Customs For Relocation Move

[L&J]

First I've done a topic search and info I found didn't fill the blanks or was somewhat

contridictory.

Facts:

!. We are both USA citizens.

2. Will be securing a Retirement Visa

3. Want to ship personal belongings to Thailand-no furniture or electronics.

4. Do have significant amount of accumulated artwork from world travels.

5. Resigned to paying tea money as necessary.

6. Will use door-to-door shipper that should have Thai agent on arrival.

Questions:

1. As retirees do we possibly get an allowance from Customs duties?

2. Do artwork (paintings, pottery, sculptures etc) cause any Customs problems?

3. Does door-to-door arrangements minimize our problems with Thai Customs?

Realize that every experience is going to be unique , but what are the "ideal"

expectations in this type of endeavor?- Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks- -JOHN

[udon]

AFAIK as a retiree you don't pay duty.

Hopefully Lopbury3 will see your post and reply.

Good luck.

[Axel]

We discussed this just yesterday, retirement in Thailand does not give qualification for duty-free import of personal belongings. Have a look on below linked post and especially the remarks in the Thai-Customs - site.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...c=59561&hl=

Edited October 23, 2006 by Axel

[udon]

Just an old rumour, eh!

[cathyy]

I recently shipped our HHG here, and had no problems at all. We did pay some duty/tea money, but it was a very reasonable amount, all handled by the agent. I don't know about artwork. We did ship a small amount, but nothing of any great value. Contact Asian Tigers/Transpo Int'l.

http://www.asiantigersgroup.com/frontpage.htm

[soihok]

I recently shipped our HHG here, and had no problems at all. We did pay some duty/tea money, but it was a very reasonable amount, all handled by the agent. I don't know about artwork. We did ship a small amount, but nothing of any great value. Contact Asian Tigers/Transpo Int'l.

http://www.asiantigersgroup.com/frontpage.htm

Thanks for the info Cathyy, we are currently in Singapore but will,at some point will be moving permanently to Korat.I see this agent has an office here.

Cheers

[Mobi]

I shoipped some personal effects here about 3 years ago, and by using my retyirement visa, was able to get the stuff cleared duty free. Since then I have been informed that customs no longer accept retirement visas to exempt you from duty.

I strongly recommend that you find a reliable agent this end to clear your effects, rather that just do door to door, beacause if you do door to door, you don't have any control over which agent clears this end , which is of paramount importance. You will also probably find it cheaper to ship door to port your end, and then get a local quote for port to door this end in Thai Baht. There are some farangs in this business in thailand who could probably do you a good job.

I don't want to discourage you, but the customs dept is the most corrupt of all government deptartments and there have been some horror stories about the sort of charges or "tea money" they may wish to levy. I advise you to proceed with extreme caution, and check out the duty rates applicable on your various effects, otherwise they may break your bank - if not your heart.

[L&J]

- Thanks for the responses. Along with I've found on other threads it appears that we are setting ourselves up for an absolute crapshoot. We can make all the right moves to get a good agent and shipping company and then find that a Customs agent who decides to charge a fortune

to basically retrieve personal items that define for us the last thirty years of our lives. Suppose our

only recourse is to be prepared to carry with us what is most important and be prepared to walk away from the rest if we fall into one of the "horror strory" scenarios. -JOHN

[udon]

Unfortunately you are correct, I got wacked on 10 yr old music cassettes that I had recorded.

Everything I had was used and got hit for 22000b..... this would not have happened had I used Thai Airways cargo clearers.

Their letter arrived 2 days after I paid.

Unaccompanied baggage from the UK, 421kgs.

Receipt was on an unnumbered piece of A4 paper, so I guess the 22000 was shared amoung the customs guys.

[cathyy]

That's why I recommended Asian Tigers/Transpo. We did door-to-door service through them, from the US to Korat. They handled customs for me. All I ever did was pay the cost of the move plus the cost of the customs, which I recall as being about 13,000 baht for a shipment insured for over $25,000. Not a bad rate for the quantity of stuff I shipped, 286 cubic feet. A good shipping company will have a...relationship...with one or more Customs agents, and the fee will vary only based on obviously dutiable items.

Edited October 25, 2006 by cathyy