Clearing your belongings through customs in Turkey

You must ship your articles using a licensed moving company, etc. They will let you know exactly what can/cannot go, during the pre=inspection phase of your move.

A couple of weeks before your goods are due to arrive in Turkey, the local appointed partner by your shipping agent would contact you. You would have to provide the following to get them released:

Takes about 4-5 days when all the information

    Shipper’s NOTARISED PASSPORT COPY
    Shipper’s NOTARISED RESIDENT & WORK PERMIT
    Copy of Tax Number of the shipper (this would be your Turkish Tax Number)
    A limited Power of Attorney from public notary, allowing the local moving company to clear the goods on shipper’s behalf. They usually provide a Microsoft Word Template example of the text for the Power of Attorney.
    Application Letter to customs from the Employer (to be written on company letterhead and signed by authorized signatory of the company.)
    Application Letter of the shipper to customs (to be written on plain paper and signed by the shipper.)
    Signed inventory list. This should be provided by your shipping company when your goods left the port of origin.
    A deed 1 year valid house rental contract in Turkey (notarized copy)


Please be aware, that you will incur something called "Destination Service Charge", basically what you will be paying the local company in Turkey to ship the goods from port to your home.

Destination Terminal Charge (can be very expensive up to $800-$2000 it depends).

Bonded Storage Charge (also can be very expensive is calculated on a DAILY basis. Something like $150 per day).

Hi
I had done my relocation in 3 parts.
1. I hired a company called Santafe from Mumbai to do my packing and custom paper work.
They were pretty good and about 50% cheaper than other brands.
2. My goods were shipped to Turkey via a shipping company called Fretlog from Mumbai. They were good and reasonable both.
3. I hired a custom clearing agent to get the goods cleared from Turkish customs and deliver to my house.
- dev

My experience back in 2001 was pretty disastrous. I shipped 40 boxes of all my belongings from UK to Izmir. But because I couldn't sort out my work visa quickly enough I lost the lot! The customs at that time only allowed you 28 days to collect the goods and were not willing to let me pay for storage while I organised the procedures for my work visa. So, at the of the 28 days they sold what they could and threw the rest away (which I imagine was most of it).
If it had been going the reverse way from Turkey to UK all I would have to have done is show and declare that the shipment was of used personal belongings which were not subject to Value Added Tax and then collect the goods. None of this ridiculous bureaucracy in Turkey in necessary.
I have since had a series of awful business experiences with the Turkish Gumruk in Istanbul which are seriously damaging the Turkish economy.
Pat

Hi

how much did Customs charge to get your things?