International Relocation, Shipping,
Importing and Moving to Costa Rica

Shipping Household Goods

The import duties you pay for your household goods and personal belongings depend on how and when you bring them into Costa Rica.

There are 4 ways that you can bring in your goods:

1. With you as luggage on the plane.

2. Send a small shipment as air cargo.

3. Sending a Less than Container Load (LCL) or a Full Container Load (FCL) by surface.

4. Driving it all the way in your car through Mexico and Central America (Not recommended).

Bringing used goods and personal belongings as luggage on the plane.

Costa Rica has been successful in becoming a popular tourist destination, and the government understands that tourists come here to enjoy the country in different capacities. In order to accommodate the many articles that tourists wish to bring with them into Costa Rica, the government enacted a law defining the items a tourist can bring in without paying import duties. These personal affects must fall into a certain criteria:

1. They must be for personal use.

2. They are not intended to sale or commercial use.

3. The quantity must be reasonable in relation to the length of stay.

4. The items must be carried with person as luggage and therefore must be portable.

In addition, there is also a law that will exempt you of any duties on other items up to $500. Customs will stamp your passport so that you cannot benefit from the $500 exemption for another 6 months.

What if the $500 exemption is still not enough??? Well, you have two options: 1) Pay the duties right then and there, or 2) If you believe they are overcharging you, ask for a receipt and return the next day to further discuss the matter.

Remember, be sure to call the airline to find out the exact maximum on size of luggage (weight and volume) as well as the amount of luggage you can check. Many airlines offer one more checked-in piece of luggage for international flights. Also, if your flight is not as full, you may also have the option to check in additional luggage for an extra fee. Again, call the airlines to explore your best options regarding this.

Shipping a small shipment as air cargo

If you have a small amount (less than 500lb) of stuff that you could not take with you as luggage and are able to send it properly packed with a freight forwarder by air the RULES for importing these goods CHANGE.

The freight forwarder will give you an Air Way Bill so that you can claim your shipment in Costa Rica. Most of the time they will ask you the value of the goods for insurance purposes. **Important**: if they will show the insured value on the Air Way Bill, DO NOT declare a high value, or even better, do not insure it.

When your shipment arrives in Costa Rica, the airline will transfer your goods to a bonded warehouse. (This is a private Customs facility).

The documents required to clear Customs are:

1. Passport - (copy of the main page and last entry to Costa Rica) In order to qualify as a personal opposite to a commercial shipment you have to prove that you have entered the country within the last 90 days of clearing your shipment.

2. The original Air Way Bill

3. Packing inventory with the declared CIF value (Cost in the country from where you shipped it plus Insurance plus Freight).

If you have a knowledgeable Customs inspector he will apply the rules for PERSONAL SHIPMENTS. With these rules you do not pay duties for used (more than 6 months old) personal belongings such as clothes, shoes, purses, books, hand tools and some sports equipment. Everything else pays duties.

Most of the time you will not need a Customs broker to help you with a small shipment.

You pay the duties, the THC (Terminal Handling Fee) and the bonded warehouse fee and pick up your goods.

Shipping by surface

If you need to ship more than 500lb, surface may be much cheaper than air. The most economical way to ship is in a 20 or 40ft. ocean container.

As a rule of thumb regarding shipping LCL (Less than Container Load, 1/4 of a container will cost about the same as if you used 1/2 of the container, and shipping 1/2 will cost as much as the whole container. So, if you have 1/2 a container worth of shipping, you might as well pay for the whole container and get exclusive use and shorter transit time (they don't have to wait for another load to fill the container). In addition, you might even wish the ship your car along with your household goods.

No matter who you decide to use to move to Costa Rica, take into consideration the following information when you decide what to ship and what not to ship:

• Everything needs to be properly packed to withstand a lot of handling. Some cities do not have direct load (your goods must be delivered by truck to another city or warehouse where it will be loaded into an ocean container). After arrival at port of entry in Costa Rica, it might be opened by customs to verify the contents. This is not Customs inspection to assess duties but rather to verify that the contents are used household goods and not, let's say, new TVs for sale in Costa Rica. When it arrives in San José it will be unloaded completely into a bonded warehouse for Customs inspection. After duties are assessed and paid (normally about 3 working days), your goods will be loaded onto another truck for delivery to your residence.

• Every loose item that gets loaded into a container has to be numbered and inventoried. What is in a box should be listed as the major content of that box. The list should look like: