Moving Husband's Belonging from Canada - Pending I-130 and I-485

[Zenchi 18]

Hi everyone. My husband and I recently got married and just received our NOA for our I-485 and I-130. He is unable to leave the country so I am going to drive up to Canada and drive down a Uhaul with his belongings. I am seeing a lot of information about necessary forms and what not and would love any feedback from someone who has already done this. We already have an itemized list of all his belongings, and of course I have my passport and we'll be waiting until we have a paper copy of the NOA I-797. It looks like we also need a 3299 Customs Form and a copy of our marriage license to be safe. Any other recommendations of forms or tips for crossing the border with his belongings? Thanks!

[Crazy Cat 41,856]

****I moved this question to the Canada regional forum****

[Twiz&Toz 240]

6 hours ago, Zenchi said:

Hi everyone. My husband and I recently got married and just received our NOA for our I-485 and I-130. He is unable to leave the country so I am going to drive up to Canada and drive down a Uhaul with his belongings. I am seeing a lot of information about necessary forms and what not and would love any feedback from someone who has already done this. We already have an itemized list of all his belongings, and of course I have my passport and we'll be waiting until we have a paper copy of the NOA I-797. It looks like we also need a 3299 Customs Form and a copy of our marriage license to be safe. Any other recommendations of forms or tips for crossing the border with his belongings? Thanks!

You will also need his visa number as well. You can’t move the stuff until he has his visa. This can cause a lot of issues as one other member already ran into this 

[Zenchi 18]

4 minutes ago, Twiz&Toz said:

You will also need his visa number as well. You can’t move the stuff until he has his visa. This can cause a lot of issues as one other member already ran into this 

He wont receive a visa. He applied for adjustment of status filing I-130 and I-485. The next thing he will receive is his employment authorization which can take up to 9 months. Having the NOA for the I-485 and I-130 secures his legal status within the states once his B2 visa expires Oct 1st. We are not in the middle of K1 or CR/IR1 visa processing.

[Ontarkie 14,223]

You cannot move his stuff until he has his GC since he's AOS'ing. You may get lucky with having his EAD and AP, but the NOA's will not be enough. 

 

The NAO is not legal status it is just limbo.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Ontarkie

[Zenchi 18]

28 minutes ago, Ontarkie said:

You cannot move his stuff until he has his GC since he's AOS'ing. You may get lucky with having his EAD and AP, but the NOA's will not be enough. 

 

The NAO is not legal status it is just limbo.

Okay thank you. I've been getting conflicting information between moving companies and such.

[milimelo 4,479]

Try here but after he has his green card. He's not a legal permanent resident until green card in hand. 

 

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-354?language=en_US

[Kai G. Llewellyn 837]

I would say this is more of a customs question than an immigration question. If your husband has his Advance Parole, then he'd be considered a US Resident for customs purposes. US Residents can bring in their personal effects and household belongings from abroad that they've owned for over 1 year without any duty or taxes imposed. It's advisable to have a manifest with the items you're bringing in and the valuations. For high value items, they may want proof that you've owned them for over a year. Note US Resident doesn't equal Lawful Permanent Resident. US Residents can be US Citizens, LPRs and people on temporary work visas, given that you are effectively a resident of the US (you'll be filing your taxes as a resident alien after all), I would imagine a pending AoS with AP would count for that too.

 

However, if you're doing this on his behalf, it's not certain whether those items would fit the exemption from duties and taxes. At worst, I would imagine you'd need to pay for duties and taxes, but honestly, the best bet is writing to your intended Port of Entry to figure out what the situation would be for doing this on his behalf. If it's a 'no' then what you'd be best of doing is putting most of his personal effects in storage in Canada and bringing only the absolute essentials down and eating the cost of duties/taxes.

 

Regarding moving companies. No idea. Usually they want a proof of immigration status. Again, you could inquire if you're able to do this on his behalf as a US Citizen and see what the company says.

 

The larger issue of immigration coming into this question is if someone is going through Consular Processing and trying to bring all their stuff in as if they were a US resident without the appropriate visa. CBP will presume that you'd be an immigrant without an immigrant visa and then that's a whole mess right there.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Kai G. Llewellyn