- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
- Messages
- 12
NOTE: This is a re-post from what I typed up for another forum, and the info was up-to-date as of the time of original writing, January 2012.
I thought i'd share my experiences shipping my stuff back to Indonesia after living in the US for 6 years as a student. There are things i wish i had done differently, so i hope somebody would find something useful in here, and if anything, learn from my mistakes.
To gauge how relevant this post might be to your circumstances, i should say here that we shipped LCL (less than a container's load), and did most things DIY-style so no door-to-door delivery service.
I. SHIPPING YOUR STUFF
Packing - Leave original packaging behind, as they may incur import taxes. Make a relatively thorough packing list without being overly exhaustive. Categorize as much as you can, as this will help when your stuff is inspected at the customs office here.
Preparing paperwork - If you have stayed in your current country of residence for quite a while on a non-tourist visa, chances are the embassy or consulate general can provide you with a "Surat Keterangan Pindahan." With this letter customs should not be levying taxes on your stuff. Inquire with the nearest diplomatic office as to what is needed to obtain this letter. In my case, as a former student i was required to submit a certificate of degree completion. The diplomatic office will also endorse your packing list. Learn from my mistake - i booked my flight out of the country without leaving much time to deal with this paperwork. Depending on graduation requirements, how fast you act upon finishing, holidays, etc. schools can take quite some time to issue this certificate (mine took about 10 days since it coincided with Thanksgiving holiday), and diplomatic offices may also take a while in preparing this letter. I'd suggest leaving at the minimum 4 weeks between your last day of school and your departure date. I finally mailed in my documents to the consulate general AFTER i had arrived in Jakarta, but it involved lots of costly courier mailing, and risking losing important documents en route. Thankfully nothing bad happened.
Shipping - My husband (a WNA) and i did not bring any big item like furniture, etc. so we had way less than a container's worth of stuff. So we decided to go LCL route, and to save more on costs, we decided to handle as many things as possible. So no door-to-door services for us. We shipped with the company IQGlobal. All payments, paperwork, etc. are handled online, which we liked. We had in total almost 2 cubic meter of stuff, which cost a tad less than $300 to ship. Once all administrative matters are settled, we loaded our stuff on the back of a pickup truck and drove it to their warehouse to be dropped off. Don't forget to bring all papers since the warehouse people might ask to see them. If i'm not mistaken we paid an extra $50 to have our boxes palletized so they won't be separated from one another.
I thought i'd share my experiences shipping my stuff back to Indonesia after living in the US for 6 years as a student. There are things i wish i had done differently, so i hope somebody would find something useful in here, and if anything, learn from my mistakes.
To gauge how relevant this post might be to your circumstances, i should say here that we shipped LCL (less than a container's load), and did most things DIY-style so no door-to-door delivery service.
I. SHIPPING YOUR STUFF
Packing - Leave original packaging behind, as they may incur import taxes. Make a relatively thorough packing list without being overly exhaustive. Categorize as much as you can, as this will help when your stuff is inspected at the customs office here.
Preparing paperwork - If you have stayed in your current country of residence for quite a while on a non-tourist visa, chances are the embassy or consulate general can provide you with a "Surat Keterangan Pindahan." With this letter customs should not be levying taxes on your stuff. Inquire with the nearest diplomatic office as to what is needed to obtain this letter. In my case, as a former student i was required to submit a certificate of degree completion. The diplomatic office will also endorse your packing list. Learn from my mistake - i booked my flight out of the country without leaving much time to deal with this paperwork. Depending on graduation requirements, how fast you act upon finishing, holidays, etc. schools can take quite some time to issue this certificate (mine took about 10 days since it coincided with Thanksgiving holiday), and diplomatic offices may also take a while in preparing this letter. I'd suggest leaving at the minimum 4 weeks between your last day of school and your departure date. I finally mailed in my documents to the consulate general AFTER i had arrived in Jakarta, but it involved lots of costly courier mailing, and risking losing important documents en route. Thankfully nothing bad happened.
Shipping - My husband (a WNA) and i did not bring any big item like furniture, etc. so we had way less than a container's worth of stuff. So we decided to go LCL route, and to save more on costs, we decided to handle as many things as possible. So no door-to-door services for us. We shipped with the company IQGlobal. All payments, paperwork, etc. are handled online, which we liked. We had in total almost 2 cubic meter of stuff, which cost a tad less than $300 to ship. Once all administrative matters are settled, we loaded our stuff on the back of a pickup truck and drove it to their warehouse to be dropped off. Don't forget to bring all papers since the warehouse people might ask to see them. If i'm not mistaken we paid an extra $50 to have our boxes palletized so they won't be separated from one another.