Bringing Your Belongings
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of United States on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match United States to Bolivia · Bringing your belongings
Bolivia lets you bring household goods in free of import duty under a special customs destination, and the qualifying test is time abroad rather than a residence permit: the law reaches non-residents who have spent at least two years outside Bolivia before arriving. The allowance for a foreigner is USD 35,000. The shipment has to arrive in a window running from one month before you do to six months after, through a single customs administration, and the declaration is sworn online and validated by a Bolivian consulate before anything moves. Vehicles are excluded outright.
At a glance
- Allowance for a foreigner
- USD 35,000 FOB
- Allowance for a returning Bolivian
- USD 35,000, or USD 50,000 if it includes used machinery, equipment and tools
- Qualifying period abroad
- At least 2 years
- Arrival window
- From 1 month before to 6 months after the owner arrives
- Customs administrations
- One only - the goods must arrive through a single administration
- Import duty
- None on qualifying goods
- Vehicles
- Excluded, as are parts and accessories of machines or equipment
- Consular validation
- Free
- How often
- Once
Requirements
- At least two years spent abroad before coming to Bolivia
- A sworn declaration of entry of household goods, filed in the customs computer system
- A validation document for that declaration, issued by a Bolivian consulate - free of charge
- A specific-purpose visa, which is what the consular network asks a foreigner for
- Non-habitual importer registration on the customs modernisation portal
- A customs broker to lodge the import declaration on arrival
- The person who swore the declaration must be the one who collects the goods in Bolivia
How the process runs
- Step 1
File the sworn declaration
Aduana Nacional, online
On the customs service's traveller portal, before anything is shipped. An unvalidated declaration is deleted automatically after 30 days and has to be filed again.
- Step 2
Have it validated by a consulate
Bolivian consulate
The Bolivian consulate covering where you are validates the declaration. The consular step is free. Bolivians are additionally asked for a certificate of residence and occupation.
- Step 3
Ship
Country of origin
The shipment must be consigned to a single customs administration and arrive in the window from one month before to six months after you do.
- Step 4
Clear it
Customs administration in Bolivia
A customs broker draws up the import declaration and the allowance is applied. The consignee can hold the goods as household goods for a maximum of six months.
In detail
Two years out, not a permit in
The test is where you have been, not what paper you hold. Someone who has lived abroad for two years qualifies as a non-resident arriving to settle; someone who has been coming and going does not. The consular page adds that visits to Bolivia during those two years must not exceed 90 days, a condition the customs leaflet does not mention.
Country-level policy
On 30 March 2026 Bolivia created a government-wide deregulation programme called Tranca Cero. It builds a single national catalogue of procedures and provides that, once that catalogue is fully in place, no requirement outside it may be demanded. The migration directorate has put a notice at the top of its own procedures page saying its published requirements are the ones currently in force and that the changes coming out of the programme will be added when the implementing rules appear. Everything on Bolivia's pages should be read against that.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of United States
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Menaje Doméstico alcanza a ciudadanos bolivianos y a los no residentes que han permanecido en el exterior al menos dos (2) años anteriores a la fecha de retorno al país.»Our translation - not official
Household Goods reaches Bolivian citizens and non-residents who have remained abroad for at least two (2) years prior to the date of return to the country.
This is the customs service quoting the statute, not the statute. Ley 1990 itself was not read, so the surrounding conditions of article 133 are unknown to us.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Runs the household-goods regime and hosts a library of customs instruments.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of Ley 1990 or DS 25870: it quotes them by article without reproducing them. Its library is not dependable for instrument text either - its own copy of the migration law is an image-only scan, and its household-goods instructivo returns a 404. Its leaflets carry no date beyond a publishing credit.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«en el plazo comprendido entre un (1) mes antes y hasta seis (6) meses después de la fecha de arribo de su propietario.»Our translation - not official
within the period running from one (1) month before to six (6) months after the date of arrival of its owner.
Again the agency stating the regulation. Decreto Supremo 25870 was not read.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Runs the household-goods regime and hosts a library of customs instruments.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of Ley 1990 or DS 25870: it quotes them by article without reproducing them. Its library is not dependable for instrument text either - its own copy of the migration law is an image-only scan, and its household-goods instructivo returns a 404. Its leaflets carry no date beyond a publishing credit.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Para extranjeros no residentes que ingresan a fijar residencia definitiva en el país con una franquicia de $us 35.000, clasificado en la subpartida arancelaria 9801.00.00.10.»Our translation - not official
For non-resident foreigners entering to establish permanent residence in the country, with an allowance of USD 35,000, classified under tariff subheading 9801.00.00.10.
The USD 50,000 figure that appears in the same leaflet is the Bolivian returnee's allowance and includes used machinery. It does not travel to this option.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Runs the household-goods regime and hosts a library of customs instruments.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of Ley 1990 or DS 25870: it quotes them by article without reproducing them. Its library is not dependable for instrument text either - its own copy of the migration law is an image-only scan, and its household-goods instructivo returns a 404. Its leaflets carry no date beyond a publishing credit.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Este tratamiento no será aplicable a la importación de vehículos automotores; partes y accesorios de máquina o equipo; y partes y accesorios que cumplan una función propia.»Our translation - not official
This treatment shall not apply to the importation of motor vehicles; parts and accessories of machines or equipment; and parts and accessories performing a function of their own.
About this source
Runs the household-goods regime and hosts a library of customs instruments.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of Ley 1990 or DS 25870: it quotes them by article without reproducing them. Its library is not dependable for instrument text either - its own copy of the migration law is an image-only scan, and its household-goods instructivo returns a 404. Its leaflets carry no date beyond a publishing credit.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Visa de Objeto Determinado.»Our translation - not official
Specific-purpose visa.
The consular network's list for a foreigner names this visa as a requirement. That is worth noticing: a national of a treaty country who arrives on an identity card and takes the Andean or Mercosur residence route will not hold one.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The consular network. Publishes visa descriptions, requirement lists and the consular tariff, one shared template across every post.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law: it adds conditions the regulation does not contain, capping the multiple visa at ninety uninterrupted days and shortening the student stay from three years to one. It also serves a machine-translated English rendering to some clients, so any reading has to be language-checked before a Spanish excerpt is taken from it.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«$us 50.000 cuando el menaje incluya máquinas, equipos y herramientas usadas en su actividad»Our translation - not official
USD 50,000 where the household goods include used machinery, equipment and tools from their occupation
The higher allowance is the returning Bolivian's. It does not apply to the foreigner's option, which is capped at USD 35,000.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Runs the household-goods regime and hosts a library of customs instruments.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of Ley 1990 or DS 25870: it quotes them by article without reproducing them. Its library is not dependable for instrument text either - its own copy of the migration law is an image-only scan, and its household-goods instructivo returns a 404. Its leaflets carry no date beyond a publishing credit.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Neither Ley 1990 nor Decreto Supremo 25870 was read. Both are quoted here through the customs service's own leaflet, which names the articles.
The customs leaflet is dated 2021 by its own publishing credit. The consular page carries a 2026 copyright notice. Where they differ, we have recorded both rather than choosing.
The consular page requires a specific-purpose visa of a foreigner. Nationals using the Andean or Mercosur residence routes enter without one, and nothing we read resolves what they are supposed to present instead.
The 90-day cap on visits to Bolivia during the qualifying two years appears on the consular page under the Bolivian citizen's requirements, not the foreigner's. We have not seen it stated for foreigners.
- administersDestino especial de menaje doméstico - tríptico informativo
Aduana Nacional de Bolivia
About this source
Runs the household-goods regime and hosts a library of customs instruments.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of Ley 1990 or DS 25870: it quotes them by article without reproducing them. Its library is not dependable for instrument text either - its own copy of the migration law is an image-only scan, and its household-goods instructivo returns a 404. Its leaflets carry no date beyond a publishing credit.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- administersMenaje doméstico - red consular boliviana
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Bolivia) - red consular
About this source
The consular network. Publishes visa descriptions, requirement lists and the consular tariff, one shared template across every post.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law: it adds conditions the regulation does not contain, capping the multiple visa at ninety uninterrupted days and shortening the student stay from three years to one. It also serves a machine-translated English rendering to some clients, so any reading has to be language-checked before a Spanish excerpt is taken from it.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source