Moving to the USA from Spain

Moving to the USA from Spain

Wisse Moving offers a door-to-door solution if you are moving from Spain to the USA. We can collect your move in any part of Spain. We have offices and/or warehouses in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Alicante, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca and Bilbao.

Our services include packaging, disassembling and wrapping of furniture, collection, customs clearance in Spain and in the USA, and delivery to your new home in the USA.

If you have to do a relocation to the USA, then all you have to do is contact us. We will determine your needs and the volume of your goods, and prepare a free, detailed and transparent proposal.

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Note that before shipping, you will have to have a valid resident permit or visa (if you’re not a US national). If you have to leave your home in Spain, but you don’t have the visa or residence permit yet, then we can offer you temporal storage in Spain. We would ship the container or liftvan once you have received your visa or permit.

Different ways of moving to the USA

There are basically three different ways of moving to the USA from Spain:

1. If you only have boxes and small items to be moved, or some boxes and smallish furniture, then we could crate the goods into a “liftvan”. The liftvan will be loaded in a part-load container together with other goods, and would then be shipped to the USA. We can adjust the size of the liftvan to fit the volume of your goods, so you only pay for what you have. This is the most economical option. The goods would be perfectly protected, and there are normally weekly shipping options.
2. If you want to take the contents of a whole household, with furniture and boxes, then we could use a sea container only for your move. We would pack and collect the goods at your residence, take them back to our warehouse, and the container would be loaded there. This is also a very safe option, equally safe as the “liftvan” option. Whether we decide on a part-load container, or a container only for your goods, only depends on the volume of your goods. In the pre-move survey, we can estimate the volume, and find the best solution for your particular situation.
3. Air Freight. This is relatively a much more expensive option, and is a good solution if you only have few boxes, and for very urgent moves.

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International Association of Movers

Customs Clearance in the USA

In order to import your household goods in the USA, your goods will have to be customs cleared. Our customs agents in the United States will take care of this on your behalf. In order to do the customs clearance in the USA, the following documents would be required:

• copy of your passport
• copy of your visa or residence permit (if you don’t have US nationality)
• detailed packing list (our crew will make a packing list upon collection)
• copy of the bill of lading, seaway bill or airway bill (we will provide this)
• Form CF-3299 – declaration for free entry of unaccompanied articles (we will provide the form for you to fill out)
• Supplemental declaration form (we will provide the form for you to fill out)
• Power of attorney (we will provide the form for you to fill out)
• Importers Security Filing (ISF. We will take care of this).

Please bear in mind the following as well:

• All shipments are subject to examination at the discretion of Customs officials.
• For duty-free clearance, the household goods must have been used at least 12 months in the foreign household prior to shipment from the origin country.
• The owner of the goods must hold the proper long-term visa (non-B1 / B2 visitor’s visa) to import household goods duty free.
• Customs and other government agencies can require a variety of different types of examinations that result in extra costs
• U.S. Customs may also order intensive exams on any shipments containing food products, medications or liquor. 
• The owner of the goods is responsible to pay for the exams and any damage incurred during inspections by Customs officials.

Note that this information is merely informative: customs requirements may change anytime, and the final desicion whether your household goods can be imported duty-free depends on US authorities. Once you are ready to move, please check the requirements with us and we’ll inform you.

Restricted / forbidden items:

The following items cannot be imported, or cannot be included in your move:

• Food, drinks, alcohol, other perishable items
• Plants, seeds or soil
• Hazardous goods
• Game and hunting trophies
• Gold
• Merchandise from embargoed countries (a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control is required)
• Animals
• Weapons
• Medicines
• Tuna
• Drugs, Drug paraphernalia
• Haitian animal hide drums
• Cuban cigars
• Blank tapes and CDs from Iran
• Absinthe
• Counterfeit items or items inappropriately using a federally registered trademark
• Products made from dog and cat fur
• Flavored cigarettes, including cloves

This list is only meant for general information. Please check with us in case of doubts.

Moving to the USA with motor vehicles

You can only import motor vehicles into the US if these meet the US environmental and emission standards (EPA and DOT standards). If a vehicle does not meet these standards, then cannot be imported, unless it is adapted to US standards. This is VERY costly and complicated, and in 99,99% of all cases it would not be feasable. As a general rule, you can import vehicles previously exported from the USA, or vehicles manifactured in the USA. You can find more information here.

Transport of vehicles would always be in a sea container. If you ship a car, then we would load it together with the household goods in the container. For motorcycles, we would crate them and then load them in a container with the moving goods.