# SHIPPING Documentation AUSTRALIA To MALAGA



## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

Hi can anyone advise please?

I have been asked to provide a "cancellation of residency certificate" by my Shippers in Spain to be exempt from tax and duties when my furniture/personal effects arrive into Malaga and I'm to obtain this from the British Consulate in Sydney.

I shipped furniture and personal effects from the UK to my home in Spain in 2007 and I wasn't asked to provide this and there were no repercussions

I do not wish to cancel my residency in Australia as I have Citizenship and I am a UK Citizen also............I am British born

I have also been asked to provide my NIE number.....less than 1 year old.....mine is 10 years old and a certificate to prove I am registered on the Padron which I am but again the certificate is over 1 year old

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please?

Now wondering if I should collect my goods in the UK and just drive them over myself 

Any advice would be most appreciated


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## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

Could anyone offer anything please?


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

To deal with the authorities, you need a padron that is within 3 months old. Its easy to get one but you need to go to the town hall in your area

I'm not sure at all why you are being asked for a cancellation of residency certificate. You are an EU citizen ... you have made them aware of that?


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Stravinsky said:


> To deal with the authorities, you need a padron that is within 3 months old. Its easy to get one but you need to go to the town hall in your area
> 
> I'm not sure at all why you are being asked for a cancellation of residency certificate. You are an EU citizen ... you have made them aware of that?


I should add that NIE's dont normally expire so I'm not sure why they are asking for an up to date one. Ive had mine for 8 or 9 years and its still valid


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## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

Many thanks...........I have of course queried this with the Spain shipping company but they are not replying at all so I'm feeling a bit stuck! The Australian shippers are baffled as well but they of course take the advice from Spain with no question!
I've also been into the Spanish consulate here in Sydney and came out again with no answers!
Really appreciate your reply ............thanks again


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Maybe a call to UK in Spain (UK embassy in Madrid) might help. They are usually very helpful


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

LojaChica said:


> I have been asked to provide a "cancellation of residency certificate" by my Shippers in Spain to be exempt from tax and duties when my furniture/personal effects arrive into Malaga and I'm to obtain this from the British Consulate in Sydney.
> 
> *I shipped furniture and personal effects from the UK to my home in Spain in 2007 and I wasn't asked to provide this and there were no repercussion*


It's more than likely they're asking for this because you're shipping goods into an EU country from a country outside the EU, this is why you had no problems shipping your items into Spain from the UK in 2007. Inter-EU shipping isn't subject to duty.

They obviously need proof that these are your personal items and therefore not subject to import duty. It might be worth investigating what the situation might be for shipping them into the UK from Australia and what documentation you might have to provide. From the UK obviously you could ship them into Spain without problem, but that may be more expensive and less convenient for you, although if it's en-route it may be possible.

Dealing with the Spanish authorities is notoriously tiresome, you may have more luck understanding the UK system.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

zenkarma said:


> It's more than likely they're asking for this because you're shipping goods into an EU country from a country outside the EU, this is why you had no problems shipping your items into Spain from the UK in 2007. Inter-EU shipping isn't subject to duty.
> 
> They obviously need proof that these are your personal items and therefore not subject to import duty. It might be worth investigating what the situation might be for shipping them into the UK from Australia and what documentation you might have to provide. From the UK obviously you could ship them into Spain without problem, but that may be more expensive and less convenient for you, although if it's en-route it may be possible.
> 
> Dealing with the Spanish authorities is notoriously tiresome, you may have more luck understanding the UK system.


Personal effects / home removals are not subject to import duty and taxes in general anywhere, unless you have new goods in them. That applies to EU or non EU origins / destinations. The general rule for safely shipping effects is to box or case them up, marking all the boxes. You make a shipping manifest detailing what is in each case / box, and you make a declaration stating that the cargo is personal effects and over "x" years old.

I have never heard of anyone being asked to renounce residency or citizenship before and have dealt with numerous effects shipments all over the world in the past. I suspect there is a misunderstanding along the way somewhere with the Spanish Agent, or incorrect paperwork has been lodged. Certainly the NIE request is very strange because, as we know, NIE's are for life usually


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## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

Thank you for your helpful opinions .............I agree I don't really think the Spanish end are taking on board my personal status etc..........I will keep chasing them until they acknowledge this and then see if their documentation requirements change.....cancellation of residency etc
Unfortunately I can't do anything to change the Spanish receivers as that is who the Australian Company deal with and I must say the Ozzie movers this end are really good so I am loathe to look for another one
I'll check back in when I have any news................thanks again


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

LojaChica said:


> Thank you for your helpful opinions .............I agree I don't really think the Spanish end are taking on board my personal status etc..........I will keep chasing them until they acknowledge this and then see if their documentation requirements change.....cancellation of residency etc
> Unfortunately I can't do anything to change the Spanish receivers as that is who the Australian Company deal with and I must say the Ozzie movers this end are really good so I am loathe to look for another one
> I'll check back in when I have any news................thanks again


You CAN change the agent that deals with the processing of your goods through customs. It will cost you a bit more for sure, but you just request that the agent hands over the papers to your nominated agent. So you just need to find someone here who understands your position


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## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

Ok.............thank you


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## aletadetiburon (Feb 3, 2013)

LojaChica, what was your resolution to this issue? 

I am now running into the same problem - my husband (who is a German citizen but has a US green card) and I (US citizen) are being asked for evidence of the start & end dates of his stay in the U.S. The U.S. does not process empadronamientos like they do here in Spain. We fear that asking for such a document from the US consulate will result in the government forcing him to give up his US green card. 

I found some information on a moving company website that mentions a Consular Deregistration Letter. We had no luck calling the US Consulate here in Barcelona so far, just ran into dead ends with the phone tree. Would a US consulate even be willing to do this for a German citizen with a US green card?

We put his name on the shipping documents because we thought it would be easier for an EU citizen, but now I'm not so sure.


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## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

Sorry I have no advice to offer you at the moment.............I am still waiting for answers myself.............keep in touch on this post and as soon as I have anything else to offer I will post it


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## aletadetiburon (Feb 3, 2013)

I'll keep updating this thread as well as I learn more, for you and others who run into this issue. 

So the customs agency we're working with is Tibco International. They initially asked for our de-registration in the USA, basically the equivalent of the form you get from the town hall here when you move away. Unfortunately, the USA does not have this. When we explained this to them, they said they would need some other official government paperwork showing the exact start and end date of our residency in the U.S. Again, the U.S. does not offer this. So when we probed, they showed us the flyer that they were using that requested the following: 

"Original o fotocopia del certificado consular o certificación de la autoridad local, o cualquier otro medio de prueba admitido donde se indique la fecha de baja de residencia y la residencia en los lugares de procedencia."

My translation: 
Original or photocopy of the Consular certificate or certification of the local authority or whatever other manner of test that is admitted where it indicates the date of end of residence and the residence in the preceding places.

Internet research has indicated that they want to verify that we've been living outside of Spain for 1 year or longer. Otherwise, we would be subject to duty taxes for our personal items. 

With the help of some friends in the town where we lived in the U.S., we got our landlord and our previous apartment to sign a form confirming the start and end dates of our tenancy. (We just made up a form - Affidavit of Residency - that was written in a formal style, the Spaniards seem to like that.) We also included a copy of our lease. We then got it notarized and sent it to Tibco. They've given it to the customs office and are waiting to hear whether this will be sufficient.

If not, I've seen reference on several websites to a "Consular Deregistration Letter stating that customer resided in the country where the move originates for more than 12 months. It must show clearly dates of period abroad showing date of arrival/registration – departure/deregistration". I made an appointment at the consulate and will bring them the letter from our landlord and lease to prove our dates of residency in the U.S. and hopefully they can produce a letter/document that customs will accept. 

The customs agent also required a copy of my husband's NIE - which he thankfully was able to acquire already (just 3 weeks after we arrived) as an EU citizen. But I realize it's not that easy or fast for everyone, so I encourage anyone else going through this process to start the process as soon as you arrive.

I'm finding that different moving company websites list different requirements of documentation for customs - there are some commonalities but some lists are longer than others. I think like most Spanish bureaucracy, it really depends on which customs agent you get as to whether they decide to enforce ALL of the requirements or just some of them. But all of them seem to require the following:

1. Copy of your empadronamiento
2. Copy of your NIE or Spanish ID card
3. Evidence showing you lived in another country for more than a year
4. List of all the goods in your container (manifest) in English or Spanish - the shipping company we hired requested this of us before we left.

Some places also have required:
5. estimated value of all the goods in the container
6. copy of your passport

This site (Interdean) has been the most helpful to me, and this site has a lot of detail, but the list is very long and strict and I suspect that it's rarely enforced that strictly, so take it with a grain of salt.

Re: the requirement that your NIE be new, I wonder if it has to do with being currently registered as a tax resident. I believe this happens automatically when you first apply for your NIE, but if you've been away from the country then you may have to re-register. I am only guessing this, as the second site I linked above says that you need to register with the Spanish Treasury Department when you arrive. I hope that helps!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

aletadetiburon said:


> Re: the requirement that your NIE be new, I wonder if it has to do with being currently registered as a tax resident. I believe this happens automatically when you first apply for your NIE, but if you've been away from the country then you may have to re-register. I am only guessing this, as the second site I linked above says that you need to register with the Spanish Treasury Department when you arrive. I hope that helps!



NIE numbers have nothing to do with residency, tax or otherwise - they are fiscal ID numbers which you need to be able to purchase or inherit property (among other things) 

you don't even necessarily need to set foot in Spain to have one 

NIE numbers last for life - but the actual certificate has a validity of 3 months


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> NIE numbers have nothing to do with residency, tax or otherwise - they are fiscal ID numbers which you need to be able to purchase or inherit property (among other things)
> 
> you don't even necessarily need to set foot in Spain to have one
> 
> NIE numbers last for life - but the actual certificate has a validity of 3 months


Just to clarify for those who don't know.

Older NIE certificates last forever. 

Ones obtained recently are only temporary and, as stated above, only last 3 months.


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## aletadetiburon (Feb 3, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> Just to clarify for those who don't know.
> 
> Older NIE certificates last forever.
> 
> Ones obtained recently are only temporary and, as stated above, only last 3 months.


This is definitely news to me. Does this mean everyone with a recent NIE has to renew it every 3 months?!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

aletadetiburon said:


> This is definitely news to me. Does this mean everyone with a recent NIE has to renew it every 3 months?!


not quite - sometime around the beginning of last year they started issuing NIE certs with a validity date of 3 months

while the actual NUMBER never expires, the certificate does - so if you need your NIE cert for anything official, then you have to have one 'in date'

of course, since the NIE is on your resident cert, & they don't have an expiry date - residents are fine - it's just non-residents who have this issue - & they aren't likely to have to show it very often....


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## aletadetiburon (Feb 3, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> not quite - sometime around the beginning of last year they started issuing NIE certs with a validity date of 3 months
> 
> while the actual NUMBER never expires, the certificate does - so if you need your NIE cert for anything official, then you have to have one 'in date'
> 
> of course, since the NIE is on your resident cert, & they don't have an expiry date - residents are fine - it's just non-residents who have this issue - & they aren't likely to have to show it very often....


Ah, that makes more sense. Thanks for clearing that up.


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

I recently had the same experience when I moved from Perth, Western Australia, to Spain in March this year. 
After many emails I received the following from the Spanish Shipping, I followed his request and I had no problem. The letter required from my accountant was to say that I had been resident in Australia for x years. I hope this helps, if you have further questions I am happy to help. Issi

_I have rechecked all documents with the Spanish customs authorities and I got information that if will be impossible to obtain an letter from the Australian a Internal Affairs Department / or similar document from the Australian TownHall we can used following two documents as approve of your residence at Australia: _

_- Clear photocopy of you Passport. _
_- Original of the declaration from your accountant. _
_- Original of the declaration from owners of the building where you live now saying that you live there from XXXX and also state that you are leaving your address in Australia by date XXXX._


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## aletadetiburon (Feb 3, 2013)

Issi, this is very interesting!! I just got information from the shipping company that we will have to start paying storage fees for the container if it's not out of customs by next Wednesday, which is the earliest we can get to the consulate. We might be able to get a letter from his accountant more quickly and avoid paying storage fees.

To whom was the declaration from your accountant addressed? If we replicate your letter (but with our information, of course) then that will likely be accepted. We already have the lease from our former landlord showing the dates that we resided in the U.S. (we're already in Barcelona). Is there anything else you think we'll need from your experience?


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

I can send you all the documentation that I used, I don't know how to contact you privately to send you copies of my documents? What shipping company did you use?


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

aletadetiburon said:


> Issi, this is very interesting!! I just got information from the shipping company that we will have to start paying storage fees for the container if it's not out of customs by next Wednesday, which is the earliest we can get to the consulate. We might be able to get a letter from his accountant more quickly and avoid paying storage fees.
> 
> To whom was the declaration from your accountant addressed? If we replicate your letter (but with our information, of course) then that will likely be accepted. We already have the lease from our former landlord showing the dates that we resided in the U.S. (we're already in Barcelona). Is there anything else you think we'll need from your experience?


You sound as if you are in a similar situation to what we were in in September 2011.
Our furniture was being shipped from Hk to Spain, the agents at the Spanish end were asking for an 030 certificate, we had difficulty getting this, and didn't get very far with information from different embassies, we were at the stage we almost felt like tearing our hair out- due to the red tape.
In the end we went to a gestor, taking copies of all the requests from the shipping firm, he understood, and 'sorted' out the correct paperwork. We provided an up to date padron,our NIE numbers, and copies of our passports.We also provided proof that we were paying property tax in Spain, as we have another house which we have owned since 2004, plus the one where we were moving the furniture to (our permanent home). The proof we were paying property tax came from our solicitor, 'it was like bar code references' on a bit of paper. We also provided proof, if needed, in the form of copies of receipts which I had kept for years of the furniture/household effects in the container. When we had the acceptable papers in hand from the gestor, we faxed them to the shipping agent, and a few days later our furniture was delivered. Hope all goes well for you, I think I have remembered all the 'bits and pieces' we needed, what seemed like a nightmare at the time is now forgotten, the help from the gestor was a godsend.


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## aletadetiburon (Feb 3, 2013)

Issi said:


> I can send you all the documentation that I used, I don't know how to contact you privately to send you copies of my documents? What shipping company did you use?


Issi, the shipping company is RSS, LLC from Newark NJ. They passed it off to Tiba Int'l to do the customs processing and communication with both companies has not been very helpful in this matter.

I pm'd you my email address, thank you so much for sending the documents for us to use as models.


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## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

THANK You for sharing.................


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

The documents contained personal information, they were not "stock standard" forms, hence couldn't be shared with everyone. However, if anyone else is in the same boat I am happy to help.


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## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

Oh dear........I hope you didn't take that the wrong way?

I meant thanks for sharing your experience/information etc etc


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## LojaChica (Jan 5, 2012)

I'm still not sure how to go about this as I don't have an Accountant to verify how long I've lived here............


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

I wasn't sure about the comment, so thought I should explain, but thank you for clarifying.
Perhaps a photocopy of the relevant pages in your passport authorised with a Stat. Dec by your employer or Justice of the Peace, or something official from the Electric Company, city rate notice, difficult to say, but they love official looking forms and papers. If you were on the electoral roll this may assist?


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## aletadetiburon (Feb 3, 2013)

aletadetiburon said:


> I'll keep updating this thread as well as I learn more, for you and others who run into this issue.
> 
> So the customs agency we're working with is Tibco International. They initially asked for our de-registration in the USA, basically the equivalent of the form you get from the town hall here when you move away. Unfortunately, the USA does not have this. When we explained this to them, they said they would need some other official government paperwork showing the exact start and end date of our residency in the U.S. Again, the U.S. does not offer this. So when we probed, they showed us the flyer that they were using that requested the following:
> 
> ...


UPDATE! Unfortunately the customs agent did not accept the form that we provided with the lease for the place we last lived (for 5 years). They insisted that we get a document from the German consulate here in Barcelona. So I called them and spoke to someone who confirmed they can do this for us, and will need some sort of proof that we've been living in the U.S. for a certain period of time. 

The documents that they accepted were:


His passport, which was issued in the US and listed his residence location at the time;
his US green card, which listed the date of entry into the US, and 
the lease & form mentioned above, signed & notarized.

They also listed the following other documents that could help show residence:


Previous passports
Utility bills
Tax returns with your address

We even brought his mom's application for residence in the US when he was 13, and his birth certificate to show that she was his mom. But we didn't have to show it since they accepted the above documents. 

We then delivered them in person to Tiba and they had a Customs agent review them when we were there. SUCCESS! They were accepted without hesitation.

We hope to have the container delivered so that we can finish settling into our new home in the next few days.


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## Issi (Nov 20, 2011)

Well done you! There is obviously no consistency with documents, one agent will accept documents another wont. They love red tape but it isn't always the same coloured red! 
Enjoy your new life in Spain!


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