Deciding what to bring to Thailand and what’s not is a big headache. You don’t want to ship too less items since buying everything new cost a lot of money.
And you also don’t want to ship too much since it will increase the shipping fee and custom tax.
General Rules
Here’s some rules to help you decide easier whether or not you should ship it to Thailand.
Rule #1: Necessity
Before brining anything, ask yourself. Do I really need this item in Thailand? Are you going to use it? If it’s necessary for you or your family, bring it.
Rule #2: Price
Set the minimum price threshold for the item. A good number is $100 USD. If anything that’s more expensive than $100 USD, bring it here. If not, just sell or donate it.
Rule #3: Memory
Is this item important to your memory or not? If yes, bring it.
But before shipping any items to Thailand it’s better to come to Thailand for a month first with the maximum package you can carry on the flight.
After staying here for a while, you might find out that you really do not need to ship anything much to Thailand at all. And you won’t even need to use a shipping company at all.
Instead, you can bring everything you need from your home and bring it with you every time you fly back.
In case you really do need to use a shipping company, let’s take a look at each item category and see which products you should or should not bring to Thailand.
Cloth and Personal Wear
Although cloth, accessories, and footwears can be easily purchased in Thailand, you can bring it as many as you want.
It’s considered as your personal goods and most of the time won’t be subject to taxed, especially if you ship them by sea.
The exception can be a collections of luxurious items such as watches and bags. Thailand is becoming more strict in bringing these items. If you bring many of them by air, there’s a high chance of paying a big amount of import tax.
You might also want to purchase extra pairs of shoes. It’s pretty difficult to find shoe size that’s larger than 12 US size (46 in EU size and 11.5 in UK size)
Decoration
Decoration is totally optional. While you can buy a new decoration in Thailand, some of them can’t be found here.
Note that the decoration has a high chance of being subject to tax, especially for paintings and pictures.
So, let’s go back to the rule. If it’s important for your memory, bring it with you. If not, sell it.
Electronic Appliances
Although their price tend to be higher than $100 USD, it’s better to sell any electronic appliances including vacuum cleaner, air conditioner, fridge, oven, washing machine, and even a television, and buy a new one in Thailand.
After moving to a new country, these item will be out of warranty. Once it’s get broken, which is possible during shipping, you might want to spend this money buying a new one instead of fixing it.
In addition, the standard voltage in Thailand is 220 V at 50 Hz frequency which is totally different in many countries especially for those who come from the US.
To prevent it blowing up, you need to buy an additional power adapter in order to use it here, which costs at least $30 USD. And a power adapter for a vacuum cleaner might even cost you $100 USD in which you can use that money to buy a new good once here in Thailand.
Electronic Gadgets
For your smartwatch, camera, computer, and so on, bring them all with you while flying to Thailand. Unlike electronic applicants, these gadgets always come with their own power adapter allowing you to use it anywhere in the world.
If the plug is different, you can buy a plug adapter here in Thailand. And it’s very cheap.
Kitchenary
You can ship spoon, cutlery, or any crockery you have to Thailand. It’s considered as household staff and most of the time you won’t be taxed for it.
However, be sure to pack it well, especially crockery. Wrap it with newspaper or bubble. You may even want to pack them with towel and let them absorb any possible shocks during shipment.
Furniture
Most of the rental accommodations in Thailand, be it an apartment, a condo, or a house, already have furniture inside.
In addition, these item can be purchased in Thailand with a good quality at good price. So, you won’t really need to bring it here at all unless you have some special reasons like it’s expensive or valuable for your memory.
Furniture is also considered household items by Thai Customs. This means you can bring one of each piece of furniture to Thailand (one chair, one table, one wardrobe, and so on) without having to pay import tax.
If you come with your family, it’s going to be two pieces each. Please read the Avoiding Custom Tax section for more information.
Car and Motorcycle
Updated: The instructions below are no longer valid since you cannot ship a used car to Thailand anymore unless for very specific reasons.
Unless it’s a memento of your memory, it’s better to sell your it and buy a new one in Thailand.
Bringing a car or motorcycle here permanently is very complicated. There are many bureaucratic procedure involved, in addition to registering a car. And you also need to pay a hefty amount of import tax at 200% to 300% of your vehicle price at average.
In addition, the cost of bringing a car normally starts at 50,000 baht if you ship by by sea or 300,000 baht if you ship by air.
And if you’re from a country with a steering wheel on the left side of the car, it’s very risky to drive it here in Thailand where the steering wheel is on the right side.
If you really want to bring your car to Thailand, here’s what you need to do:
- Get an import license and import permit from the Department of Foreign Trade from the Ministry of Commerce*
- Find a shipping company for shipping and customs clearance
- Get a car registration book and registration plate at the Department of Land Transport
*Both import license and permit must be obtained before your vehicle gets to Thailand.
Note: To import a used car, you must hold at least a one-year non-immigration visa and need to own the car for more than 18 months.
You can only ship one car into Thailand. Also, after a successful import, you need to wait three years before sell your car.
To obtain an import license and permit, you need to go to the Department of Foreign Trade. It’s located on the tenth floor of the Ministry of Commerce at 563 Nonthaburi Rd., Amphur Muang, Nonthaburi 11000.
Here’s the required documents:
- A copy of your passport
- A driving license from your home country
- Car registration and title*
- Pictures of the front, back, left, right, inside, and engine of car
*The car registration and title must be certified by Thai embassy.
The approval process takes one to two months. Also, it’s recommended to contact the Thai Embassy directly at +662-5474771-86 to find out more information. The import regulations and requirements are subject to change without prior notice.
You also need to get a shipping insurance for your vehicle, which costs around 1% to 2% of the total value.
Once your vehicle is in Thailand, you need to get a car registration book and registration plate at the Department of Land Transport. The entire process is straightforward and can be done within two hours.
Here’s what you need:
- A car registration form (can be obtained at the Department of Land Transport)
- A certificate of import from Thai Custom (Form 32)
- An import entry, import list, and VAT receipt
- A motor insurance receipt
- A copy of your passport including the visa stamp page
- A certificate of resident or a work permit
Once you get to the Department of Land Transport, go to the information counter, and present all your documents to the officer.
Then, you’ll need to have your car inspected there and pay annual taxes and fees, which should costs less than 5,000 baht in total depending on your car’s age and engine size. Then you’ll get the car registration book and license plates.
Other
For other item like a bicycle, car seat for your kids, musical instruments, hobby equipments, and so on, you can go back to the three rules as mentioned above, necessity, price, and memory, and decide again whether or not you want to ship it to Thailand.
If you can declare that these items are for personal staff, there’s a chance that it won’t be taxed.
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