Returning to Canada: Form BSF 186
February 6, 2024 1:34 PM Subscribe
My family of 3 (all Canadian citizens, living in the US for ~ 10 years) is moving back to Canada this spring. We're finding ourselves a bit perplexed/paralyzed by the "Personal Effects Accounting Document" that we will present at the border in order to import all our household goods/furniture/stuff.
We have an international moving company we'll be working with, and have been doing lots of reading up on the process of taking all our household stuff across the border on moving day...but we still have questions (and the moving company rep is not really allowed to advise us or do anything but refer us to the CBSA website.)
Essentially, we're just totally overwhelmed at the prospect of listing every item we own, including serial numbers if applicable, and assigning a value to it, which is what the BSF 186 form demands.
How detailed do we need to be on this, really? Could I just have a line item "Clothing" and a guesstimate of how much our collected wardrobes are worth? Or do I need to be listing, like, "7 white t-shirts, Everlane, $40ea; 2 pairs blue jeans, Levis, $200;" etc.?
How broad can my estimating be on the values of things? And is the "value" that they're looking for the price I paid for it new, or what it's worth now (and how would I begin to estimate that?!)?
Also, at the bottom of the form, there's a checkbox for an "Additional list of goods" (since of course you can't fit everything on the sheet), and the options include "Form BSF 186A" or "Mover's Inventory". Can anyone provide insight on which of these options is the easiest to complete and/or how they differ?
If you are a Canadian citizen who has recently moved back to Canada and filled out one of these forms, can you provide any insight on how you navigated this process? We've looked everywhere for sample forms, but none that we've found apply to our specific classification as returning citizens.
Spoiler alert: international moves are stressful! I honestly don't know if we are wildly overthinking this, or massively underthinking it...
Thanks for any help!!
We have an international moving company we'll be working with, and have been doing lots of reading up on the process of taking all our household stuff across the border on moving day...but we still have questions (and the moving company rep is not really allowed to advise us or do anything but refer us to the CBSA website.)
Essentially, we're just totally overwhelmed at the prospect of listing every item we own, including serial numbers if applicable, and assigning a value to it, which is what the BSF 186 form demands.
How detailed do we need to be on this, really? Could I just have a line item "Clothing" and a guesstimate of how much our collected wardrobes are worth? Or do I need to be listing, like, "7 white t-shirts, Everlane, $40ea; 2 pairs blue jeans, Levis, $200;" etc.?
How broad can my estimating be on the values of things? And is the "value" that they're looking for the price I paid for it new, or what it's worth now (and how would I begin to estimate that?!)?
Also, at the bottom of the form, there's a checkbox for an "Additional list of goods" (since of course you can't fit everything on the sheet), and the options include "Form BSF 186A" or "Mover's Inventory". Can anyone provide insight on which of these options is the easiest to complete and/or how they differ?
If you are a Canadian citizen who has recently moved back to Canada and filled out one of these forms, can you provide any insight on how you navigated this process? We've looked everywhere for sample forms, but none that we've found apply to our specific classification as returning citizens.
Spoiler alert: international moves are stressful! I honestly don't know if we are wildly overthinking this, or massively underthinking it...
Thanks for any help!!
Best answer: I did all this about two and a half years ago, and would also agree that everything was unclear and hard to parse. I don't think anybody really cared what was on the form as long as we had it. I did pretty general categories, per box, like "Box 1: kitchen equipment, $200; Box 2: children's clothing, $100", etc. I think we went with estimated resale value for everything.
As for which form is easier, I think the mover will only get information from you, they won't categorize things themselves (unless they're packing your stuff too, maybe?), so you might as well go ahead and do what you can with the form you can access now. You don't want to be in a situation where the mover has all your boxes and you haven't listed something and can't access your stuff to check what's in what box.
I agree it feels ridiculous to have to list, like, every single thing that you own, but in the end we found that it was kind of nice to know what all we had, and it helped us be really deliberate about what we chose to bring with us.
Feel free to memail me if you want any more advice on the entire process.
posted by number9dream at 2:02 PM on February 6
As for which form is easier, I think the mover will only get information from you, they won't categorize things themselves (unless they're packing your stuff too, maybe?), so you might as well go ahead and do what you can with the form you can access now. You don't want to be in a situation where the mover has all your boxes and you haven't listed something and can't access your stuff to check what's in what box.
I agree it feels ridiculous to have to list, like, every single thing that you own, but in the end we found that it was kind of nice to know what all we had, and it helped us be really deliberate about what we chose to bring with us.
Feel free to memail me if you want any more advice on the entire process.
posted by number9dream at 2:02 PM on February 6
Best answer: I did this like 10 years ago and as I packed boxes, I recorded the contents and labeled each box with a number. Then I made a giant spreadsheet of all the contents. Depending on the item, I could say ‘books - boxes 3, 6-11, 20-24’ or ‘misc kitchen gear (utensils, tea towels) - box 17’.
The border people were concerned about mostly not surprising things - gun, snake, and car. They were surprised the snake needed no paperwork and we were surprised the canoe did. I don’t remember if our alcohol collection (of opened, partial bottles) was an issue.
When I had a moving company pack and move me (within Canada) they had a list of these general contents that they generated for me. I expect that is the mover’s inventory.
Edited to add: prices were not new replacement cost but more like as above, what we could have got on Craigslist/Facebook. Like our bed and mattress was like $150
posted by hydrobatidae at 2:06 PM on February 6
The border people were concerned about mostly not surprising things - gun, snake, and car. They were surprised the snake needed no paperwork and we were surprised the canoe did. I don’t remember if our alcohol collection (of opened, partial bottles) was an issue.
When I had a moving company pack and move me (within Canada) they had a list of these general contents that they generated for me. I expect that is the mover’s inventory.
Edited to add: prices were not new replacement cost but more like as above, what we could have got on Craigslist/Facebook. Like our bed and mattress was like $150
posted by hydrobatidae at 2:06 PM on February 6
Best answer: Well, if it helps, my partner and I (and our two cats) drove across the border after a very complicated international move (from Hawaii, but via Washington) in 2020. Most of our things went with an international mover by boat, and we only drove over with a few things. I had no idea we needed any forms and came to the border completely unprepared. We just filled out the form that the border folks gave us to the best of our abilities and they let us in.
posted by Paper rabies at 5:08 PM on February 6
posted by Paper rabies at 5:08 PM on February 6
Best answer: I tend to go hard with these things so I spent the best part of a day filling it in meticulously.
It was glanced at.
You need it and they will check, but like other posters say, I am not sure they will check in detail.
posted by rpophessagr at 6:22 PM on February 6
It was glanced at.
You need it and they will check, but like other posters say, I am not sure they will check in detail.
posted by rpophessagr at 6:22 PM on February 6
Best answer: I did this with my family in 2019. We made a simple (if long) list - mostly this was, as others mention, boxes with generally-categorized contents and very loosely defined / imagined resale values (x boxes of kitchen, y boxes of clothing, etc.). Larger items not in boxes (furniture, bikes) were listed on their own (z dining chairs: est. resale value for all of them, etc.).
We likely made some errors, but no one was looking that closely. They were fairly trusting with it - concerned that the process be followed, not looking to catch us. (What a project it would have been for them to verify our list in detail! I assume you'd have to really raise suspicions for that to be done).
All this is to say that our box-based good effort was sufficient.
One more thought - you could call and ask the border agents at the place you'll be crossing what they'd like you to do. I called a specific border office for advice on crossing during the pandemic - they were very helpful, and I felt more at ease when I did cross, knowing that I'd already talked to someone in that particular office (and that I could mention this if anyone questioned me).
posted by marlys at 9:21 PM on February 6
We likely made some errors, but no one was looking that closely. They were fairly trusting with it - concerned that the process be followed, not looking to catch us. (What a project it would have been for them to verify our list in detail! I assume you'd have to really raise suspicions for that to be done).
All this is to say that our box-based good effort was sufficient.
One more thought - you could call and ask the border agents at the place you'll be crossing what they'd like you to do. I called a specific border office for advice on crossing during the pandemic - they were very helpful, and I felt more at ease when I did cross, knowing that I'd already talked to someone in that particular office (and that I could mention this if anyone questioned me).
posted by marlys at 9:21 PM on February 6
Best answer: I have not done this and defer to the expertise of those who have already posted. But what comes to my mind is: why they want to know -- and perhaps letting that guide your organization and level of detail. My suspicion is that they don't care whether you have 7 vs. 9 white Everlane t-shirts, or whether your kids' clothing should be listed at $200 or $400. The question is likely: are you trying to bring a Lamborghini or a bunch of diamond bracelets into the country? Is there anything in your list that should make them think these are things you don't legitimately own but are importing to sell without paying the proper duties and GST? Really--you own 40 brand new Birkin bags and you are going to use them all yourself? I suspect that anything that doesn't meet this kind of threshold is going to be met with: "whatever, fine, don't care, seems reasonable." If it were me, I would not put too much time into the cataloguing and estimation.
posted by sonofsnark at 9:22 PM on February 6
posted by sonofsnark at 9:22 PM on February 6
Response by poster: This is such a reassuring and helpful set of responses. Thank you all, sincerely, from the bottom of my overthinking, catastrophizing, prone-to-panic heart!!!
posted by Dorinda at 4:57 PM on February 7 [1 favorite]
posted by Dorinda at 4:57 PM on February 7 [1 favorite]
The car. Bikes, if fancy.
Importing vehicles from US to Canada is a whole production. Blink twice if you want to know more about the 72 hour rule.
posted by dum spiro spero at 8:33 PM on February 7 [1 favorite]
Importing vehicles from US to Canada is a whole production. Blink twice if you want to know more about the 72 hour rule.
posted by dum spiro spero at 8:33 PM on February 7 [1 favorite]
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As a point of reassurance - I did everything DIY and, well, kinda based on vibes, and things turned out okay. YMMV if you are importing vintage cars or fine art or fancy wines or something, though! The most expensive item I had on there was my bike stuff (line item "Bicycles (x2), bicycle parts and accessories", value "$2000"). Happy to share more details over memail if you want.
posted by btfreek at 1:46 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]