Greece is a beautiful place, and it’s understandable if you would wish to live there one day. However, removing all of your personal effects from one country to another is certainly not a simple task. For one, you can’t really take all of your things to another country because it will cost too much. Also, not everything that’s allowed in your home country is allowed in your country of destination.
Where To Start
Once you’ve found out that you need to move to another country, scout for good movers who can provide you with a 20 ft or 40 ft container. These are standard enclosed containers which should be able to hold most of your personal effects. Before contacting the mover, though, visit the Embassy of Greece. You need to find out the number of allowable and tax free belongings you can take, the types of prohibited items, and the documentations necessary for restricted items before shipping to Greece.
Itemize & Inventory
Next, sort out your personal belongings. You will be asked to pack these in boxes later on. For now, group all your clothes, books, and other “safe” items in one group. Put all the restricted items in another group and consider which ones of these you will be taking with you. Finally, put the restricted items you need to dispose of, and the prohibited items in one group. Give them to your family and friends, or sell them if you still have time. Greece is a pretty lenient country, but their rules change every once in a while. You really should get an updated item list from the Embassy to make sure you’re not bringing forbidden items. Otherwise, these will be confiscated, and you won’t be able to get your personal effects on time.
Shipping Boxes
The boxes where you can put your small items will be provided by the mover. You need to use these boxes, and pack your items as instructed so you can claim your insurance rights later on should anything happen to your belongings. Some moving companies even insist that they give you a hand in the packing. This usually happens during international removals. This way, the movers will know that you’ve itemized your personal effects correctly, and that you won’t be looking for items later on which were never transported to the port of destination in the first place.
Clean papers
You should try your best to produce clean papers. Make sure you have your passport and all necessary bills so you can claim everything that’s in the 20 ft to 40 ft enclosed container. There may be some items you would like to transport to Greece which cannot fit these standard containers. If this is the case, you will be asked to rent an open rack. This is basically the same container without walls and roofing so you’re left with the floor and the frames. The security of the items here might not be as good as those in enclosed containers, but you do have your insurance to help you out. You can also pack your over-sized items in cardboard and bubble wrap for protection.
