Shipping and moving from Greece to the USA

The United States is not a difficult country to ship to. It is a difficult country to file for. There is nothing unusual about a container of household effects leaving Piraeus for the American east coast - but three separate federal agencies each want their own declaration, each on its own clock, and the deadline that actually bites falls before the vessel sails.

This page is about the Greece → USA direction: what we load here, which port it leaves from, and what CBP, the FDA and the EPA ask for at the other end.

What we ship on this lane

• Household and personal effects - a full container (FCL) or a part load (LCL) of only a few cubic metres. Loading anywhere in Greece, delivery anywhere in the United States, including unpacking at the far end. Declared to CBP on Form 3299.
• Cars and motorcycles - see Vehicles → USA. Whether a particular vehicle may enter at all is settled before we agree a loading, not after.
• Olive oil, cheeses and other Greek foodstuffs. Food answers to the FDA as well as to customs, and the registration and notice requirements apply to the producing facility, not only to the consignment. Those requirements attach to food shipped commercially; food travelling inside a household consignment is a different case and we check it per shipment.
• Boxes and excess luggage through the Kanga Courier Freight service, for consignments from 1 to 150 kg, door to door. We can send you cartons to pack yourself, or our specialist crews can do the packing.
• Commercial freight, exhibition material and samples - see Freight, imports and exports.
• Air freight to US airports, where a consignment cannot wait for a vessel.

How it works

Inventory of your items → packing, wrapping and timber crates where needed → the container delivered to your address → loading, with a furniture lift if required → the container to the port of Piraeus → ISF 10+2 filed before the box goes on the ship → export customs → vessel → entry filed with CBP under a customs bond → import customs with our American partner → delivery and unpacking at your address.

Which US port your cargo arrives at depends on the delivery address, and we confirm it with you before loading. Our own customs brokers work at Piraeus and at Eleftherios Venizelos airport, so the Greek half of the file is not handed to a third party.

While packing we number every item individually and complete the Packing List, a copy of which we hand to you while the original travels with your cargo. It governs the customs inspection and it is what releases your goods at destination.

What crosses the US border, and what does not

The American border is a paperwork border. Very little is forbidden outright; a great deal is held because a filing was late, absent or made by the wrong party.

Gets through

• Household and personal effects declared on CBP Form 3299, where the owner qualifies for free entry of an unaccompanied shipment. The form asks how long the goods were owned and used abroad - goods bought shortly before departure are declared separately, because they are treated differently.
• Furniture, clothing, books and household equipment, clean and dry, itemised on the Packing List.
• Timber crates with certified heat treatment or fumigation.
• Commercial food, where the producing facility is registered with the FDA and carries a DUNS number as its unique facility identifier, and Prior Notice of the consignment has been given before it arrives.
• A vehicle that satisfies the EPA and NHTSA tests - set out in full on the vehicles page.

Does not, or is held

• Any consignment whose ISF 10+2 was not filed in time. It is filed before loading at Piraeus, not before arrival in America - by then it is far too late.
• An entry with no customs bond behind it, or with no importer number: commercial cargo needs an EIN or a CBP-assigned number obtained on CBP Form 5106.
• Commercial food from a facility that is not registered, or with no Prior Notice, or with no FSVP importer named for it. It sits at the port of entry.
• Alcohol, tobacco and firearms. We do not carry them inside a household consignment.
• Some food categories carry restrictions beyond the FDA’s own. We check each product line against the current rules before anything is booked.

Documents you need

Greek side

• A copy of your ID card or passport.
• Your tax identification number (ΑΦΜ).
• Authorisation for our customs broker.
• The Law 105 solemn declaration - we supply the form; it must be certified.
• The Packing List.

US side

• CBP Form 3299 for household and personal effects, signed by the owner of the goods.
• Passport and US immigration status of the owner.
• ISF 10+2, filed before loading.
• A customs bond covering the entry, and an importer number - an IRS EIN, or a number obtained on CBP Form 5106.
• For commercial food: FDA facility registration with a DUNS number, Prior Notice of the shipment, and an FSVP importer named for it.
• Delivery address and contact details for the consignee.

Official sources

• CBP - Form 3299, Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles: the personal effects form.
• CBP - Importer Security Filing ‘10+2’: who files, what, and when.
• CBP - Bonds: the security that stands behind an entry.
• CBP - Create/Update Importer Identity Form (CBP Form 5106): how an importer number is created, and where an EIN fits.
• CBP - Importing a Car: the vehicle process end to end.
• FDA - Registration of Food Facilities and Other Submissions, with the biennial renewal guide, which records that the DUNS number is accepted as the unique facility identifier.
• FDA - Prior Notice of Imported Foods: notice to the FDA in advance of arrival.
• FDA - FSVP final rule: the importer’s verification duty for food.
• EPA - Importing Vehicles and Engines and NHTSA - Importing a Vehicle: emissions and safety, and the 3520-1 and HS-7 declarations.

The competent authorities are U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for customs, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for food, and the EPA together with NHTSA for vehicles. Duty and other import charges are set and collected by CBP.

Other documents or procedures may be required, and each country’s laws can change without notice. Contact us and we will give you an up-to-date briefing.

Why us

On this lane the expensive mistakes are quiet ones. A late ISF, an entry with no bond behind it, a pallet of olive oil from a facility whose FDA registration lapsed at a renewal nobody diaried - none of them look like a problem in Athens. They look like a problem at the port of entry, where the cargo has nowhere to go and nobody local to speak for it.

So we treat the file as the shipment. We hold the Greek export side with our own brokers, we make sure the American filings exist before the box is loaded rather than after, and we tell you which of them are yours to sign. And if something was left behind, we can go back for it and send it on.

What we do not do is your paperwork as a person - visas, work permits, residence. That is a different profession. Your possessions are ours from the moment we pack them until they are unpacked in your new home.