According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Canada welcomed close to 250,000 permanent and temporary residents in 2008. And of those that moved to Canada, 35% moved to Toronto. Moving to Canada involves making decisions about shipping a car overseas and in general deciding who to hire to take care of the international removals.
Rules for International Removals into Canada
For those moving to Canada for the first time, Canada Border Services Agency outlines the rules for importing. Personal and household effects can be moved into Canada duty free if the goods were owned before arriving in Canada. Some of the personal effects included are furniture, furnishings, clothing, and personal vehicles. However, Transport Canada imposes a number of other restrictions on importing vehicles.
Shipping a Car Overseas
Transport Canada’s Motor Vehicle Safety Act explains that vehicles manufactured for sale in countries other than Canada and the United States do not comply with the Canada Motor Safety Act and cannot be imported into Canada. The only exceptions to this rule are vehicles fifteen years old and older or vehicles that have a statement of compliance label affixed by the original manufacturer.
The vehicle will also be subject to provincial sales tax and safety requirements. Therefore, persons interested in overseas car shipping should check with the vehicle department of the province they are moving to.
Once a decision is made to ship a car to Canada, it’s time to get an international moving quote. Persons moving to Canada need to decide between various means of shipping to Canada such as shared container, sole use container, or a roll on roll off (RORO) car freighter.
Choosing an International Removals Company
After deciding which items will make the move to Canada, it’s time to make some other decisions. For example, how big will the shipment be? When will be the date of the move? How much is the moving budget? There are many shipping companies that providing moving services to Canada. Here is some extra info to help make the decision.
- Quality Standard of Moving Companies. Look for logos and accreditation such as British Association of Removers (BAR) or Household Goods Forwarders Association of America (HHGFAA) and FIDI-FAIM, which is a global alliance of quality international removal companies. Most of these companies will also provide a free international moving quote.
- Questions to Ask Moving Company. Is there a minimum weight or volume requirement that the shipping company needs to be met inorder to make the move to Canada? What does the shipping company insurance cover? Is the moving service door to door? Does the company provide special crating for customs inspections? What is the expected time of arrival of goods?
- Cost of Moving to Canada. This will vary on how much is to be moved, the method of moving services and the distance of the move. Other considerations will be how quickly the move needs to be completed.
When arriving into Canada for the first time when moving to Canada, customs formalities must be met at the first point of arrival, which may be at a Canadian airport. Present the customs officer with a copy of all the goods that are being brought into Canada. This list must also show the value, make, model and serial numbers of items that will be moved by an international moving company at a later date.
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