Customs and Luggage -- Moving to Brazil Permanently.

Hello Paul,

On behalf of everybody here at Expat-blog, welcome on board. I hope your participation on the forums will be both enjoyable and informative.

As I told you in my message I don't think you'll run into any problems, but it's been many moons since I came to Brazil. Hopefully somebody with more recent experience with Brazilian Customs will have more relevant information.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

Thank you ..... I put it as a topic to see if anyone else could shed their experiences with the same situation.
Thank you for all your help.

Paul - you didn't say where you'd be flying into ?  Can make a difference.
I just returned after an 8 year absence and had NO problems with suitcases full of stuff to give to friends.
In fact, where I flew into (and I've heard it's the same in other major airports) - all you fill out is an immigration form, NO customs forms.  They didn't even look at my luggage.
You're given 70 pounds per piece of checked luggage X2 without charge on American.
You say the stuff won't fit in your luggage ?  Buy something bigger !
You are allowed 1 carry on like a computer bag and one other piece of baggage that must fit in the overhead compartment.
Another thing new,  NO cardboard boxes or even plastic tubs allowed. MUST use baggage. Try finding the biggest duffel bag - if in the US,  try ROSS or TJ Max.
Go to the website of your airline to check on baggage limits.
Guy

Thank you for replying to my post. I'm flying into Sao Paulo.
The reason I was asking is because I make my living in photography and some of the items are hard to get in Brazil.
Plus I'm moving there permanently so  I want to make sure I do it right and bring the things i need.
I appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions.

Hi William.
I had a quick question.
When you made up your list of household things that you were bringing to Brazil,
did you attach that to the customs form they give you on the plane?
Or did you just have it on your person to show the customs agent if they asked for it?

Thank you for all your help.

Hi Paul,

Actually I did have a detailed list of exactly what I was bringing into Brazil, since I initially came here on a VITUR Toursit Visa, and figured they'd be pretty picky about what I was bringing with me. I had three large cardboard boxes of stuff besides my suitcase. Really, I have to say in looking back on it, it sure didn't look like I was a tourist with all that stuff. They never even asked me for the list, but I'd recommend you have one anyway. This was almost 13 years ago and I'm pretty sure they were a lot more particular back then about bringing stuff in than they are now.

Cheers,
James

We rented a container and moved everything from our house. My wife, who's Brazilian, had to get a document called a Carta de Mudança, we had to list the contents of every single box (110 in all) and furniture, were allowed a total of 30% of our items to be new, but were meticulously detailed in our list.

The company we used also worked with a customs broker so everything ran smoothly. The only problem we had was the company transporting from the port in Rio to here in Espírito Santo did not let us know they were on their way until they were about 12 kilometers away.