Aduana concerns

NELELI

Registered
Joined
Sep 14, 2021
Messages
2
Likes
0
I have a DNI + US Passport

So after living in Canada for 2 years, I want to come back and be with my family for a while in Buenos Aires (Most likely a one way ticket). I want to bring my belongings with me such as a Computer Monitor, PC, a guitar, laptop, etc. Let's say that it would be well above 5000USD in tech if you break them down. These were all bought in Canada and they are for personal/profesional use only. I'm not sure what to expect coming back, does anyone know what can I expect?

Thank you everyone!
 
Really all depends on who you get looking through your stuff. If all your stuff is obviously used I don't think you'll have much of a problem. I'd keep all the smaller stuff on your person since they don't actually search you, just your bags. Who knows you might even get lucky and get the green light straight through.
 
my main concern is my PC, which I'm thinking about disassemble it and bring the parts with me. The graphic card alone is worth roughly 2000usd, in the past they would leave me alone since I have a US passport, but I want to find a secure way or a piece of paper that I can show and make sure I won't get bothered.
 
If you can show somehow that you are moving then there are usually no issues bringing used/personal stuff in. At least that was my experience in the past.
 
Can I broaden this out a bit and ask whether it would be worth bringing furniture items in a container from the UK into Buenos Aires port or whether the cost would be prohibitive?
 
my main concern is my PC, which I'm thinking about disassemble it and bring the parts with me. The graphic card alone is worth roughly 2000usd, in the past they would leave me alone since I have a US passport, but I want to find a secure way or a piece of paper that I can show and make sure I won't get bothered.

I don't know you might be better leaving it together in a normal looking case. I wouldn't bring some kind of crazy looking gamer case through but a normal one would be lowkey. I doubt they will look into the internals unless it's flashy looking. Separately you risk drawing attention to something they can look at individually....

Some tips are to not be the first or last to go through the line. I wait until they get a good backlog stacked up then get in the line. At that point the checker folks are too concerned with shooting people through as easy as possible to really pay attention. Or keep an eye out on whoever looks hungover or zoned out before committing to a line.

If you have US passport and look a certain way, you could always pretend to not know Spanish. This helps facilitate the inspectors to take the easy way out also.
 
Can I broaden this out a bit and ask whether it would be worth bringing furniture items in a container from the UK into Buenos Aires port or whether the cost would be prohibitive?

At this point, providing a difinitive answer to that question is impossible, somewhat like trying to answer the question, "How long is a piece of string?"

You may already know that, after obtaining temporary residency, you will have a six month window in which to (at least temporarily) import your household items without paying import fees.

Unless there have been changes in the past few years, you will have to post a bond that must renewed every year until you leave or become a permanent resident-

If I understand correctly, after you become a permanent resident, the goods can stay and you won't have to pay customs fees.

To determine "whether it would actually be worth bringing furniture items in a container from the UK into Buenos Aires" you will have to add the shipping costs plus the "value" of the goods you want to import versus the cost of buying similar goods in Argentina.

PS: Search the forum for "importing household goods" and you will find more information.
 
Last edited:
I've just checked a couple of threads including bringing white goods and furniture into the country. Can I ask what the role of the customs broker is and how much would the returnable bond amount to?
 
I wouldn't worry too much. Based on my experience over the last 5 years with numerous entries I would say you have a less than 5 % chance that they will even ask you anything. (last time I came in a couple of weeks ago with my personal work laptop, a new macbook for my wife, a new macbook for my mother in laws, and a total of 7 iphones - new and used ones; not even mentioning other IT stuff such as keyboard, headphones, track pads etc)

The chances are even lower if you are 1) foreigner / tourist, 2) clearly can show that the products are being used / not new. If you can - on top of that - even show that you are actually moving to Argentina, then the chances are minimal. I wouldn't bother to dismantle them (as it would raise even more questions in case they would indeed go into the details).
 
I wouldn't worry too much. Based on my experience over the last 5 years with numerous entries I would say you have a less than 5 % chance that they will even ask you anything. (last time I came in a couple of weeks ago with my personal work laptop, a new macbook for my wife, a new macbook for my mother in laws, and a total of 7 iphones - new and used ones; not even mentioning other IT stuff such as keyboard, headphones, track pads etc)

The chances are even lower if you are 1) foreigner / tourist, 2) clearly can show that the products are being used / not new. If you can - on top of that - even show that you are actually moving to Argentina, then the chances are minimal. I wouldn't bother to dismantle them (as it would raise even more questions in case they would indeed go into the details).
Thank you Alpinista. Would you happen to know if it's safe to bring containers filled with furniture into Buenos Aires port when you don't have direct surveillance of the goods and need them transporting to one's domicile or whether there's a way round this dilemma?
 
Back
Top