The paperwork on a US move is not complicated. It is just unforgiving, in that one vague line on an inventory can hold a container while everything else about the move went perfectly.
We connect your enquiry with a vetted international moving company from our network, and their broker prepares and submits the customs documents. What you need to do is check them.
Sea shipments also require a security filing before the container is loaded in the UK. That is your mover's responsibility rather than yours, but it is worth knowing it exists, because a late filing delays a shipment before it has even sailed.
The document that causes most trouble is the one nobody thinks of as a document: the inventory. It is what an officer reads if your shipment is selected, and miscellaneous is not a description.
a household shipment needs a Form 3299 declaration, a full inventory, passport and visa details, usually a power of attorney for the broker, and a separate list of anything owned under twelve months.
Your moving company prepares the customs paperwork, arranges the security filing before loading, and instructs a broker at the US end. That is the bulk of it and it is included in the service.
You provide identity and status documents, confirm the inventory, list anything owned under twelve months, and sign the declaration. Those are the parts nobody can do for you.
Timing matters more than volume. The security filing is due before the container is loaded, not before it arrives, so late information at the UK end delays the sailing rather than the delivery.
You are the declarant. Read what has been written about your own belongings before your name goes on it.
They are needed sooner than most people expect, and chasing them while a container waits is an avoidable cost.
It is routine and it is still a legal authority. Ask what it allows the broker to do before signing.
A CBP Form 3299 declaration, a full inventory, passport and visa details, usually a power of attorney for the customs broker, and a separate list of anything owned under twelve months.
Your moving company prepares and submits the customs paperwork through its broker. You supply the identity documents, confirm the inventory and sign the declaration.
It is what a customs officer reads if your shipment is selected for examination, which is why descriptions matter more than most people expect.
Identity and status at the time of import sit on the declaration, and the paperwork chain starts well before the container sails.
It allows the customs broker to act on your behalf at the US port. It is routine, and it is still worth asking what it covers.
Yes. Sea shipments require a security filing before the container is loaded in the UK. Your mover handles it, but late information from you delays it.
The shipment waits while it is corrected, and a correction at the US end costs more than one made before departure.
If you are coming back to the UK later, Transfer of Residence relief has its own application and its own timescale. It is worth reading about before you need it.
The customs broker submits them and you keep copies. Take copies before anything is handed over rather than asking for them later.
Send your collection address, your US destination, the move date and a rough inventory. A moving company from our network sets out exactly which documents it needs from you and when.
Send your move detailsA Working Member of AGM Group. Enquiries are connected with vetted FIDI FAIM certified and BAR Overseas accredited international moving companies from the network.
We are an enquiry service and do not prepare customs documents. They are handled by the moving company and its broker.
Written by Darren Benjamin, Founder.