US Customs declarations

[nousername]

i am wondering how do i declare my fiancee's belongings when i bring them into the US?

 

the CBP website here says that you must "get an estimate of the fair retail value in the contry of origin".

 

how does this apply for used articles? is the "fair retail value" the original price, or the "fair" used price?

 

thanks guys

 

Ryan

[Guest Gene]

We didn't declare any personal belongings new or used, I did write a few things on the declaration form to make everyone happy, we had no problems and no searches

[Dan R]

I always put down something of course with China how do they know what you brought with you and what you bought in China? I would declare any electronics, jewelry and traditional Chinese gifts or keepsakes. Be reasonable about the value. Even customs knows things are cheap in China. As long as you list a couple hundred dollars total or more I don't think anyone will question it. Unless the $50 Ming carved jade vase makes them suspicious.

[frank1538]

Just about all household goods and personal effects for a first time immigrant can be brought to the US duty free. If you do a search at the Customs website for this, you get some of the specifics. When Jingwen and the kids came, we just loaded up the suitcases and had no problems with customs. We did not bring any household items like furniture, etc.

[nousername]

FYI, i actually went ahead and called the guys at the border inspection.

 

he almost chuckled and laughed when i asked, and he said "It's no big deal". he even said i didn't need to declare anything. i suggested declaring "used clothing" or "personal items" on the back of the customers form and he said "yeah, sure you could do that..."

[BuffaloPaul]

I've checked on this and you can bring a reasonable amount of household goods duty free. In theory they are supposed to be at least 1 year old. Stuff like clothing is a non-issue. What the customs guys are interested in are if you import lots of new stuff (like electronics)