Once I started to realize just exactly how much stuff we needed to do and prepare before we hit the border, the project manager in me kicked in and out came the spreadsheet. I don’t think my brain could have kept track of it all otherwise.
There’s all kinds of tabs planning out the move, lists for this and that, but probably the most important sheet is where we document what we’re moving back, exactly what’s in the boxes, and how much we figure it’s all worth.
This step is mandatory in order to move your things back across the Canada/USA border.
I read about the BSF186 form when I was tripping through Paul Kurucz’s Moving Back to Canada website when I was planning our move, and learned some good stuff from both from him and his readers. It was great to learn before we started packing that this form is required at the border when you’re moving back. The CBSA agents don’t react too kindly we learned if you show up without it and can turn you away (we actually know someone who did that, name withheld to protect the uh…guilty ☺).
Oh boy, it sounded like a lot of work but, we figured we’d rather avoid all that particular hassle, especially trying to move in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and, Canadian winter. Seemed logical, the better you’re prepared when you get to the border the easier it should be, right?
Well, as it turned out that was exactly right. As time consuming as this process was, it made life SO much easier at the border (and, after we moved!).
I guess we had all the right paperwork for the vehicles, our animals and our stuff as it took us just over 30 minutes to clear Canada customs and carry on our way, straight into 14 days of quarantine ☺
BSF186 - Personal Effects Accounting Document
The CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency) requires that the BSF186 – Personal Effects Accounting Document be completed before arriving at the border to move back. It’s one of those, “Pay me now or pay me later”, type of things. Best to get it all done when you’re packing, then you just hand the agents a copy.
The BSF186 – Personal Effects Accounting Document is the form you’ll need to fill out and give to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) border agents
It’s basically a list of everything you’re importing, or moving back into Canada and a value. We filled out the top part of the form then used the spreadsheet to list the general content of our boxes and totes, then gave them a value. (A few specific items had pretty exact replacement costs but for the most part we basically valued our things as we would for a garage sale.)
There’s a small line in the middle of the form where you declare an additional list of goods – we just checked off Other, answered No to Goods to follow and attached the spreadsheet.
Furniture and other stuff that didn’t fit anywhere else were added at the end of the sheet. Every box/tote got a number (the next number on the spreadsheet), they we typed in a description of what was packed inside, the date we packed it and a value. Pretty easy, but here’s a simple example of what we did:
Conveyances
Oh, I know you guys know, but in any case these are your cars and trucks, boats and airplanes, motorcycles, trailers and scooters, however you get around. If you’re bringing any of these to Canada (“in accordance with Transport Canada requirements” that I’ll go over in an upcoming post!), they also need to go on the form.
You’ll need to list the make, model, serial number and a value.
Classification Type
The last part of the form is Classification Type. If you’re a Canadian citizen moving back like us, just check off the FORMER RESIDENT box then answer the rest. Sign and date it when you’re ready and you’ll be good to go.
No doubt about it it was tedious work, but with the two of us and the spreadsheet it was easy enough to collect what was needed for the form and to cross the border.
We gave the border agents a signed copy of the BSF186 form and attached a copy of the spreadsheet with a total value at the end. They all seemed pretty happy with that and didn’t even ask to look in the truck!
Bonus - Help After the Move!
Say you’re all moved up to Canada and you’ve unloaded your U-Haul. You’ve got oh, some 200’ish boxes and totes and for the moment all you need to find is the box with your sweaters, hoodies, toques and mitts. It’s December in Canada after all, and it’s cold, eh?!
Enter, your nice little spreadsheet. Just have a search for what you’re after and voila! No having to unpack everything for just the one thing, until you need to.
Total bonus for all your hard work on the other end.
(PS: I uploaded a copy of our spreadsheet to Google Drive so I could get to it when needed.)
What You Can and Can't Bring Back
Keep in mind as you’re packing things up, that not everything is allowed to move back to Canada with you. Don’t be alarmed, I’m talking guns and drugs, and of course those nasty houseplants! Stuff like that. But it’s probably easier for me to call out a few things that you can’t bring back, rather than everything that you can.
The CBSA folks have a guide for residents returning to Canada which covers if you’ve been out of the country travelling or if you’re a former Canadian resident returning to live – you can check it out here.
Houseplants
I had a read through the CBSA guide when we were packing up the house, but I already knew I couldn’t bring my beloved houseplants…sigh. The website talks about it in a section called, “Restricted and prohibited goods” about 3/4 way down the page. I understand why plants and their soils can’t make the trip so they all went to live with some of the neighbors.
Used Mattresses
There are the obvious things that aren’t allowed, like guns and weapons, fireworks and explosives, and ammunition to go in those guns. Other banned or restricted items like meats and eggs made sense, but it caught me off guard when I read the section on used or second-hand mattresses.
The CBSA website says that you can’t import them without a certificate verifying the mattress had been cleaned and fumigated. Huh?
So I looked up the costs to clean the two mattresses we were bringing back and, it was a lot. A whole lot more than we were willing to spend. Next I called the main number for the CBSA and asked them. The lady I spoke with said, “Yes, you have to do that”, but wasn’t real firm on her answers so I called again and spoke with someone else who told me, “No, you don’t need to do that”.
Well geez – the CBSA website says you have to, then one agent said we did and another said we didn’t. We stuck with the latter and didn’t, and just put the mattresses in plastic mattress bags to protect them during the move. That seemed to work out just fine.
Food
Not that we’d planned on moving a bunch of food back to Canada, but there’s of course rules, should we’d have wanted to.
For the most part we gave away some canned goods and pantry items, syrups and honey and things that might spill. We gave away anything that was left in the fridge that was worth giving before we sold our fridge in September. Going through the list of what the Government of Canada allows regarding bringing food into Canada for personal use, it’s probably easier for me to tell you what we brought back, rather than what we gave away.
If you have any questions about your own stuff, you can check out the Government of Canada’s food import guide here.
Any food items we brought back we packed in clear, plastic totes so the border agents could have a look if they wanted, which they didn’t. I’d packed all my spices, salts and peppers and goodies for cooking. Another couple of totes stored all my baking treats – sprinkles, chocolate chips, flavourings and all kinds of chocolate making supplies.
I stocked up on some Peet’s coffee that I liked, and Sunbelt granola bars that J likes (that were hard to find anywhere there let alone in Canada, eh?). Some Skippy Peanut butter and a few other goodies made it into the box. It was right about the time that someone decided to change the name on Aunt Jemima products (it’s only been that way since 1889!), so I bought a bottle of syrup and some Aunt Jemima pancake mix. We’ve of course long since finished both but, I’ll keep the bottle 😊
Cleaning Supplies
When we moved from Canada in 2000, it was a corporate move so the folks at United Van Lines were contracted to not only move our stuff, but pack it as well. We were told then, that we couldn’t bring any chemicals/cleaning supplies with, so we gave them all away there and did the same leaving Arizona. I actually hadn’t read anywhere that we couldn’t bring them back, but it was easier just to leave it all and avoid any spills.
