Customs and border protection have established very strict requirements regarding which personal items can be brought in when moving to the US for permanent residence. Moreover, customs and border officials are uncompromising when it comes to compliance with these rules.
Moving from Ukraine to the US: What You Can Bring with You
US law allows duty-free import of personal items into the customs territory of the United States, including clothing, jewelry, bed linen, books, computer and household appliances, furniture, photographic equipment, etc. An important condition is that these items must have been in your use for at least one year, and they cannot be imported for further commercial use.
In addition, there are several other important points to consider when planning a move from Ukraine to the US and transporting personal belongings for permanent residence:
US law allows duty-free import of personal items when moving to the US for permanent residence for up to 10 years after entering the country; after this period, you will be required to pay duty on a general basis;
Personal items imported duty-free into the US cannot be sold or leased within one year after customs clearance without permission from the customs authority;
You can transport personal items to the US up to 6 months before arriving in the country to live;
It is not necessary to personally deliver items to the US; all customs procedures and further transportation can be handled by an authorized person or company;
An important point is filling out Form 3299, an application for free import of unaccompanied goods. It is mandatory to prepare a list of all imported items for customs clearance. The list must be very detailed – for example, you will need to list the titles of all books being transported.
It should be remembered that customs officers are not obliged to notify the sender of the arrival of the cargo; this is the responsibility of the carrier. After the cargo arrives at customs, it must undergo customs clearance within five days. Otherwise, it will be sent to a customs warehouse, and the client will pay for the storage of the cargo until customs clearance is completed.
If you are importing any special medications, you must provide a doctor's note (prescription) in English. When going through customs, you must declare that you are carrying medications, and they must be in their original packaging.
A feature of US customs law is that changes and additions are made quite often, so it is better to entrust the move from Ukraine to the US to specialists. The company KIY AVIA CARGO offers transportation of personal belongings to the US for permanent residence legally, without problems, and at an affordable price. Details and consultations with managers can be obtained here.