Importing household goods while AOS pending?

[Gatekeeper 35]

Hello everyone,

 

I have a tricky question and no one seems to be able to give me an answer (neither my lawyer, my relocation company or even the CBP Q&A website).

 

I filed AOS from VWP (ESTA) on February 3rd 2021, after marrying my US Citizen husband. I haven’t received the Notice of Receipt from USCIS (hopefully will get it within a couple of weeks now).

 

I would like to bring my personal effects/household goods from my previous home in France here to the US (where I now live). My question is: since I have “no status” until I’ll get my green card, am I allowed to import my belongings? If yes, what document is acceptable to the US Customs to prove I am legally present in the US? (Will the Receipt notice of our I-485 be enough, or should I wait to receive my EAD at least, hence obtaining an SSN?)...

 

My relocation company says I can simply import them under my husband’s name, but I’m not so sure about this as he never lived with me in France and those goods were not yet technically part of the “family household” as I acquired them before we got married.

 

Beside, my passeport is still in my maiden name (I don’t yet have any US ID with my married name on it, I only have our certified marriage certificate) but the Receipt Notice will be in my married name, and the relocation company says that it could create issues at Customs.

 

I wanna make sure to do the right thing here, and If this means I cannot import my belongings until I obtain my green card then so be it, I just need to know IF or WHEN will I be allowed to import them.

 

FYI, I emailed CBP and asked them the question. They said the question needs to be asked to the Port of Entry Customs team. I told my relocation company to contact them but they seem to only talk with their Customs Broker agent, not the CBP directly. This question has remained unsolved for 3 weeks now, I cannot find any answer to this specific situation anywhere on internet, I’m desperate to understand what I can or cannot do about this import.

 

Has anyone been in the same situation and can advise me?...

Thanks

[SteveInBostonI130 3,459]

Hi,

 

I am a little confused.  You filed AOS from VWP or K1 (your profile says K1)?  If you truly are adjusting status from VWP, then I assume and hope your husband also filed I-130.

 

You should be able to import your items under your name.   I would defer confirmation of this by someone who had first hand account of approval/denial while trying to import items during the AOS process. 

 

According to the CBP declaration form 3299, you can mark yourself in Part 2, Item 9.C.2.a, "Nonresident emigrating to the U.S."   In addition to filling out the other sections, remember to select Box 8 in Part IV ("Foreign household effects acquired abroad and used more than one year." for Resident/Nonresident).

 

https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Nov/CBP Form 3299.pdf

 

[Gatekeeper 35]

18 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

Hi,

 

I am a little confused.  You filed AOS from VWP or K1 (your profile says K1)?  If you truly are adjusting status from VWP, then I assume and hope your husband also filed I-130.

 

You should be able to import your items under your name.   I would defer confirmation of this by someone who had first hand account of approval/denial while trying to import items during the AOS process. 

 

According to the CBP declaration form 3299, you can mark yourself in Part 2, Item 9.C.2.a, "Nonresident emigrating to the U.S."   In addition to filling out the other sections, remember to select Box 8 in Part IV ("Foreign household effects acquired abroad and used more than one year." for Resident/Nonresident).

 

https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Nov/CBP Form 3299.pdf

 

Hi, 

In January 2020 we had filed for K-1. End of 2020 I entered the US with my ESTA with NO intention to stay (our plan was to fly back to France together to spend Christmas there, but we postponed by a couple more weeks (still within my authorized stay by a long stretch) due to the 2nd lockdown happening in France). By early January, we had contacted a lawyer to evaluate our options and he said that because I entered legally in the US (was vetted by a CBP Officer), and because we had no intention to stay and adjust status at that time (and we have supporting documentation to prove that our intention was to fly back to France after 2 weeks there), we could actually get married in the US and adjust status. It took me several weeks to ponder the decision as it meant leaving everything behind me (my appartment, my pets etc...), but considering that our K-1 had been stuck at NVC since June, and with no end of the travel ban in sight, we decided to take that option.

I updated my timeline here accordingly this afternoon, I do not know why it doesn’t show.

So to answer your question, yes of course we filed I-130, I-485, as well as all the other forms for EAD, AP etc... and we filed just before the end of my ESTA 90 days authorized stay, so I did not overstayed my ESTA at all.

 

I tend to think I should be able to import my things here (couldn’t find anything on the CBP website saying otherwise), but couldn’t find anything confirming it either. The thing is that they ask for a visa number (the relocation company does, I think you need to be able to show that you are allowed to stay in the US to import your belongings), which will obviously not happen until a year or so. So I’m wondering if the receipt notice of our AOS application (along with our marriage certificate maybe?) would be enough or not...

 

I can’t believe I’m the only person with pending AOS who tried to import his/her belongings while waiting for his/her green card, but for some reasons I can’t find any info on it or other examples here on VJ...

 

Hopefully someone with first hand experience, as you said, might be able to help?...

Edited March 3, 2021 by Gatekeeper
Corrrected date error

[Fr8dog 312]

They do not need your visa number to import your goods. They may want it to get your stuff screened as "known-cargo" this is not an import thing but a security thing. Cargo from "unknown shippers" requires more paperwork and and screening. Both fall under DHS/CBP.

 

Your husband can import it under his name as the form clearly states "I or my family"

[Alswytha 3]

I did something similar and still need to bring in my belongings and car from Canada, we’re you able to import things without issue?

[Ontarkie 14,226]

~~Moved to Moving Here and Your New life, from Working and Traveling~~

[sz1lk 2]

Does anyone have an update or more info about importing unaccompanied personal effects with pending AOS? I came in on a K-1 and have filed AOS, and the shipping company is saying that my AOS will need to be complete by the time my belongings arrive. The CBP website says nothing about needing to prove status for importing personal effects.

[Gatekeeper 35]

16 minutes ago, sz1lk said:

Does anyone have an update or more info about importing unaccompanied personal effects with pending AOS? I came in on a K-1 and have filed AOS, and the shipping company is saying that my AOS will need to be complete by the time my belongings arrive. The CBP website says nothing about needing to prove status for importing personal effects.

I imported unaccompanied effects while my AOS was still pending. Also contacted CBP to ask the question about the process but never received a clear answer: didn’t seem to be an issue to them.

 

The transport company I used wasn’t sure either, because it was the 1st time they did this (with a pending AOS). Their clients usually move with a work visa of some kind.

 

What we did was to wait for my AOS receipt notice to arrive and provided it along with other usual papers. I imported the goods under my maiden name (not my married name).
 

On the USC form 3299 “Declaration for free entry of unaccompanied articles”, Part II, section 9, regarding residency status, I selected the “Visiting the US” because I arrived on an ESTA (not a K-1) and adjusted status afterward. You will need to carefully select which status is yours with a K-1 (I assume “non-resident”, but someone needs to confirm you this).

 

On the  USC form called “Supplemental declaration for unaccompanied personal and household effects”, I was able to provide a Residence Alien number (section 9), as I had already received it with my AOS Receipt notice. For social security number I entered “N/A”. In section 7 “Reason for moving”, I indicated I was married to a US citizen, date and status of my AOS filing (status being pending), receipt notice number and (again) USCIS Alien Number.

 

I was very nervous of course, while waiting for my shipment to arrive, but everything went perfectly well, no issue at all!

I also imported (separately) my 2 cats which had remained in my country of origin (as I hadn’t planned to stay in the US when I arrived on my ESTA). And everything went very smoothly there too.

Please bear in mind that I can’t confirm that this is the way to do it as per USC requirements since they don’t list any for a situation like ours, having a pending AOS, I can only share what worked for me.

 

Just be very careful to properly select the answers which apply to you on the USC forms, and be very thorough in checking that you are NOT importing any forbidden item by mistake when you’ll be packing, and make sure you do NOT forget to declare anything on the packing list/ inventory.

 

Hope this helps!

[sz1lk 2]

55 minutes ago, Gatekeeper said:

I imported unaccompanied effects while my AOS was still pending. Also contacted CBP to ask the question about the process but never received a clear answer: didn’t seem to be an issue to them.

 

The transport company I used wasn’t sure either, because it was the 1st time they did this (with a pending AOS). Their clients usually move with a work visa of some kind.

 

What we did was to wait for my AOS receipt notice to arrive and provided it along with other usual papers. I imported the goods under my maiden name (not my married name).
 

On the USC form 3299 “Declaration for free entry of unaccompanied articles”, Part II, section 9, regarding residency status, I selected the “Visiting the US” because I arrived on an ESTA (not a K-1) and adjusted status afterward. You will need to carefully select which status is yours with a K-1 (I assume “non-resident”, but someone needs to confirm you this).

 

On the  USC form called “Supplemental declaration for unaccompanied personal and household effects”, I was able to provide a Residence Alien number (section 9), as I had already received it with my AOS Receipt notice. For social security number I entered “N/A”. In section 7 “Reason for moving”, I indicated I was married to a US citizen, date and status of my AOS filing (status being pending), receipt notice number and (again) USCIS Alien Number.

 

I was very nervous of course, while waiting for my shipment to arrive, but everything went perfectly well, no issue at all!

I also imported (separately) my 2 cats which had remained in my country of origin (as I hadn’t planned to stay in the US when I arrived on my ESTA). And everything went very smoothly there too.

Please bear in mind that I can’t confirm that this is the way to do it as per USC requirements since they don’t list any for a situation like ours, having a pending AOS, I can only share what worked for me.

 

Just be very careful to properly select the answers which apply to you on the USC forms, and be very thorough in checking that you are NOT importing any forbidden item by mistake when you’ll be packing, and make sure you do NOT forget to declare anything on the packing list/ inventory.

 

Hope this helps!

Thanks for replying so quickly and all the info! The shipping company quoted my K-1 expiration date as reason for needing a copy of my green card when my belongings arrived, but that's obviously not right. I'll try to convince them it's fine.

[Gatekeeper 35]

Also, my French point of contact at the transport company contacted his collegues in the US. These latter didn’t know for either (thought first you need the visa too). I asked them to call their agent at the port of entry who confirmed what someone wrote earlier on this thread: if you can provide a USCIS Alien number, then you can be properly identified and the shipment is not anymore an “unverified/unknown sender of unaccompanied shipment” (see exact term in one of the threads above). 
You can ask your transport company to do the same, it will help them to feel safe about doing the right thing.