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Hi all -
I’m planning my move to Portugal to begin around June, 2023.
I’m reaching out to anyone that has made the move and can share what they learned about shipping personal belongings to Portugal.
Timelines, what you did well, what you learned, costs, etc
Thanks!
Hey all!
Thanks for the info - I think this will become a lively topic. I’d like to reach out privately but would like to ask a few general interest questions.
By the way, my wife and I have secured our resident permits in July - so that’s one big to-do item checked-off the list.
So, here goes:
1. How much time did you spend contracting with a moving company before your actual move?
2. What were your options for shipping? Did you have to ship a 20’ or 40’ container or did you have smaller shipping options?
3. How long did it did it take to clear US and Portuguese customs?
4. How much time did it take to receive your items in portugal?
5. Did the moving company manage the import process and deliver your items to your home?
6. What is a rough budget for the process?
7. Regarding damage claims - did you have any advice - did you receive quick payment? Was coverage fair or did you get Pennie’s on the Euro?
I think many would benefit from this valuable information I’ll reach out privately in short order
‘’Many thanks!
How much time did you spend contracting with a moving company before your actual move? We interviewed with 3 companies at our Illinois house so they could see what is included and discussed shipping options
2. What were your options for shipping? Did you have to ship a 20’ or 40’ container or did you have smaller shipping options? We used 2- 40' containers for household. We had a third container for a small sailboat.
3. How long did it did it take to clear US and Portuguese customs? The goods were packed on August 28-31 and taken to the warehouse where the goods were all transferred into shipping containers. Our move manager was able to locate containers for use and arranged the overland transport to Norfolk, which location he determined to be the best of all choices. Customs was most stuck on the boat. They kept asking what the engine size is - it is a sailboat, so wind is the engine. That back-and-forth dialogue took a month. The DC embassy made a date typo, so that took a couple of weeks to resolve concurrent with the sailboat discussion.
4. How much time did it take to receive your items in Portugal? Surprisingly, the goods were in Porto/Leixoes by the end of October. So, I guess 6 weeks.
5. Did the moving company manage the import process and deliver your items to your home? The Illinois shipper took care of all shipping and customs arrangements, provided the transition to the Porto moving crew who then delivered the goods to the house.
6. What is a rough budget for the process? We paid about 40K, for all three containers. We bought the insurance offered by the contract. Sounds like alot, but we tallied the replacement value of our furnishings to be pretty even or more.
7. Regarding damage claims - did you have any advice - did you receive quick payment? Was coverage fair or did you get Pennie’s on the Euro? Honestly, I didnt realise the actual street value of some of our things. I would have taken more advantage of the high value category. Since the move was purchased in the US, the coverage and reimbursement were in dollars. I stated what the replacement costs would be and they honored that. The boat hull had a bit of a gash in the stem, and I got an estimate in Porto for repair, submitted that in detail and was reimbursed in 3 weeks. Take pictures of the damaged item with the Inventory ID sticker and submit.
To clarify, you have a resident VISA and Permit? We received the visa, made the move and applied and received the PERMIT in December, so within the 4-month visa window.
First--- OBRIGADO! This is fantastic information that I know will serve others well....thank you.
Regarding visas/residency permits..... my wife and I have an unusual situation. We both have duel US/Irish citizenship/passports. Our EU passports make this process much easier. We spent 5 months in country and was able to secure residency this past August. So, we don't need a visa.
Thanks for asking.
🙂
@lowellmk I remember something about it does not matter that you are an EU citizen since the goods are coming from the US. Definitely check it out. I might have remembered incorrectly but do some due diligence.
Got ya! I'm plowing through a mountain of conflicting and confusing info as we speak!
🙂
Cheers!
@lowellmk I will try and see if I can find out where I saw that. It was probably on these forums. It is an odd occurrence.
@jonesdn2020 Thanks...
By the way....do you know how to send private messages, here?
@lowellmk Yes. Click the ID of the person and it takes you to their profile page. Under the Connect box is three ... options. Click them and the send message option appears.
You can also go to your login id drop down in the upper right and select messages. Create a new one and start typing their nickname.
@jonesdn2020 I agree. I have no idea how the rules change if you are an EU citizen but what I know is if you don't get it right before you send your "stuff", the duty is quite a lot.
@lowellmk Good Afternoon. Many of your questions are only answerable on an individual basis because it has to do with shipping destinations, size of load etc. I did get in just under the wire before the rules changed this year.
1. Before moving I actually narrowed down and got quotes from I think at least 6 shipping forwarders several months prior to moving knowing the quotes would expire and have to be re-quoted (some estimate with a zoom, some with an in person visit). Quotes are usually good for about 30-45 days. That way I got a feel for the movers, prices and who I wanted to hire. I actually ended up firing the forwarder I hired 2 weeks before moving and used my back up forwarder (THE BEST). The forwarder has relationships with a local mover where ever you live and the destination agent in Portugal. So you are actually evaluating all three of those entities (forwarder, local moving company and destination agent) and I will tell you my investigation found they were not all equal. More info to put in here but that is a synopsis.
2. The shipper will recommend shipping options based on how much you have and how much you can/want to spend. I had a 20' container for a 2bdr apartment because it was cheaper than all the other options. An added cost is the amount of insurance you want to add to your load. There is usually a minimum.
3. This varies according to the season, port traffic and/or any other obstacles. Moving in strict covid times had many delays, I don't know about now. My container actually cleared in 5 days. I know some people who's took 3 weeks and there can be extra port charges involved with that.
4. I believe most companies will quote you anywhere from 7-12 weeks.
5. Yes, the destination agent, they were beyond excellent. The day after my container cleared customs they delivered it to my home even though they don't deliver on Saturdays because they didn't want me to have to wait an extra week. They were in Sintra, me in Viseu a 3 hour drive and they arrived on time at 8 am. Amazing.
6. Impossible to answer for you. Depends on your load. I have heard of quotes anywhere from $5k-40,000.
7. Can't answer that. I did not have one, not one broken item. I have heard horror stories though and a lot depends on the insurer I think.
8. You will need to get an EIN number. You will have to get a baggage certificate and local documentation of residence with your NIF. The baggage certificate is obtained through the US Portuguese consulate and mailed to your US address. Many accountants will do the EIN number for you but it is also easy to do online.
Unequivocal recommendation for this company. They are in the middle of the US. I moved from California. Tell her Roberta sent you.
Kristin Louapre
Senior Logistics Coordinator
NATIONAL VAN LINES – INTERNATIONAL DIVISION
2800 Roosevelt Road, Broadview, IL 60155
Email: kristin.louapre@nationalvanlines.com
Tel: 800-323-1963 Direct Tel: 708-450-2947
Great! My wife and I have NIFs... will that do in lieu of an EIN???
And I will give Kristin a call and mention you...thank you!
Lowel
We moved from the Tampa area to Quarteira last month. We used UPakWeShip.com. It was flawless and it's door-to-door delivery. They offer everything from pallet sized shipping to large containers. You can get a quote on their site and it was exact for us. They drop off the container and you pack it then schedule a pickup. I know ours was abnormal, but we got our stuff in about 7 weeks. We were worried that it was going to arrive before we did. I put an Apple airtag in it to watch it's progress and that gave me some peace of mind.
@kcripper Interestingly, we used EuroUSA, and when it came time to pay, the online portal for that showed both UPakWeShip and EuroUSA. We had gotten a quote from UPak, and EuroUSA was cheaper and they packed everything. It has not arrived yet, but I thought it was interesting that the companies are somehow related and the one that does all the packing was less money than the one that had us doing the packing. It was close to $1000 less for 200 cubic feet. We did not make the arrangements until about 10 days before they came to pack the things up.
@pmh Thanks for commenting on this subject. Were you able to pre-pack some items already into boxes, or bins, instead of them packing every single item you were taking, as we are already pre-packing some things now, that we want to take but not presently need during our preparations? Is it easy to pack things to the top securely, to use all the space?, and where were you located prior in U.S.? How many or how large were the containers, or pallets, you used, for how much comparable house space, and what was your overall cost, if that is ok to ask? How did you go about getting your baggage certificates to ship your household goods, and when were you allowed to ship them? Did you already have to have an SEF appt in Portugal with your D7 visa, and have to wait until you received your 2 year residency visa there to ship, as there is conflicting info on this particular point? My understanding was that with the baggage certificates, one could ship goods duty free with the D7 visa for up to one year; although we would prefer to ship most of our household goods just before we depart, and store them in Portugal if need be, until we can take receipt of them, in case our long term stay does not allow us a place to put them, if furnished, and some say within they are duty free with the D7 visa for 6 months, and others within 90 days, so if anyone can explain this more clearly, that would be great.
@ggiles We moved from just outside Portland, Oregon. We only ended up pre-packing four boxes of books, and we did not seal the tops. Since they did that, they did not list the boxes as "packed by owner". The reason I did not seal them was there were a few voids and I figured they had some type of packing material to fill those small spaces. They used crumpled paper. My partner, Brian, watched as they packed everything and was quite satisfied. His great grandfather was the first photographer in Edmonton, Canada back in the 1890's and he had just been given several boxes of his great grandfathers possessions from back then so he was concerned about how those fragile items were packed. Three people spent about 2 to 3 hours doing the packing. After they took everything back to the local warehouse, they ended up putting everything on a pallet that was 98" x 43" x 71". They sent us a picture of it after it got to South Carolina. That email came from UPakWeShip. It was wrapped in stretch wrap and strapped with metal strapping. It is my understanding that it will then go into a container along with other peoples things. Once it goes on a ship we will be notified with that info. They told us that it will take 8 to 12 weeks to get here. We paid $4840 plus insurance. If I remember correctly, the cost for two pallets holding 80 cubic feet each was around $5700 back then with UPak. I just looked and it appears to have dropped since then. We still had room left on our 200 cubic but prior to the movers arriving we were worried we would go over since we did not know how much space it would take up once everything was packed. We added a few things when the packers told us that we had not used up all 200 cubic feet. We could have added more, but I was just happy that part of the move was over. Everything else was sold in an estate sale after we left. I am so glad we were not there to see what we left behind. We only took two small pieces of furniture. One my father made, and the other a small table that was my grandparents. The other items consisted of mainly of clothing, pictures and other memorabilia, kitchen items, and some framed items. We probably paid more than it was worth monetarily, but a good amount of it had sentimental value. We have not filled out the forms yet for the baggage certificate yet and I am not sure we will. I read somewhere that some people were charged a VAT tax on 10 percent of the insured value. We insured it for $5000, so if the 10 percent thing is true we will pay the tax on $500. It would probably cost that much to DHL forms back and forth to San Francisco. If anyone has experience with paying the tax, any info on how that was calculated would be appreciated. Our SEF appointments are on May 19, 2023.
@pmh Thank you for the detailed response. I am still not understanding why there is any tax at all with the baggage certificates, and the whole reason for them, is that one is allowed to take personal items, within a certain time frame, duty free, if used, and not purchased as new, as incoming resident, and they are received stateside after D7 visa received, and sent with the shipments, and allows the shipment to go through customs...duty free. So, is this not true, about being able to bring in duty free personal house hold goods within a certain time frame, and if so, then how does that happen then, if not through the baggage certificates?
@pmh I am getting my info on my prior question from this website, US Embassy to Portugal as to import allowances and requirements: https://washingtondc.embaixadaportugal.mne.gov.pt/en/consular-services/consular-services/importation-of-household-effects
We are going to watch the live show tomorrow evening on the D7s and found another presentation, also tomorrow a bit earlier on: Expat Exchange: Portugal - Travel Insurance Requirement @ 6pm. Hopefully, between them both, and watching a few more of the Tuesday D7 ExpatP live shows, we will finally understand this whole process. Thanks again for the detailed info you took time to explain.
@pmh Super and thanks. May I ask the cost and how long do you think it will take to receive your goods, door to door?
L
@kcripper Thank you for the info provided. How much time did you have to pack up with UPakWeShip? In looking at their website, it seems there is only a window of a couple of hours from their dropping off the container, and then it is $95 per hour for the driver to "wait," while it is packed. I can't imagine trying to pack a container securely, having never done that before, in that amount of time. It seems they would be able to drop off the containers, or pallet materials, and one could manage packing everything over a few days, or a weeks time frame, and then have them come pick it up, so that is one worry of mine, being seniors and not as efficient as we once were, to accomplish that very tight schedule. We are planning on packing most of our things in boxes or bins, and then have those things packed in storage space or our garage, so we can begin to get an idea of how much space we actually need for shipping options, and to begin to clear out our house to sell after receipt of the D7. We may hire people to help us do the final packing of the container or pallets, unless we end up using another type of shipping option. So, was it affordable to go that route, over other companies/options, because you are fairly close to a major port in Tampa? That is a great idea about the Apple airtag too, so you can figure out where things are, although I have never used anything like that, or know it existed.
We moved from the Tampa area last month and used UPakWeShip.com. You can get a quote right on their site. Very good experience. Our stuff arrived in about 8 weeks (which is faster than normal). I recommend putting an Apple AirTag or Android Tile in your crate to monitor progress.
Hi,
sharing your experiences is much appreciated.
My wife and I are in our late ‘50s and are moving to Porto in February. We are shipping a 20’ container of ‘bare essentials’ and we timed its arrival after our SEF appointment. We applied for Baggage Certificate at NYC Portuguese Consulate.
One thing that remains a bit murky is whether we need a Residence Certificate from Portuguese Consulate in US to show that we resided in US for at least a year. I am aware that we will need a Residence Certificate from a local parish to show that we have residence in Portugal.
So the question is: is there anybody from US who obtained both Baggage and Residency certificates from a Portuguese Consulate? Was anybody required to produce both of these certificates in order to clear the Portuguese Customs duty/tax free? What did Customs require as a proof of US residency?
much appreciated,
Vlad
For what its worth I would NOT recommend Global International Relocation under any circumstance to ship your goods.. goods were broken, lost (I call in stolen) and the cost was ridiculous for how my goods arrived. Some things cannot be replaced The whole process from when they picked up goods to delivery was disappointing. Then, the process of dealing with the insurance company and the leg work required (still in the process of that) has made the experience with this company horrible..
@tonymach Sorry to read your comments. I will take this up with Global and get back.
@tonymach Just had a call from Global and they are having difficulty locating your transaction. Do you have a file number that I can send them please.
Many thanks
Gerry
Sorry Gerry for not getting back sooner. My friend, @PattiOConn, who came over with me is handling the shipping of our stuff, she the one that started this conversation.
Our Ref Num is 124624.
We have submitted a claim request with PacGlobal (On Step 2 of 6, submitted 1/2/23).
Thanx, Tony
Thanks Tony. Have submitted to GIR and will let you know as soon as they respond.
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