Importing Orchids from overseas

[Ak_Orchid]

I want to order some orchids out of the UK and have been trying to find out what "license" you have to have in order to have them shipped to you. I've applied at the USDA website and have a LV 2 Import License, but I don't know if that's all I need. The shipper of the orchids wants to know a license number, which I don't know (or know if I have). Have any of you had to apply for this license? If so, do you have any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance for any help.

Sean

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I am not familiar with the 'LV 2' you are refering to. Your license should consist of a document and it should have a number on it. If you have requested the stickers (Yellow and Green?), you will find the number on them. The shipper will need to get an export permit from his country, and a Phytosanitary certificate from his agricultural department. These will be include with the plants, as well as your import permit/license #. It has been a long time since I imported orchids, but I reviewed the gov. requirements recently for someone else asking about importing, and I think that is all you will need for now. In the future, this may change. Cynthia

[Ak_Orchid]

Where would you usually get the required permit? And the stickers you're referring to? I might have applied for something that I don't need. Thanks

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

This is the form you want as a printable file:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/forms/ppqform587.pdf

They shouldn't charge you anything for this as you are not a commercial importer. This is the preceding page that will let you file this form on-line. But I personally wouldn't want to have to keep track of another pass word.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/permits/ppq_epermits.shtml

When I filled this out 20+ years ago (the form hasn't changed in all those years), I put orchids under scientific name and plants under plant parts. For country, I listed every likely country I could think of, infact, I even think I put an 'etc.' in there. One of these days I'll pull out my old permit from the basement, its very well burried right now, and see what I wrote. Course, they may not be so aggreable about the 'etc.' these days.

To fill out the section for port of entry, I suggest you call the numbem on the form to ask about it. If you are ordering these plants, they will probably come by plane, so you can limit yourself to airports. I once ordered by airmail, expected the plants to come in thru LAX or Miami. The plants were held up a week because they came into Portland, OR, which was not on my list, and only got forwarded when I missed them and started calling around to find out where they were.

Here is one you need to read: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EP043

Here is something you might find useful, but you can skip over most of it: http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/ofsts/us.html

Cynthia