Most San Jose moves are job moves, and job moves come with a start date. On a route where the sea leg runs about a month, that date does more to shape the shipment than anything in the inventory.
We connect your enquiry with a vetted international moving company from our network working the South Bay, and they quote you directly with no charge for the introduction.
Goods for San Jose clear at Oakland, roughly thirty one to thirty three days from the UK on published 2026 schedules, then travel about forty miles south into the valley.
thirty one to thirty three days at sea into Oakland, then forty miles south, and employer led moves usually split between air and sea.
If a start date is fixed, decide the split between air and sea before you book anything. Working equipment and the first month of clothes flying ahead is the difference between settling in and camping.
Oakland handles container traffic for the whole Bay Area, so a San Jose shipment clears there and then heads south on a short road leg. The final stage is easy, the sea leg is not.
Because that crossing is among the longest available, splitting a shipment is more common on this route than on Atlantic ones, particularly where an employer is covering part of the cost.
Tell us the start date and who is paying. Employer led moves have allowances and deadlines. Both change what should fly and what can sail.
Your route gets checked. A moving company from the network confirms the Oakland sailing, the container option, the clearance and the run south.
You deal with them directly. The quote, the schedule and the delivery plan come from them in writing before you commit.
Effects used by you, or in a household where you were a resident, for a year normally enter free of duty. On an employer arranged move, note that duty follows the goods and their owner rather than whoever pays the freight.
A month at sea leaves no opportunity to revise a declaration, so the inventory needs to be right when the container is sealed. Household effects qualify where they were for your personal use, or used in a household where you lived, for a year, and are not meant for resale or for someone else.
Because the goods travel apart from you, CBP Form 3299 supports the free entry claim, with newer items listed on their own. There is a ten year limit as well, measured from your last arrival from the country where the goods were used.
Status at import matters and the trade does not agree on the detail. Take your answer from CBP rather than from a relocation summary, and keep it in writing.
Check these before the inventory is finalised:
The sailing to Oakland runs roughly thirty one to thirty three days on 2026 schedules, then a short road leg south. Allow six to eight weeks door to door.
Oakland, which handles container traffic for the Bay Area. From there it is around forty miles south into the valley.
What the allowance covers, particularly storage, insurance excess and duty on anything bought in the last year.
On a month long crossing, yes for a small consignment. Work equipment and a few weeks of essentials are the usual candidates.
Only for most of a house. Sharing costs less and suits the flat and small house moves that make up much of this route.
Yes. Give the building at enquiry stage so loading times and any lift booking can be arranged in advance.
Work equipment and a few weeks of clothes by air, everything else by sea. On a month long crossing that split is what keeps a fixed start date workable.
Forty miles, so very little compared with the crossing. It is the sea leg that sets both the cost and the timeline on this route.
Send the collection address, the San Jose delivery address, your start date and what is coming. A moving company from our network works out the split between air and sea, then contacts you.
A Working Member of AGM Group. Enquiries are connected with vetted FIDI FAIM certified and BAR Overseas accredited international moving companies from the network.
We do not carry out removals. The San Jose move is arranged and quoted by the moving company you are introduced to.
Written by Darren Benjamin, Founder.