Moving from India to the USA — Household Shipping Done Properly

Most India-to-USA moves we handle are not full households. They are a carefully chosen part of one: the kitchen you cook Indian food in, books, bedding, a puja unit, a child's things, maybe a solid wood dining table you are not willing to leave behind. REHOUSING PACKERS PVT LTD plans these shipments from any Indian origin city, packs them for a five-to-eight-week ocean journey, files the Indian export paperwork, and coordinates US customs clearance and delivery through a licensed destination partner. This page covers what is specific to the US lane; for how our international process works end to end, start with the international relocation overview.

US customs in plain language: the one-year rule and Form 3299

The United States allows used household effects to enter free of duty if they were used in your household abroad for at least one year and are not for sale or for anyone else. That is the rule almost every India-to-USA shipment relies on, and it has two practical consequences:

1. Anything bought new for the move is dutiable. A sealed appliance carton or a sofa with the tag still on invites duty and questions. If you must buy new, unpack and use it — or accept that it may be assessed. 2. Your inventory is your evidence. CBP treats the mover's numbered inventory as the packing list and can ask for it. Saying "household effects" is not enough; the list must describe what is in each carton.

Because your goods travel without you, the claim for duty-free entry is made on CBP Form 3299, Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles, filed at the US port of entry by a licensed customs broker. Our destination partner prepares it from your inventory, passport and visa details; you sign it. Broker fees and any examination or storage charges at the port are paid at destination and are separate from our freight quote — we tell you the expected range before you ship rather than after.

Documents for the US side: passport, the US visa you entered on (H-1B, L-1, F-1, Green Card), a valued inventory in English, the ocean bill of lading or air waybill, and the signed Form 3299 with its supplemental declaration.

Which coast, which port — and why it changes your timeline

The USA is wide, and where you are landing changes both transit time and cost.

• New Jersey / New York / Virginia / Georgia (East Coast): containers from Nhava Sheva or Mundra typically route via the Suez to ports such as Newark, Norfolk or Savannah. Port-to-port is usually five to seven weeks; door-to-door in the NJ–NY Indian corridor (Edison, Jersey City, Princeton) is among the more predictable US lanes.
• California / Washington (West Coast): Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle/Tacoma are reached across the Pacific and often take longer from India than the East Coast. Inland trucking to the Bay Area or Seattle suburbs is short once the container lands.
• Texas, Illinois, the Midwest: Houston has its own port; Dallas, Austin and Chicago are usually served by rail or truck from a coastal port, adding roughly one to two weeks and an inland leg to the quote.

Sailing frequency, transhipment and customs queues all move these numbers. We give you a dated estimate at quote stage and update it when the vessel is confirmed, rather than promising a fixed "30 days".

LCL is the norm for this route

Because most India-to-USA households are partial, the shipment usually travels as LCL — you pay for the cubic metres you use in a shared container. The trade-off is consolidation time at both ends and more handling, which is why export packing matters more on this route than almost any other. We crate glass-topped tables and marble, double-carton crockery, and wrap wooden furniture against humidity. If your survey crosses roughly 25–28 cubic metres, a 20 ft FCL container starts to compete on price; we show you both.

An air consignment of 100–300 kg is common alongside the sea shipment: pressure cooker, tawa, a few sets of clothes for the season, laptop peripherals, the child's school things. It lands well before you finish setting up the apartment.

What Indian families ask us before shipping to the US

• Appliances: India runs 230 V; the US runs 110–120 V. Mixers, microwaves and geysers will not work without a heavy step-down transformer. We generally advise against shipping large appliances. Laptop and phone chargers are dual-voltage and fine.
• Spices and dry food: Small quantities of sealed, labelled spices as part of a household move are usually tolerated, but food shipments technically fall under FDA rules. Keep them minimal, sealed, and listed. Fresh items, seeds and pickles in open containers should stay home.
• Mattresses and beds: Indian mattress sizes do not match US frames; king and queen dimensions differ. Ship the wooden frame only if it is worth more than replacing.
• Two-wheelers and cars: Vehicles cannot travel inside a household container and are a separate, heavily regulated import. Ask before assuming.

Insurance on a long ocean lane

The India–USA sea route is one of the longest we ship, with two port handlings for LCL. Every shipment carries complementary transit cover up to ₹50,000; for the declared value of the household, opt for full cover at 3% of declared value. Declare realistically — a claim is settled against the valued inventory and the delivery exception report signed at your US address.

Getting a quote

Tell us your origin city, US state and city, tentative travel date and visa type on +91 87005 74566 (call or WhatsApp) or via the contact page. We will schedule a video survey, then send a written LCL/air quote with US-side charges estimated separately. Domestic storage before departure is priced on our charges page.