Free for a Settler, and the Tariff Never Says Who That Is
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.
107 exceptions recorded across 42 countries · none match United States to Canada · Bringing your belongings
Tariff item 9807.00.00 lets a settler bring household and personal goods into Canada free of duty, on one condition about the goods and one about the timing: they must have been owned, possessed and used abroad before arrival, and they must accompany the settler, unless they are reported on arrival and follow later. Alcohol and tobacco come in fixed quantities inside the same item. Goods sold or disposed of within twelve months of importation fall out of it. What Chapter 98 does not do anywhere in its notes is say who counts as a settler.
At a glance
- Duty on household and personal goods
- Free
- The test
- Owned, possessed and used abroad before your arrival
- Alcohol
- Wine not exceeding 1.5 litres, or any alcoholic beverages not exceeding 1.14 litres
Tariff item 9807.00.00, paragraph (a)(i).
- Tobacco
- Fifty cigars, two hundred cigarettes, two hundred tobacco sticks and two hundred grams of manufactured tobacco
- If you sell within a year
- The goods are no longer goods for the purpose of the item
- Who counts as a settler
- Not defined in Chapter 98 of the Customs Tariff, in its notes or in the item itself
The Agency defines it in its own memoranda, which are guidance rather than law.
Requirements
- Goods owned, possessed and used abroad before you arrived
- Goods accompanying you, or reported at arrival and imported later
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
«9807.00.00 00 Goods imported by a settler for the settler's household or personal use, if actually owned, possessed and used abroad by the settler prior to the settler's arrival in Canada and accompanying the settler at the time of the settler's arrival in Canada. For the purpose of this tariff item: (a) "goods" may include: (i) either wine not exceeding 1.5 litres or any alcoholic beverages not exceeding 1.14 litres, and (ii) tobacco not exceeding fifty cigars, two hundred cigarettes,two hundred tobacco sticks and two hundred grams of manufactured tobacco; (b) "goods" does not include imported goods that are sold or otherwise disposed of within twelve months after importation; and (c) if goods (other than alcoholic beverages, cigars, cigarettes, tobacco sticks and manufactured tobacco) are not accompanying the settler at the time of the settler's arrival in Canada, they may be classified under this tariff item when imported at a later time if they are reported by the settler at the time of the settler's arrival in Canada.»The whole item as the Agency prints it. The three lettered paragraphs are part of the tariff item, not commentary on it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Agency maintains the working edition of the Customs Tariff - the Schedule to the Act, chapter by chapter, in HTML and PDF, reissued whenever the tariff is amended. Chapter 98 carries the non-commercial classifications a traveller or a settler is assessed under.
Standing:
Cannot be cited for: The Agency publishes the tariff; Parliament enacts it. The chapter pages carry the Schedule and not the Act, so the enacting sections, the definitions in Part 1 and the remission orders sit elsewhere. Chapter 98 grants relief without defining several of the classes it grants it to, settler among them, and the definitions it leaves out are in the Agency's own memoranda, which are administrative guidance rather than law.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The limit here is a condition rather than a value. There is no dollar ceiling in the item: the question is whether the goods were yours and used before you came, not what they are worth.
A returning resident is a different item with different limits. 9807.00.00 is for a person arriving to settle.
- publishesCustoms Tariff, Chapter 98
Canada Border Services Agency
About this source
The Agency maintains the working edition of the Customs Tariff - the Schedule to the Act, chapter by chapter, in HTML and PDF, reissued whenever the tariff is amended. Chapter 98 carries the non-commercial classifications a traveller or a settler is assessed under.
Standing:
Cannot be cited for: The Agency publishes the tariff; Parliament enacts it. The chapter pages carry the Schedule and not the Act, so the enacting sections, the definitions in Part 1 and the remission orders sit elsewhere. Chapter 98 grants relief without defining several of the classes it grants it to, settler among them, and the definitions it leaves out are in the Agency's own memoranda, which are administrative guidance rather than law.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source