Moving down to US

[KnJ 0]

I'm still a ways away from actually packing up, but my PLAN is to number each box, then have a running list that corresponds to each number. For my many, many book boxes, I'm not planning on getting into specifics. Then again, I only have one of the books on KnJ's list, so I should be fine.

For other boxes, I'll probably itemize them a bit more...but only three or four comments per number / box, I'm sure.

This system should help both the border guards, and ME when I go to start unpacking.

I hadn't thought about valuing though. Hmm...

Hahaha that's not even the most radical of them. Other titles include "Bisexuality" (an academic tome), "####### Carnival" (hahaha yes.), "Homosexual Desire" (a kind of freudian analysis -- this is the best. and not in most bookstores).. I took Anthro and Communication studies, and focused a lot on identity. So I have a really awesome collection of books. Huzzah.

I duno if the valuing is overkill. I've read quite a few people's accounts of POE that they only glanced at, or didn't even bother with the household and personal effects in the UHaul.

[Sam and Ben 2]

eta - i have a whole box of stuff that's yoga related -- oooh which reminds me. I saw a thing on that CBP faq about US Resident bringing back professional goods/tools of trade.

I'm a yoga teacher and someone donated 10 mats to me to run classes for charity. I have them in my possession, and want to bring them. Would I have a problem? Some of them are really new. They're unwrapped, but not unrolled... Yeep. I would feel bad selling them and making money off a gift.

Um, I'm going to have to look into that if that's the case. I definitely have several repair tools that I got for very good prices through work and would hate to have to replace. Could I claim hobby on the side?

[LiLMermaid 2]

I've yet to see anybody who had to upack their whole uhaul so immigration could rummage through it. If you hire upack they give you the forms to fill out and its not as complicated as it appears. My fiance moved to Canada from the US with a uhaul and he had no idea about forms and what not....they didn't care. They looked at his work visa and that was it. When he moved back he used upack and just gave them copies of his birth certificate, work visa and filled out the forms. I had this whole itemized list and he took it and changed it to "6 boxes decorations, 5 boxes books, 4 boxes clothes, 8 boxes kitchen items...etc" I think all they really look at is if you have all your documents in order and have a legitimate reason to be moving all this stuff across as we will. Don't stress about it....he did and both ways they really could have cared less.

[KnJ 0]

Hm... I'll have to get a bit more specific, then. Mine is looking along the lines of:

PACKING INVENTORY

Container #--------Item---------------------------------Quantity-----------Serial Number

-------#-------------Acer Aspire 6920-6428 Laptop--------1----------------#####

-------#-------------Curtis Portable DVD Player------------1---------------#####

But I was only getting that specific with electronics... things I thought they might cause a fuss over. I was just going to lump my movies/books into medium-sized tote containers and label the outside to correspond with my inventory list. (Of course, as per my fiance's request, I have to do my book containers with half books/half clothes, to make life easier on him, haha. I do have a LOT of hard covers.)

I suppose it is a good idea to label each item in there, though, making them less likely to open the containers. I was hoping to not list each cable/computer accessory I had, as THAT may raise a few eyebrows... ah well.

Yeah I concur with LilMermaid, that it does get too much at some point. Last time I moved (15 min away lol) I knew I would be keeping some boxes packed so I wrote down a pretty detailed contents list. It was so useless.

Aha, and the NEXT thing. I believe no food is allowed across. But I have cats. Cats need to eat, and cats can sometimes not handle food changes well. My cats are on a special diet. It would be lovely if they didn't confiscate my $100 worth of cat food tins.

[Sam and Ben 2]

The food can go in the "Cat Accessories and Toys" box.

[Rustbelt 0]

Steve's wife here . . .

I actually called our local POE customs folks and grilled them (nicely!) about the whole list thingy. They told me that "lumping" was fine (as in grouping similar items under one heading), but for any electronics they would want to see the s/n and they should be itemized/valued separately at "fire sale" value (or Craigslist value, if you prefer). So I have each camera, computer, stereo equipment etc. listed separately with serial numbers, but don't have things like cables and calculators and so on itemized individually.

[joe_robin66 6]

Hm... I'll have to get a bit more specific, then. Mine is looking along the lines of:

PACKING INVENTORY

Container #--------Item---------------------------------Quantity-----------Serial Number

-------#-------------Acer Aspire 6920-6428 Laptop--------1----------------#####

-------#-------------Curtis Portable DVD Player------------1---------------#####

But I was only getting that specific with electronics... things I thought they might cause a fuss over. I was just going to lump my movies/books into medium-sized tote containers and label the outside to correspond with my inventory list. (Of course, as per my fiance's request, I have to do my book containers with half books/half clothes, to make life easier on him, haha. I do have a LOT of hard covers.)

I suppose it is a good idea to label each item in there, though, making them less likely to open the containers. I was hoping to not list each cable/computer accessory I had, as THAT may raise a few eyebrows... ah well.

Yeah I concur with LilMermaid, that it does get too much at some point. Last time I moved (15 min away lol) I knew I would be keeping some boxes packed so I wrote down a pretty detailed contents list. It was so useless.

Aha, and the NEXT thing. I believe no food is allowed across. But I have cats. Cats need to eat, and cats can sometimes not handle food changes well. My cats are on a special diet. It would be lovely if they didn't confiscate my $100 worth of cat food tins.

Directly from the USCIS site:

"All pet foods made in Canada are PROHIBITED. Pet foods in original packaging clearly labelled "Product of U.S.A." or "Made in the U.S.A." are enterable"

I know some cats can have very sensitive stomachs when it comes to switching food. Maybe you could order some from the States and start switching over now so by the time you move they're used to it and ready to go. Just a thought. What kind of food are they on now?

[KnJ 0]

Aha, and the NEXT thing. I believe no food is allowed across. But I have cats. Cats need to eat, and cats can sometimes not handle food changes well. My cats are on a special diet. It would be lovely if they didn't confiscate my $100 worth of cat food tins.

Directly from the USCIS site:

"All pet foods made in Canada are PROHIBITED. Pet foods in original packaging clearly labelled "Product of U.S.A." or "Made in the U.S.A." are enterable"

I know some cats can have very sensitive stomachs when it comes to switching food. Maybe you could order some from the States and start switching over now so by the time you move they're used to it and ready to go. Just a thought. What kind of food are they on now?

Thanks for reminding me of that joe_robin, I'd read that before, but forgot the part about the import thing.

OK. So this food is Medi-Cal brand, which is Canadian. But -- the label says (albeit in small print) Imported by Medi-cal (Guelph address)... Made for Royal Canin Pet Food Company by Mars Petcare USA. Something like that. It doesn't say "Product of U.S.A." or "Made in the U.S.A." but I think it's saying it's made in the USA and imported to Canada.

Oh, the details.