Importing personal effects

[PET]

I have heard that if you wish to import your personal and household effects, and not be subject to any import duty, the goods must arrive within 2 months of being granted the initial Retirement Visa.

Can your members confirm this or advise me otherwise?

Also is there a maximum value and can a motor vehicle be included.

Thank you

PET

[niggle]

Its 6 months. You can only make this import of removal goods once so make sure you bring all you want to in one go. You can import when on a Non Imm visa.
No limit as far as I know there is no limit on value but cars are subject to HUGE amounts of impor duty. You need to look at special regualtions for these.
In theory household goods (used goods - not new) should be import tax free but this depends on the customs officers.
We didnt have to pay tax but did have to pay 2500 bht pocket money for things to clear customs quickly via customs men and the agent.
This was 4 monh ago.

[buksida]

There is more info and some useful links on this topic on the Hua Hin Expat site:

http://www.expathuahin.com/moving-huahin.php
_________________
Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

[PET]

You mention that a Non Imm visa is needed to import, but I thought the system was to use this visa to obtain a Retirement Visa and only when that visa was approved you could import ( within 6 months).

Perhaps I may be confusing visas

PET

[niggle]

We moved here in June on a non imm 3 month visa from hull. We sent all our stuff from UK a couple of days before we left ourselves. Stuff arrived mid August, Retirement visa obtained before stuff arrived. Although the removal company literature did say that you have to show non imm visa and physically show passport at Bangkok, this wasnt the case. All we had to do was send a copy of passport to the removal company, pay them their money and 8 weeks later everything arrived at 9 am !

[K2OWN]

Hello Niggle
Which moving company did you use as we are now in the market for
a moving company to move our personal effects to Hua Hin.

[niggle]

We used www.simpsons-uk.com
Didnt move much furnitre wise, mainly personal effects, PC/printer/screen, double bed & mattress and 24 boxes.
Cost us £1400 + insurance (£350) fron High Peak District to HH.
Door to door, full packing service.
We found these excellent, everything well packed and wrapped, documented etc. Kept good contact with us - shipping details, times ETA, even the name of the ship. Agent at this end speaks good English. No problems and no breakages
And they were about the cheapest.
PM if I can be of any more help
Niggle

[Don East Stand]

Hi Niggle,

Very good information and good to hear, considering a lot of the horror stories that go around.

Although it will probably be a few months yet before I need the removal men, I'll bear Simpsons in mind.

I noticed that you took your PC with you, which is something I had resigned myself to leaving behind as I thought there would be problems with different plugs, voltages or whatever?

[niggle]

PCs may can be more expensive here particularly if you have a high spec. Also a lot of PCs do not come with operating system - probably because there are so many dodgy copies around.
Plugs are no problem - if you dont want to change plugs (which we didnt) you can easily buy socket boards (those 4 - plugs in a row things) relatively cheaply from Tesco/Homepro etc.
I think it may be worthwile considering bringing your PC with you.
I gather that sometimes the customs can try to add a bit of import tax if they open boxes on PCs but as I said ours didnt and the boxes were clearly marked with PC, printer, screen, fax/copier/printer.
PC works no problem, internet quite good but intermittent - occaisionally very slow / not connecting - tends to be at peak times. On the whole though internet is probably as fast as I was used to in UK

[Don East Stand]

I'll certainly be taking my PC now

It'll save so much hassle if I can just plug and go over there, plus I know what's what with my current one and it's not very old. ( a bit like the wife really )

I know it's been covered in other threads so I'm not looking to open up a debate on it, but a good reliable internet connection is pretty much a "must have" for us.

Thanks again for all the info. much appreciated

[niggle]

Well I dont know if reliable and thai internet go together that well but ....
we signed up with TT&T. at 1024/512 kbs not that that makes much sense to me. The normal price is 1000 bht per month but they have regular promotions and we pay 1/2 price but I'm not sure whether that is just for a certain period or not. The telephone connection is through TOT as they all are which is 100 bht per month plus calls of course. There is a cheap calls service available for overseas calls as the TOT calls overseas is a bit pricey. We find its fast enough but I guess if you are an online gamer then I dont know.
Certtainly its as fast as we were used to - bear in mind that we used to live in a telephone remote area so speeds tended to be slower than cities. Fast enough for everyday use downloads pics quickly.
I gather in HH a lot depends on where you live - same as UK - how far from the town.
As I said before occasionally frustrating at busy times but overall we are satisfieds with it

[Big Boy]

niggle,

That information that you have provided regarding what you sent to Thailand is about the best I've seen to date. Would you mind stating what size the boxes were, and what the maximum weight per box was please.
_________________
Green Army position 10 2007/08
Who said, "I've dumped PAFC for Eutopia at Liecester?"
Ian Holloway (job seeker extrordanair)

[niggle]

The boxes were supplied by the removal people. I think they were 18x13x13 and 18x20x20 . Shipping costs are based on volume, not size or weight.
Bear in mind that if you pack yourself you have to be extreemly detailed about what you put in them. If a removal company does it they inventorise everything and seal the boxes making it much less likely that customs will decide to have a nosey.
I guess also customs are sure you are not importing anything dodgy as a removal company checks everything as they pack and wont pack anything that should not be imported/

[niggle]

No that doesnt sound right - sounds a bit small. Maybe 1 cu metre.
Not sure I'm afraid

[crazy88]

Glad someone has had a positive experience with this .I shipped a non taxable item with all correct paperwork through UPS from the states .The item cost 150 us new and was a returned repair under warranty .As a new item I paid the tax on it. Customs told me the item was subject to 10% duty .I agreed to pay the 600 baht .Many weeks later they sent the item to my local post office .22,000 baht storage charge .The item was no bigger than a car key .

My mother recently used DHL from the uk .Personal effects,clothing and photographs .Total value of anything that could possibly be sold no more than 3000 baht . Tax and storage in excess of 30,000 baht .

Anyone tried fedex ?