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Post by Texas on Dec 9, 2011 16:08:12 GMT
Folks,
I searched the forum but didn't find much discussion about mail forwarding services. All my banking docs are paperless however, once in a while I would need a mail to be forwarded to Saudi Arabia if it contains:
1) New credit card from my bank after the old one has expired.
2) Driver License renewal
3) Other things that require street address in the US
What is the best way in dealing with two mail forwarding?
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Post by Carolina on Dec 10, 2011 4:39:01 GMT
o
I am sure other Aramcons from the US will chip in as we have all our UK mail forwarded here and we have never had problems - my husband being here for 3 years and also me here for one year - fortunately nothing gets lost and that is including having new cards sent here as well - but obviously sometimes for urgent mail we have used DHL.
Regards
Carolina
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Post by teebee on Dec 10, 2011 11:14:08 GMT
If you register for Shop & Ship, also known as Aramex you will be given a UK, US and China address. You can then get any items which require an address in either of those countries forwarded to you here at Aramco. There is a joining fee and you pay according to the weight of the items shipped out. www.shopandship.com/default.aspxHope this helps. Teebee |
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Post by Texas on Dec 10, 2011 16:53:21 GMT
Great feedback, thanks folks!
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Post by dgc00 on Dec 11, 2011 5:07:03 GMT
I use myUS - yearly fee + $10-17/lb. Mostly use for packages (amazon, ebay, other online purchases). They repackage, put in any mail, and send it via DHL - takes 1-2 days to get into Kingdom plus 3-7 days to clear customs. If you still have an address, USPS offers forwarding (normal and premium service). Note: Some bank documents cannot be forwarded (e.g., credit card, however, you can call your bank and have them courier it direct to you). If you only expect to receive some mail, then consider just using a friend or family.
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Post by Hadia on Dec 11, 2011 6:45:04 GMT
This gets into another, related area...What to list as your permanent street address if you've sold your home and are using a Shop and Ship type of account, yet you plan to keep US bank accounts. And what about driver's license renewal when the time comes, when back in home country on repat? Not necessarily easy or practical to use a relative's address if you were living in a different state than them. I've heard some people say they use the UPS mail forwarding, but I'm not sure how that might work in terms of having a street address that would be acceptable for banking/residency purposes, and also if UPS delivers here. I have an Aramex account, and have found that the street address they tell you to use for your US address causes many problems when shopping online. Frequently, it's not recognized and cannot be entered. I'm a bit reluctant to use that as our new street address, especially since the address itself is problematic, and also, we did not come from NY, which is where that address is located.
Comments from US expats, anyone?
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Post by vpainter on Dec 23, 2011 14:29:36 GMT
We use my mom's address as a U.S. mailing address. Others use other family members or good friends. We are from TX, my mom is in OK. The driver's license form has a place for mailing address other than your home address, so our TX driver's license renewals go to our OK mailing address.
In TX we were able to keep our old home address for Driver's license purposes and voting purposes, even though we had sold the home.
Other mail options I'll send you an email.
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Post by Hadia on Dec 24, 2011 4:29:21 GMT
Good tip about continuing to use last home address for driver's license/voter registration.
We need to figure out something quite soon for a street address that is not with a relative. The relative we've used for our new address is herself leaving the US. We'd rather not go with additional family after that point. Hoping for a professional, long-term solution that will provide us with a street address in our home state that banks will accept so that we always have a permanent US street address.
Has anyone used UPS for this? Does UPS deliver in Kingdom?
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Post by Texas on Dec 24, 2011 17:05:18 GMT
Hadia,
I am in the same predicament. I Don't have relatives here, yet I need to establish US presence. Thanks to "VPainter" for the tip regarding "US Global Mail" forwarding service. $15/month and you get a local street address with online visibility and access to your left-over mail.
I think this is the best solution and most convenient of all.
Of course, security and ideny theft is always on my mind but I have to keep vigilant regarding my credit report and always check on my bank accounts.
I am going to try it for one year and see how it goes.
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derekg
Senior Member
Posts: 107
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Post by derekg on Dec 27, 2011 15:24:07 GMT
The solution I found is a tad different from what the others here use. My main method of getting mail is having someone reliable in the US to receive my mail. They scan and e-mail the important stuff to me and any bills I have now are auto-pay or electronic. I did end up keeping a US address and it was not a difficult matter. What I did for the scanning was a multi-function printer with a scan to e-mail function so the person need only load the mail into the scanner and the rest is all set up already (which means my e-mail address and standard subject are set up). This makes life much easier for dealing with things that require urgent attention. For any shipping, I just use Shop and Ship since they are quick and reliable. Other services exist, but I try to avoid monthly fees as much as I can. You will find that regular mail forwarding is often not ideal since there is a great deal of junk mail that can be hard to filter; having someone receive and scan your mail is often best. I think there are services that can do this for you as well ...
The biggest challenge you will have is driving licenses. You are supposed to have only one valid drivers license in your possession; having a KSA one and a USA one is potential no-no that could raise some red flags! If you are resident for more than 30 days you are supposed to have a driving license, but if you are resident elsewhere (e.g. KSA) you are supposed to have a driving license issues by the authority in your residential area. What I do is have an international driving permit which you can acquire from FIFA at a nominal cost. This has presented no problems for me renting cars in Canada or the USA.
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Post by vpainter on Dec 27, 2011 20:08:27 GMT
the law for not having more than one valid driver's license in your possession is regarding U.S. driver's license, not international ones:
SPECIAL NOTE: A person may not receive a Texas driver license until
he surrenders to the Department all valid driver licenses in his possession
issued to him by this or any other state.
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Post by jknow on Dec 29, 2011 16:47:39 GMT
Do NOT use Borderlinx - they are as dodgy as they come.
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Post by Economist on Jan 11, 2012 10:23:14 GMT
Hi Texas,
Based on your handle, you'll find USGlobalMail, already recommended, to be handy when it comes time to maintaining a Texas presence for purposes of your driver's license. We left Houston recently and use their service. They're nice folks. However, their shipping rates are *much* higher than MyUS.com, as a friend recently pointed out to me.
For example, a 31 pound box that USGlobalMail had repacked, and quite well so that the dimensional weight and actual weight were the same, cost me $311 to ship by UPS . The rates they quoted me to send the package by DHL was $488.29 and by FedEx International Economy $401.41. For FedEx "International Priority” the quote was $515.12. Wow!
That friend I mentioned shipped a 30 pound box by MyUS.com, costing him $234.35, and he confirmed that it was sent via FedEx International Priority. $234.50 < $515.12, to state the obvious. And he didn't have to pay customs duty! I figured I don't mind saving $100-$200/month (we ship a lot) and signed up for MyUS.com as well. They have a mail service, where you can receive mail as well as packages, for an extra cost.
Aramex Shop and Ship, which I also subscribe to, does not repack multiple shipments into one, nor does it accept mail--just packages. Therefore, it does not provide the service you are asking for, but it does provide its own advantages as a supplemental service to get things here quickly and seems to have more rapid processing through customs.
Customs, and the tales of woe I have about them, is an entirely different and long story....
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Post by cacord on Jan 24, 2012 11:16:47 GMT
We use a mail forwarding company in the United States that provides us with a street address. It is St Brendens Isle ( www.sbimailservice.com/). We didn't want our family handling our mail and having that burden. So, our mail is sent there, they scan the envelope and email it to us and we can choose to either keep, shred, open. We occasionally will need to have documents, checks, new credit cards etc sent to us and they will handle determining postage rates etc and typically send it DHL. We also have had packages sent there and then when I was home in the States over the holidays had them send everything at once to my parents house. They stored a package for me for several months. We just sold our house which we were using for our driver's license address and so we will now either use the mail forwarding address or my parents. I also just ship things to my parents if we need it more immediately and they will repackage (such as take Halloween costumes out of packaging and label it as kids clothes for customs purposes), add some fun stuff for the kids and mail it in the flat rate postal service boxes. The rates are reasonable and take between 2-4 weeks to arrive. |
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Post by Hadia on Jan 25, 2012 5:54:47 GMT
Cacord, thanks for sharing such detailed info.
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