HELP HELP HELP: Shipping Furniture, Vehicles, etc to Ethiopia

Greeting,

A friend of mine is planning to move back to Ethiopia from US! He started a business in Ethiopia 5+ years ago and now is finally moving to Addis permanently Yippie Yippie! 

I need help on what the process is to bring furniture, car, boat, motorcylce, so forth.... PLEASE HELP!

Hi Fantalove,

I am assuming you are asking how your friend can get tax exemption status for the items he wants to ship to Ethiopia, correct?  If so, basically he will have to contact the Ethiopian embassy in the US and provide them with itemized list of goods he wants to take to Ethiopia.  They will then write a letter of support for tax exemption for him.  This applies only to Ethiopians and those who hold Ethiopian origin id cards, and it is done as an added incentive to encourage them in returning to their home of origin.

However, as far as i know personal vehicles are no longer allowed tax exemption status, unless it has something to do with his field of work - which might get tax exemption.  In any case advise your friend to contact the Ethiopian embassy and they will walk him through the process.

I would like to tell you that it is better to bring the money than materials here if you import furniture from usa .customs will calculate the tax depending on us origin products so that will be very high .for cars you must import Toyota otherwise the tax will be very high for cars it is better to buy it locally, boats please do not bring boat here customs consider it it luxury thing and tax will be high.  i want to tell you that do not bring things from there just come and buy them here. if you are thinking to import machines and other industrial things which is you can not find it here and can be sold other with you will lose your money.

I agree with the responses - I would not bother trying to import anything - you can now buy all you need in Ethiopia - TV/LAPTOPS/CARS/FURNITURE/CLOTHING ETC at a reasonable price - it will be a lot less hassle to get what you require when you arrive.

I have not imported anything for over 3 years.