Personal Effects Accounting Document

One of the bittersweet part of being an emigrant is packing your things. Oh my heart. After going through months of ordeal just to have a permanent resident visa then comes the realization that we are actually living our home country and people we love, especially our parents, cry mode.

Every time I gets too emotional because of high levels of separation anxiety, I just think of our little R, that he/she is waiting for us or hopefully them (praying for twins here) in the maple leaf country. Then and there the separation anxiety's level goes down.

Anyway, as discussed in my previous post on PDOS seminar, CFO staff will instruct you where to get your forms relating to goods to bring and goods to follow and that is from Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) website.

Note that as per Memorandum D2-1-5 dated 18 November 2015, CBSA renumbered:

(1) Form B4 to BSF186 (Personal Effects Accounting Document). For goods to bring. You may download Form BSF186 HERE.

(2) Form B4A to BSF186A (Personal Effects Accounting Document [List of Goods Imported]). For goods to follow. You may download Form BSF186A HERE.

Download and read Memorandum D2-1-5 HERE. Note, however, that B4 and B4A is written at the lower left margin of BSF186 and  BSF186A, respectively. Confusing it is but that is what is in the forms.

We have been packing since last year when we sold our house and most of our furniture and fixtures. We donated most of our personal belongings since childhood. LOL, I think this only applies to me. I even donated 2 balikbayan boxes of stuffed toys to Jollibee. And then, when we rented an apartment and moved to the province after resigning from work, we again disposed and donated our belongings. Mostly shoes again, LOL. I think this is a so-called girl thing, like Imelda Marcos collecting shoes, LOL.  So, our things were cut down to clothes, shoes and personal items. My husband's problem now is with regards to (1) my photo albums (oh, I so love pictures and I do not want my albums to be left behind, LOL); (2) my framed cross stitches and pictures (almost 10 frames, hahaha. I cannot leave them because I was given 4 eyes here); and (3) my wedding gown and all its accessories (girl power here, LOL).

Okay, so we have 4 luggages. Two for each one of us that is one large and one medium sized luggages. After how many months of debating, even asking opinions from the family circle, we finally decided to bring with us my photo albums. Good thing my husband has lesser clothes so instead of bringing a box for the albums, we put them to my husband's luggage, LOL. The smaller black luggage is my husband's things only hahaha then the bigger black luggage is for you to guess, LOL. I do not have other recourse but to declare my framed cross stitches, some framed pictures, my wedding gown and all its accessories to "goods to follow list".  I am not sure if I will bring them someday to Canada but just the same I listed them to "goods to follow" in case I change my mind.

What I did is I group all together (1) clothes, (2) shoes, and (3) personal items for "goods to bring". This 3 will be written down to Form BSF186. The itemized list of goods for each groups where put in a separate excel sheets. I printed and attached them to Form BSF186.  I printed 2 copies for each documents.  I listed only the cross stitches, picture frames and wedding gowns plus accessories to our "goods to follow" to Form BSF186A and also printed 2 copies. Below is the printed list of our "goods to bring":

Afterwhich, I entered only (1) Clothes, (2) Shoes, and (3) Personal Items to BSF186. Put on the total for each group and also I indicated Annex "A", "B" and "C" hereof, respectively for each. I chose to over comply, I always do, LOL. I even applied over compliance in our previous applications but, hey, at least they all fit in the 4 luggages below, LOL, and all of them are below 23kgs. (allowed weight for Air Canada).

So there, we are done with packing and so happy all our things were put in 4 luggages only. Oh, I forgot to tell, we also have our own backpacks as our carry on, LOL. Our backpacks are intended for our personal documents and some clothing (for changing in Toronto [our Port of Entry]). We will also just carry our laptop bag and a sling bag.

Our journey to the maple leaf country, to chase our dream of becoming parents, is just starting. Until now, we cannot believe that we are leaving our country. We know that our journey will not be easy but isn't it that our infertility journey is way too hard, not to mention, emotionally and financially draining. Whatever life brings us, we know that God is in control. He directed us to the maple leaf country and we know He will continue to guide us as we settle there and eventually grants the desire of our hearts...our little R. Thy will be done, Oh Lord, according to Your will.