Moving To Thailand - Customs!

[barryFunk]

Hi everyone

My wife and I will be moving to Bangkok for a new job in early October. I'm very familiar with Bangkok as my current job has had me travelling frequently to the LoS for the past three years.

My new employer has offered us £1000 in moving expenses (very generous!) but we're unsure of what we can bring with us duty-free. In other words - should we sell everything or ship some things? If we will be charged duty - at what rate will it be? The items of particular interest:

- new flat screen TV (35")

- Xbox 360 (a year old)

- a new mattress (which will be nearly impossible to sell in the UK!)

- books

- CDs / DVDs

- I'm assuming they won't charge duty on our clothes!

If we choose to sell most of it but I want to keep my Xbox - can I bring it in with my hand luggage? Or would it be confiscated if they have the x-ray machines turned on at arrival?

Another dilemma is my new iPhone. I'm on a 2 year contract in the UK with only 8 months of it used up. If I pay off the rest of the contract can I get it unlocked and put on True or another Thai mobile company once I move to BKK?

Sorry about all the questions and sorry if I've put this in the wrong forum!

Cheers for your help

BarryFunk

[apetley]

From memory, and it was around 5 years when wifey and i bought all our stuff over.

We didn't bring anything that couldn't be packed into teachest sized cardboard boxes as this kept the shipping costs low.

My wife is Thai so everything was in her name.

We used a shipping agent who took are of it door to door.

When it arrived in BKK they called us and told us how much customs wanted in 'under the table'(their actual words!) payment.

In all we had about 15 boxes, total declared was about 2500 GBP but real value somewhat higher. We paid about 10k bht import "tax" and I think shipping costs were only about 800GBP.

Before we shipped we had to list every single item we were sending and the value, very tedious and time consuming.

As for the Tv and xbox, sorry I do not know if they will work over here but if you can get whatever in your luggage I doubt if you will get stopped for duty.

As for the mattress, it's very big and will cost alot to ship and you can pick up really nice ones here for 10 to 15k bht so your choice.

Sorry no smartphone so wiser heads can comment on that.

Best of luck in your new job too.

Edited August 9, 2010 by apetley

[Mario2008]

You can import household items duty free, so you should be OK. But you must be on a one year extension of stay before you can import your stuff duty free. So don't ship to early, it will cost you.

[bifftastic]

Others, as in the post above, have the necessary experience to advise you about the shipping of your effects, as for the x-box, it should work fine as Thailand works on a PAL system like the UK, I'd put it in your suitcase if i were you, should be fine. If you want to put it in your hand luggage I can't see that being a problem either. I've been through with various bits of electrical stuff before and nothing said.

Your phone, depends on your current network, some in the UK prevent unlocking for a few months after you take out the contract. If you want to keep it then have it unlocked in the UK, if you can do that then you will be able to put any sim card you like in it once you get to Thailand. Found out the hard way, my Samsung Omnia couldn't be unlocked by anyone in Bangkok, seems Orange won't allow it for 3 months!

With the Tv i reckon it depends how much you've just paid for it, I know the resale value in the UK is pretty poor, but the weight could mean it's quite expensive to ship. You know Bangkok quite well so you should be up on the prices of a replacement.

[steve187]

Is your wife Thai? Has she been out of the Thailand for the past year? If so then ship in your wives name only.

[sambai]

I was told by the legal firm I used three years ago that shipments are duty-free for work-permit holders. In the end I did not get a work permit, because I was retiring, and instead I paid 20,000 THB customs duty. The amount was negotiated beforehand, via the shipping company I used in my home country. I did not have a lot of household items; most of my boxes were books, as I'm a collector. Books are duty-free. But still, I had lots of taxable things.

Do not allow any under-the-counter payments - this should not be necessary and in any case we hope Thailand will shake off its corrupt image sooner than later.

They officially only permit one computer system. So I dismantled mine into parts. I don't think it was really necessary but that's what I did. Best of luck with your move.

[msg362]

From memory, and it was around 5 years when wifey and i bought all our stuff over.

We didn't bring anything that couldn't be packed into teachest sized cardboard boxes as this kept the shipping costs low.

My wife is Thai so everything was in her name.

We used a shipping agent who took are of it door to door.

When it arrived in BKK they called us and told us how much customs wanted in 'under the table'(their actual words!) payment.

In all we had about 15 boxes, total declared was about 2500 GBP but real value somewhat higher. We paid about 10k bht import "tax" and I think shipping costs were only about 800GBP.

Before we shipped we had to list every single item we were sending and the value, very tedious and time consuming.

As for the Tv and xbox, sorry I do not know if they will work over here but if you can get whatever in your luggage I doubt if you will get stopped for duty.

As for the mattress, it's very big and will cost alot to ship and you can pick up really nice ones here for 10 to 15k bht so your choice.

Sorry no smartphone so wiser heads can comment on that.

Best of luck in your new job too.

I used a UK company called Seven Seas worldwide' They give you strong cardboard boxes and ship by sea. About 7 boxes cost as I recall, about £300 and took about 7 weeks. door to door. On arrival the agent phoned me, Customs want to see your original passport. It all came in duty free. A friend of mine is using them now and they told him only 2 electrical items allowed, but I'm sure he brought in more. Small items - kettles etc, are better bought here. ( all done in my name(brit) they wil want to see a copy of your visa, I think it can't be done on a tourist visa, mine was retirement)

iPhones can be unlocked here in Chiang Mai so I'm sure you can do that in BKK

[barryFunk]

Thanks everyone for your help! This has been incredibly useful information. My wife (Australian - not Thai!!) will be following a month and a half later so we can ship things once my work permit it arranged.

Now all that remains is finding something for my wife to do once she arrives!

Cheers

barryFunk

[SantiSuk]

Flat screen TVs are at roughly comparable prices to the UK for the larger 42" plus variety. You can get better deals in the UK on smaller screens.