Excess baggage

[Julie+Matt 84]

So, matts visa has finally been issued! He doesn't have it yet, but of course he's trying to figuring out shipping. He plans to use excess baggage. They say they need an actual copy of the visa in order to ship. Isn't that in the bbe that you're not allowed to open??? Has anyone with a k1 visa used them before? How did you go about it? I've looked in the shipping threads & haven't found this answer. I'm so confused & time is running tight. Please help...thanks!

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

There is an outer wrapper holding the envelope of files plus his passport. He opens the wrapper to get out his passport with visa glued inside covering a whole passport page. He doesn't open the sealed envelope. He discards the outer courier wrapper.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

On shipping....I found that the most confusing part of the whole process. The different companies have estimator things on their website but how do you know how many boxes you are going to fill until you actually pack? It's always more than you think. Most offer free boxes, but by getting the supplies to start packing, you are basically committed to that company. Then what they don't tell you is all the details of insuring the shipment. Their quotes likely won't include insurance. Our insurance was as much as the shipping.

There is air freight and sea freight. It depends on how much you have, and how big, and how heavy.

Air freight cost depends on weight. A box of feathers ships cheaper than a box of rocks the same size.

With sea freight, two boxes the same size take up the same amount of space in the container so are equal whether they contain rock or feathers. The cost is how many cubic yards of space your things occupy.

As an immigrant he gets to ship his things unaccompanied with no import duty. They need a copy of his visa to show he is an immigrant as well as an itemized list for customs clearance.

Have you read all the Excess Baggage website? http://www.excess-baggage.com

You can tell from my answer that I still don't get shipping enough to help you, other than if he has a bunch of feathers, go with airfreight because it is faster.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Nich-Nick

[Julie+Matt 84]

Thank you!