Thailand. I would guess coming back on vacation is fine but if she spends many months a year in Thailand it might be a problem.

For certain don’t wait. The window for duty free shipment upon return to Thailand is short. Maybe 3 to 6 months max, check with a reputable shipper who should know.