Costa Rica Shipping – Relocating to another country can be a daunting task but is something to look forward to; you get to have a chance to start anew in a friendly and somehow laid back environment. To make your move as easy and as hassle free as possible, we have prepared a few tips you can follow when shipping your valuables in Costa Rica.
The first thing you have to do when moving your household items to Costa Rica is to make an inventory and decide which of your stuff you want to take with you to Costa Rica; keep in mind that this country charges high import taxes and any item that is no older than 6 months is considered new and will be taxed as a new item.
Once done, make a list of all the items you are shipping to Costa Rica and make sure that you include the amount of the items. You also have to get the information translated to Spanish since you are moving to a Spanish speaking country.
Your next step is to find a Custom broker in the US and Costa Rica. Ask family and friends for recommendations and find out as much as you can about that broker to avoid any possible problem with customs. Hiring the wrong broker may cause your items to get tied up in Customs for a very long time.
After finding a reliable and trustworthy Customs broker, you should look for an international transport company that will provide the container for you to load your household stuff and move it to Costa Rica. You may opt to use 20 ft that can hold 850 to 1,050 cubic feet, which normally is large enough to fit a 1 to 2 bedroom household, or 40 ft containers which can hold about 1,850 to 2,200 cubic feet, and are used for moving a 3 to 5 bedroom household). Once the container is dropped off by the transport company, you can load the container yourself of hire workers to do it for
you.
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Once the container is filled up, it is then taken to port and shipped to Costa Rica.
Upon your container’s arrival to Costa Rica it should be received by the notifying party who will give the instructions as to which fiscal warehouse the container has to go to. The notifying party will also be responsible in providing all documentation needed by Customs for inspection and releasing.
Documents required are packing list that is translated in Spanish, a copy of your passport, invoice for the content and a copy of title for vehicle if you loaded any in the container you shipped to Costa Rica.
Once your container arrives at the fiscal warehouse it is assigned to, the container will be unloaded and inspected by Customs officials. All taxes for the items you shipped to Costa Rica should be paid by the Costa Rican Customs broker you are working with and all documentation, including release document, should b provided by the same broker.
Finally, when your household items pass inspection and all documentation required have been provided, it should be released by Customs and can then be delivered to you. Your items will be taken to your new home in trucks, loaded by local workers.
While all this sounds like you can do it yourself, it is recommended that you have a local shipping company in Costa Rica handle the shipment due to the fact that you do not want your items caught in customs for an extended period of time of be over charged on your import taxes.
While we are on the topic of Costa Rica shipping import taxes, always ask for the taxes to be separated from the shipping costs. Companies that include taxes will never under estimate taxes and pad their profits with overcharging you on import taxes.
