Moving your Stuff from USA to Russia

First of all, I asked 2 different companies on moving my two bedroom apartment to Russia. They both gave me approximate figure $10 000 - $20 000. I calculated and looked some prices for goods and furniture in Russia. I decided it is not worthy for me to move all my belongings. I can buy everything in Russia. Gosh, the closet style furniture costs only $160 delivered. That is absolutely cheap.

Of course, I had some items of value that I decided to take with me. So, I sold both of my cars: Toyota Camry and Honda Civic. Russia has awesome public transportation so I enjoy not having to drive the car.

And I ended up with 9 pieces of luggage. Family of three, we had each 2 bags checked in and one carry on per person for our flight. Also , I had a laptop and a stroller.

But anyway, if you are not like me, and you want to move your things to Russia, this guide is for you.

I will not recommend any transportation companies, you can google them.
I will tell you what to expect.

Now, I would suggest that you choose door to door delivery. That means that they will take your stuff from your residence in the USA and deliver it to your apartment in Russia.

Once you tell the transportation company your zip code of departure. They will send you an email. There you will have couple of ways to let them know how much stuff you have. This way they will figure out the size of your shipment. So, these are your options:

1. Email them a list of the items you intend to ship to their email. If you have a ready list of items with measurements etc., you can email to the transportation company and they will calculate the cost of your shipment, based on information you provided.

2. You can call directly to your moving agent and provide the list verbally over the phone. Who would want to do that? But that is the option. It is there.

3. The transportation company will provide you the link for you to fill out your volume estimate form. It goes from Appliances to bedrooms, office, nursery, kitchen etc. You input your information and define the quantity of each item. Also, you have an option if insert custom measurements and nonstandard items. Here is the sample of what it looks like.


4. You can request Pre-Move FREE survey from your company. Make sure that they have that option. So, when you are shipping goods to Russia, the total volume is measured in cubic feet or weight of your stuff. Most likely you will ship LCL - Less than
container load. However, if you have a big house and you absolutely want to take everything you may use 20ft or 40ft container for your shipment to Russia. They call this FCL ( Full Container Load).

So, really, you have two options here: in-person or virtual survey. I will define both.

a.) In person survey: During in person survey, they will physically an inventory of your items, including their size and weight. So, they send a physical person to your house, measure and weight everything. It takes anywhere from 30-to 45 minutes. Later they will give you the quote.

b.) Virtual Pre-Move Survey. It depends on the moving company but usually it is an app that you download. You connect with one of their sales representatives on video call and you do the virtual walking of your stuff that you need to ship to Russia. The whole process takes anywhere between 20-30 minutes.

Your transportation company will provide documents list, however I will supply it here so you can know what to expect for your international shipment:

Used Household Goods Documents Required

Copy of passport
Packing list
Telex release bill of lading (OBL) / copy air waybill (AWB)
Detailed inventory or pro-forma invoice
Customs declaration form
Letter of employment
Copy of visa (accredited individuals)
Copy of accreditation card (accredited individuals)
Customs declaration form (non-accredited individuals).
Registration with the Federal Immigration Services (FMS) (non-accredited individuals)
Power of attorney

Specific Information
- Customs duty is EUR 4/kg or 30% of the value (the higher will be taken) for all non-diplomatic shipments.
- Payments are done only with rubles directly to the Federal Custom Service (FTS)
- All in-bound non-diplomatic shipments are subject to the payment of Customs duties and taxes calculated based on the costs, insurance, and freight (CIF) value of the shipment.
- All shipments are subject to issuance of a Customs declaration for each Harmonized System code (HS code). 
- The cost of the Customs declaration will be determined during the Customs clearance process.
- The detailed inventory must include photographs and values for all objects of art.Inventory must include the value, dimensions, author, year / period of art, and materials used in all photos and artwork.
- The Customs declaration form is required for unaccompanied baggage that must be stamped and signed by Customs at the time of owner of the goods’ arrival (returning citizens only who apply for duty-free import).
- The power of attorney must be done at Russian notary.
- The letter of employment must be company letterhead to the Russian authorities.
- The exchange rate is based on the Russian Central Bank the day of import clearance, so the owner of the goods has to pay more to prevent exchange difference.
- Payment to the Federal Custom Service takes about 3 - 4 working days.

Motor Vehicles Documents Required
- Original technical passport
- Telex release bill of lading / copy air waybill
- Original Customs declaration
- Pro-forma invoice
- Purchase document - Employment confirmation letter (non-citizens) 

Specific Information
- The Customs declaration is necessary to register the vehicle
with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
- The temporary import of vehicles can be done only for foreign citizens and only for duration of the owner of the goods’ visa. No longer than 12 months. 

Pets Documents Required
- Certificate of vaccination
- Veterinary health certificate
- Pet passport 

Specific Information
- The veterinary health certificate must be issued no more than 10 days within arrival of pet.
- Permission from the Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Agriculture is required for all animals except, cats, and dogs.

Restricted/Dutiable Items
- Wine and spirits (2 L)
- Arms and ammunition
- Precious jewelry, stones, medicines, and currency can be imported only as accompanied baggage and must be declared with Customs authorities at the time of owner of the goods’ arrival.

Prohibited Items
- Weapons of all kinds
- Pornography
- Narcotics
- Toxic and radioactive materials
- Flora and fauna objects
- Technical / receiving apparatus which operate with frequency higher than 9 KHz


There you have it. You may want to read Customs Requirements to Russia.
Also, While I tried to offer you a comprehensive guide for moving your stuff to Russia, it is important to remember that you can buy almost everything in Russia and at a much cheaper prices than in the USA. The choice is yours.