Moving Household Goods From Dubai to Canada

Moving your household goods from Dubai to Canada depends on one step more than any other: listing everything that will follow you when you first arrive in Canada. In Dubai, your mover surveys and packs your home and handles the export. In Canada, belongings you owned, possessed and used before you arrived can come in free of duty and taxes as settlers’ effects, but goods shipped after you arrive only qualify if they were on the list you gave the border officer on arrival. Build the inventory early and carry the list with you, and the rest follows.

What has to happen before a household shipment can leave Dubai?

A shipment cannot be priced or booked until someone has seen what is going. Your moving coordinator surveys your home, in person or by video, and works out the volume, the packing materials and the crew needed. Expect them to ask for the details on our Shipper Information Sheet: your destination city in Canada, your preferred moving date, any items that need special handling, and building access at both ends.

Before packing day:

• Confirm your move out permit and elevator booking with your building management.
• Decide what is going, what is being sold, and what is being stored.
• Give your coordinator a copy of your passport and your Canadian immigration documents.
• Ask for the inventory early: you need it for your goods to follow list (see below).

Sea or air: which suits a household move to Canada?

Most household moves from Dubai to Canada travel by sea. Sea freight costs far less than air for furniture and boxed goods, and the trade off is time: a sea shipment is measured in weeks, not days. Your coordinator will give you the sailing schedule and the Canadian arrival point for your shipment, and that schedule is the one to plan around.

Air freight suits a small consignment you need soon after you land, such as clothes, work equipment or children’s things. Many families send most of their home by sea and a small air shipment alongside it.

Who is a settler, and which goods come in free of duty?

Canada’s rules for settlers’ effects are set out by the Canada Border Services Agency in Memorandum D2-2-1. In summary:

• A settler is someone entering Canada to establish a residence for the first time, for at least 12 months (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1). People coming only to work for up to 36 months or to study are not settlers under these rules (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1).
• Settlers’ effects qualify if you actually owned, possessed and used them abroad before you arrived in Canada (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1). Goods you lease do not count as owned (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1).
• If you sell or dispose of goods within 12 months of importing them, the duties and taxes that would otherwise have applied become payable (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1).
• Wedding gifts and trousseau items are exempt from the use condition when the marriage took place within 3 months before your arrival or is planned within 3 months after (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1).

Why does the goods to follow list matter so much?

When you first arrive in Canada, you declare your goods to the border services officer on Form BSF186, the Personal Effects Accounting Document, with the full list of goods on the BSF186A continuation sheet. Older CBSA guidance calls these Forms B4 and B4A. The list has two parts: what you are bringing with you, and what will follow later in your shipment.

• The list has to be presented when you first arrive in Canada, even if you bring no goods with you on that trip (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1).
• Only goods listed as goods to follow on that original form qualify for free entry when the shipment arrives later (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1).
• There is no time limit for importing goods to follow that were on your list (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1).

The simplest plan: ask your coordinator for the packing inventory before you fly, use it to prepare your BSF186A list, and carry both in your hand luggage, not in the shipment.

What documents does each side of the move need?

Your DXI moving coordinator will confirm the exact document set for your route before anything is packed. Our Customs Documents page links to each country’s official customs authority.

What should travel with you rather than in the shipment?

• Your BSF186 and BSF186A forms and the packing inventory.
• Passports, immigration papers, birth and marriage certificates, school and medical records.
• Jewellery, cash and small valuables.
• Laptops, phones and the chargers for them.
• Medicines you take regularly, in their original packaging.

Keep anything new out of the container where you can: goods you have not owned, possessed and used before arriving do not meet the settlers’ effects conditions. Food, plants and alcohol are the items most often questioned in household shipments, so ask your coordinator before packing any of them. Our Moving Checklist has the full timeline for the weeks before moving day.

What happens if the shipment reaches Canada before you do?

Plan your own arrival first where you can: your goods to follow list is presented when you arrive. Goods that reach Canada before you are held in storage at a sufferance warehouse for a period of 40 days (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1). Tell your coordinator your arrival date as soon as you know it, so the shipment can be timed or stored to match.

Frequently asked questions

I forgot something on my goods to follow list. Can it still come in free?

Only goods declared and listed as goods to follow on your original form are eligible (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1). That is why the list is worth building from the signed inventory before you fly.

Is there a deadline for my shipment to arrive in Canada?

Not for goods on your list: there is no time limit for importing goods to follow that were listed on your form (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1).

I am moving to Canada on a 2 year work permit. Am I a settler?

Not under these rules: people entering Canada for employment of up to 36 months are excluded from the settler definition (CBSA Memorandum D2-2-1). Different rules apply, so ask your coordinator before you pack.

Are you also moving to the USA or the UK?

See our guides to moving household goods from Dubai to the USA and moving household goods from Dubai to the UK.

Planning a move to Canada?

Every route and every household is different. Request a free estimate and your DXI moving coordinator will survey your home, confirm the documents for your route and plan your move to Canada with you. You can also reach us on our contact page.