Obtaining a "Certificado de Bagagem" for shipping household goods

Hi Alan, please check this link:

https://www.portaldascomunidades.mne.pt … da-america

1. Choose the portuguese consulate you want/near you
2. Type the website of this consulate
3. Due to Covid19, I think that Luggage Certificate Requests in every consulates must be made by mail, but you need to check this carefully with the consulate by phone/email, if you still have doubts after reading the website.

Eg.
1, NEWARK CONSULATE
2. http://www.consuladogeralportugalnewark.org/
3. Select Consulate at Home/ Request by mail / Certificate of Luggage
    Click Consulate at Home
    https://www.consuladogeralportugalnewar … do-em-casa
    At Shipping Container/Luggage Certificate Section, you will find Document List, Costs, and so on.
    You will also have to fill out a detailed Luggage declaration as follows bellow.


Document list: 

a. Photocopy of a valid US Citizen card;

b. List of objects being imported, in triplicate, each signed by the person shipping, indicating the date of transfer to Portugal and the portuguese address where the person will live;

c. Document certifying residency in the US  (eg.: driver’s license photocopy);

d. Self-addressed postmarked envelope;

e. (Note A) If the sender is Portuguese, he/she has to be registered in the Consulate to do this. If not, that person will have to do that first, show up to the Consulate and bring one passport sized picture.


LUGGAGE/BAGGAGE DECLARATION
(Eg. as suggested by New Bedford Consulate website)
http://www.consulateportugalnewbedford. … agagem.php

For the due and legal effects, I, (full name), (single/married),  major, electronic engineer, born in XX, council XX, US State XX, living in XX Haven Street, New Bedford, MA 02740, registered at the Consulate of Portugal in New Bedford under number XX (see note A above), I declare to transfer my residence from September, 1st, 2020 to Avenida Infante D. Henrique, n.º XX, Lagos, 8600-148 Lagos, Portugal, sending as part of my personal luggage, the following:

1.    Several tools and garage items
2.    Garage vacuum cleaner
3.    A bedroom furniture; 3 tables; 2 sofas; 1 black chair;
4.    A standing lamp
5.    Personal clothing
6.    Crockery, cups, kitchen vacuum cleaner, shoe holder, ...
7.    Samsung Televisor brand
8.    Yellow racing bicycle
9. …
10. …
11. …

I also declare that the items on this list have been part of my household stuffing for more than six months and are intended for my personal use and the performance of my profession in my new above-mentioned residence, and I therefore request the competent authorities to import them unhindered.

Atlanta, XX of XX of 2020

(Signature)

Remember that the import has to be done within 12 months to avoid customs vat and vat

If I am moving to Portugal with a D7 visa, can I send items more than once to Portugal with a baggage certificate or is it only once without duty?

Does it have to be completed prior to shipping or just before the shipment arrives in Portugal?

That's a good question.  I picture a packed container sitting somewhere waiting for this certificate, which will evidently be mailed at some unknown future date from the consulate.  If you send it off to sea while you're waiting for the certificate, you run some risk that the goods will arrive in Portugal and you'll need to get over there and deal with matters, but you're still sitting in your empty house waiting for the certificate.  If you send only after the certificate arrives, that seems safer but could substantially extend that unpleasant transition.  Of course if the certificate must accompany the shipment, that's that.

I note also that according to the New Bedford consulate, you need

Se não possuir a nacionalidade portuguesa, deve incluir uma cópia do visto de residência ou do cartão de residência em Portugal.

If so, you can't do this in advance of acquiring the D7 visa, however long that may take.

can I send items more than once to Portugal with a baggage certificate

Just noticed this on the Washington DC embassy site:

The articles may be transferred to Portugal in one or two shipments, but must be imported in the first 12 months of residency in Portugal.

[I know, 3rd post in a row, sorry!]  I spent some time this afternoon surfing for answers, and naturally the story is different every time.  (Did you know that you have to register with the local police, to clear your shipment through customs?  Sure, one site says so ... I don't know, but I know I'm getting low quality information.)

What I did not find, was an apparently authoritative story on this from the government of Portugal, or more specifically the Autoritária Tributária e Aduaneira.  It would be very interesting to see such a document!

[yeah ... 4th]  Regarding the two shipments question, I just happened to notice among my various stories:

Normally, household removals should be imported in 1 single shipment, from 1 place of origin.

In special circumstances and on submission of proofs and explanation to the General Customs Board, prior to the removal, it is possible to obtain the necessary permission to import household goods in 2 or more shipments.

So, yes, maybe you can do 2 shipments, but you don't want to try it.

@donn25 The problem you will have is not registration with the police, is that you have to register with the customs authority as a resident. In practice, they don't want to change your address from abroad to Portugal until you have the residence permit - you might land up being caught in a bureaucratic nightmare.

@AlanWPrice First the only way to get one is from her Visa. You apply for that when you apply for your visa. Embassies do not answer the phone. You can send them an email they usually respond in 3 to 5 days.   

The other question is how long has she been here? You have to do within so many months.

Darci