Papers applied for, what now?
The papers have been applied for and the residence permit will soon be ready. For many, the next step is the concrete implementation of the move to Paraguay. In this phase, it is not uncommon to sell an apartment or house in Germany and plan the move to Paraguay.
Once a buyer has been found, it is important to have the contract legalized in Germany in time for Paraguay, so that we can later transfer the money without any problems with the bank. What is to be considered thereby, explains this article.
Your move to Paraguay with container
Unlike money, you can’t just “transfer” your cherished belongings halfway across the world. The things have to go into a container, by truck or train to the port in Hamburg and from there by ship across the sea. Once in South America, your container will be transferred in Montevideo or Buenos Aires from the large ocean-going ship to a still quite large river ship. Then the journey continues upriver towards Paraguay. Arriving at the container port in Paraguay, the container and its contents have to be cleared through customs.
Customs clearance and duties? Isn’t moving goods duty-free?
Why duty paid? people ask again and again – moving goods are actually duty free? On paper this is true. But what exactly is and what isn’t removal goods, is exactly defined by customs. Your ideas and the opinion of customs can differ greatly. What is clear is that the container is unloaded and inspected by customs in the most time-saving way possible (i.e. with little love) during “customs clearance according to removal goods”.
The customs force has a certain interest in finding something that is not supposed to be there. To find something for which money can be demanded. If they find something, it becomes unpleasant and expensive. Then there is nothing to do with the transport of the container to the new home, because then there is official business. Very unpleasant for all involved (except the customs force), because now costs arise. An undeclared old bicycle, which one has thrown into the container shortly before departure (and therefore it was not on the packing list) is for customs here already a found food and excuse enough, firstly to delay the customs clearance for days and secondly to demand violently “Multa” (penalty).
If nothing usable is found to fill up the customs’ coffee coffers, the container is loaded again quickly by the same loving loading team of customs that has now also fallen over for its corruption allowance. Should any damage occur in the process, neither customs nor the freight forwarder is liable for it. Although nothing relevant to customs was found during the search, costs are still incurred. The expenses, fees and papers are of course to be paid. In total, with this variant of “customs clearance as removal goods”, one can expect about Gs. 12-15 million (approx. Eur 2,000.-) in costs.
The “container customs clearance by weight”.
With the “customs clearance by weight” offered alternatively by good forwarders in Paraguay, the container is weighed, the tare weight of the container (which is written on the outside of the container) is subtracted and the cargo is customs cleared in 2021 with Gs. 4.000,-/kg (about 0.50 Eurocent). With this kind of customs clearance the container is usually not cleared out and you have much more leeway to bring everything from Europe that you would like to have for your life in Paraguay. Gladly also food or new goods, the customs already gets its share.
For a 40 feet container with for example 5 tons of weight of the cargo, this results in customs costs of Euro 2.500,- or Gs 20 million. More than with the customs clearance as removal goods, however with the advantage that the packing list can be arranged far more flexibly and it comes also to no damage by the customs control. The vast majority of moving customers with containers choose this method of customs clearance.
Door to door service from the container professional
Besides the pure customs clearance in Paraguay, we also offer a door-to-door service with our forwarding partners. In this case we deliver a container with CSC sticker to your address in Germany. Update June 2021: In addition to the CSC sticker, a certificate is now also required. If you buy a container yourself, be sure to ask for the certificate (in .pdf format) as well.
There, mostly over the weekend, the container is parked at the chassis with you and loaded by you. If a longer time is desired, we organize a side-loader truck, which puts the truck on the prepared parking place at your place. Then you have e.g. 2 weeks time to load all your things. Compared to the provision of a chassis, this is a considerably greater effort, which also costs a few euros more. In any case, the container will be picked up after the expiration of the time and brought by us to the port (usually Hamburg) for shipment. You do not need to worry about anything at this stage, we will take care of everything. Our container professional has his own EORI number (what is that?) and takes care of the paperwork with customs in Germany for you.
After the arrival of the cargo in Paraguay we will do the customs clearance for you according to your wishes and according to the options described above. After customs we deliver the container directly to your new address in Paraguay. The travel time of the container is on average between 50 and 55 days.
I like this offer! What do I have to do?
To use this service, you will first receive a free sample offer from us. This already gives you a first overview of the expected costs and procedures. To create an individual offer for your postal code takes a few days. As of June 2021, this is heavily dependent on the freight rates of the shipping companies, which have been rising steadily since the beginning of the year.
If you like the offer, it will be accepted by you in writing and we will prepare everything for you. We will be glad to send you a sample packing list to help you.
We will be happy to send you the sample offer in advance by email; please send your inquiries to: Email: info@paraguayprofis.com