Removals to Canada from the UK
Fast, Secure - Door to Door
Fully Insured International Movers
Packing, Loading Experts to Canada
International Removals and Moving to Canada from UK
Thinking about shipping to Canada? Whether you’re travelling to busy Toronto, beautiful Vancouver or historic Montreal, Removals.co.uk are with you every step of the way.
✅ Full & Part Load Containers
✅ Weekly Sailings From the UK
✅ Professional Packing & Wrapping
✅ Free Quotes & Home Surveys
✅ Fully Insured Crews
✅ Over 10,000 Completed Moves
How do removals to Canada from the UK work?
Removals to Canada from the UK travel by sea container, arriving at Halifax, Montreal or Vancouver before an inland road or rail leg to your door. Your household goods can enter duty-free under Canada’s settler concession if you owned and used them before the move. Sailings leave the UK weekly.
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Useful Canadian Travel Info
| Flight Time From UK | 8hrs 15mins |
|---|---|
| Currency | Canadian Dollar |
| Main Airports | Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottowa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg |
| Main Shipping Ports | Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, Prince Rupert |
Who manages my move to Canada?
A named move coordinator manages your move to Canada from start to finish. They assess your timeline and budget, then handle packing, storage, loading and all export paperwork before your shipment leaves the UK, so you deal with one person instead of chasing several. It starts as soon as you request a quote.
Moving household goods to Canada has never been simpler than working with the UK’s top international moving company. You have done your part as soon as you request a free quote, and we’ll take the lead on your international shipping to Canada.
Removals.co.uk door-to-door Canada export services will prepare and take care of every detail ,but it starts with your removal manager. Our move coordinator will work with you to assess the timeline and budget. We will carefully pack, store, and load your household goods for shipment to Canada, and we will handle all paperwork and documentation before shipping from the UK to Canada.
What is included in a removal to Canada?
Every move includes a dedicated coordinator, secure packing in industry-standard materials, Canadian customs clearance and delivery to your new doorstep. We also handle freight charges, terminal fees, removal costs and optional insurance, so we manage paperwork and add-on costs in one place rather than separately.
- A dedicated move coordinator to manage your UK-to-Canada relocation
- Secure packing using industry-standard materials
- Canada’s customs clearance
- Help with freight charges, terminal fees, removal costs, and optional insurance
- Delivery to your new doorstep in Canada
Which parts of Canada do you deliver to?
We deliver right across Canada, from Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax, Quebec City and Saskatoon, and on to smaller places including Abbotsford, Hamilton, Oshawa and Windsor. The inland leg from Halifax, Montreal or Vancouver is included in your quote.
No matter where you’re headed, our team ensures your belongings arrive safely and on time.
We offer door-to-door services across Canada, including:
Toronto
Vancouver
Montreal
Calgary
Ottawa
Edmonton
Winnipeg
Halifax
Quebec City
Saskatoon
St. John’s
Victoria
Barrie
Regina
Kitchener
Abbotsford
Hamilton
Windsor
Oshawa
London, Ontario
What do I need to sort out before moving to Canada?
Four things beyond the shipping itself. UK citizens will generally need a visa or permit to live and work in Canada. The cost of living varies sharply by region, with Vancouver and Toronto far more expensive than smaller towns. Pack for a genuinely cold winter. You may also need temporary private health insurance until you qualify for provincial care.
Moving to Canada can be exciting and thrilling, but it also requires a lot of preparation. Here are a few important considerations to take into account:
Visa & Immigration
Generally, UK citizens will need to apply for a visa or permit to live and work in Canada. Check the latest requirements on government websites.
Cost of Living
This varies by region. Cities such as Vancouver and Toronto can be quite expensive, while moving to smaller Canadian towns offers a much more reasonable lifestyle in terms of cost of living.
Weather & Climate
Canada is cold in the winter and warm in the summer. Ensure you pack appropriately for the weather in Canada, especially if you are moving from the relatively warm UK climate.
Healthcare
Canada has a public healthcare system. You may need to agree to temporary private insurance until you qualify for provincial care.
Should I send my belongings to Canada by sea or by air?
Sea freight is the usual choice for a house move because it is the most cost-effective, either in a shared container for a one-bedroom flat or small office, or in a dedicated 20ft or 40ft container for a whole home. Air freight is the quickest and suits smaller urgent shipments. Many people combine the two.
We offer multiple flexible and reliable shipping options for your move to Canada from the UK. Choose what suits you best:
Air Freight
If you need your items in Canada quickly, air freight is the quickest way to get your goods to Canada. We recommend air freight for smaller and urgent shipments. Our team will evaluate your items’ weight and provide a custom quote for shipping costs.
For a small number of items on a priority basis, you can choose air freight and send the rest via sea freight to save money.
You can pick up your shipment from the airport or use our entire door-to-door service. With our global network of air freight partners, we can deliver your items securely and quickly to any destination in Canada.
Sea Freight
For shipping to Canada, sea freight is one of the most popular methods because it’s cost-effective. It can also move household goods internationally. However, this method can be slower than the others, so it’s better to book in advance.
There are two choices:
Shared Container Load: This is ideal if you have a small consignment, like a one-bedroom flat, a studio apartment or a small office. Your belongings will be packed and loaded on a shared 20ft or 40ft shipping container to Canada. You only pay for the space your removal boxes occupy.
Dedicated Shipping Containers: A great option for shipping to Canada if you need to send an entire home or large office space. You can book a 20 ft. or 40 ft. container.
We ship to over 200 destinations, including Australia, Canada, USA, South Africa, Hong Kong, Dubai, Asia, South America, Tenerife, Greece, and Cyprus. We offer shipping options, including full shipping containers, box-only shipping,g and furniture shipping.
Because of our partnerships with several global International shipping organisations, your items will be delivered to your chosen destination in Canada by a moving crew dedicated to superior shipping and door-to-door delivery.
| Option | Best for | What you pay for | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full container | An entire home or large office space. 20ft for roughly a two to three-bedroom home, 40ft for larger | You can book a 20ft container or a 40ft shipping container | It is sealed at your door and clears customs as a single consignment, on your paperwork and nobody else’s |
| Part load | A small consignment like a one-bedroom flat, a studio apartment or small office. Below roughly three bedrooms it is usually the sensible choice | You only need to pay for the space your removal boxes occupy | The container sails when it is full, and your goods wait on every other consignment inside it |
| Air freight | Smaller and urgent shipments. The small and urgent: documents, a laptop, a few boxes to work from while the sea shipment crosses | Our team will evaluate the weight of your items and provide you with a custom quote | Priced by weight and volume, and not a route for furniture |
Why Choose us for International Removals To Canada?
Removals.co.uk has completed over 10,000 moves and is rated 4.6 out of 5 from 110 Trustpilot reviews. We are members of Approved Movers in the UK, and we only work with overseas agents who are members of BAR or FIDI. Sailings to Canada leave the UK weekly.
Our team has helped thousands of people successfully relocate to Canada from the UK, and here is why our clients love working with us:
- Free no-obligation estimates
- Transparent pricing
- Flexible and customisable moving solutions
- One point of contact for the entire duration
- Safe, secure, and insured shipping
- Worldwide coverage and trusted global partners
Whether you’re moving a few boxes, your whole house, or even a business, our removal experts will handle your move with expertise and care.
Weighing up both sides of North America? The USA covers the same sea route at 4 to 8 weeks, with CBP Form 3299 and its own vehicle rules. If you are sending less than a full household either way, part load removals explains how a shared container works, and vehicle shipping covers taking a car.
Why people trust us with a move
These are not our words. They are our customers, on a review site we do not control.
- 4.6 out of 5 from 110 reviews on Trustpilot, rated Excellent
- Over 10,000 moves completed
- Our own yard and storage at Riverside Industrial Estate, Fazeley, Tamworth
- Members of Approved Movers in the UK, and we only work with overseas agents who are members of BAR or FIDI
- Collecting reviews since October 2020, and still collecting them every month
Reliable, efficient and responsive. This is the second time I have used Removals for an overseas move. I cannot fault them in any way. They guided me through the process so I knew exactly what to do and expect.
Verified customer, May 2026 – verified Trustpilot review
Do you qualify as a settler?
You qualify as a settler if you are entering Canada to establish a home for the first time and intend to live there for at least twelve months. Settlers import used household goods duty-free under tariff item 9807.00.00, declared on form BSF186. Your intention decides it, not your visa category.
This question determines whether your belongings enter Canada duty-free, and it catches people out because it depends on your intention, not your visa type.
The Canada Border Services Agency treats you as a settler if you enter Canada intending to establish a residence for at least 12 months. Under tariff item 9807.00.00, a settler can bring personal and household effects free of duty and tax.
Where it gets specific:
- Coming for employment of 36 months or less? You are not a settler for these purposes.
- Coming for employment longer than 36 months, or having an authorisation extended past 36 months? You may qualify – on first arrival, or at the point the extension takes you past that mark.
- Arriving to study or visit? Not a settler.
- Returning residents are handled under different provisions again.
If your situation sits near one of those boundaries, establish it before your goods sail, not after they arrive.
Owned, possessed and used - all three
To come in duty-free, you must have owned, physically possessed and actually used each item abroad before you arrive in Canada—all three, not any one of them.
Ownership means you hold legal title. Possession means the goods were physically yours – not ordered and shipped straight on. Use means you used the item for the purpose it was designed for.
The practical trap is the pre-move shopping trip. New furniture bought to furnish the Canadian house, still boxed, is not used goods. It is a dutiable import travelling in your consignment, and declaring it as anything else is a false declaration. If you are buying before you move, buy early enough to genuinely use the items, or expect to pay duty and budget for it.
Goods sold or given away within 12 months of importation become subject to duty on their value at the time you dispose of them. The clock starts when you physically arrive in Canada.
The BSF186, and the mistake that costs the most
Form BSF186, the Personal Effects Accounting Document (still widely called the B4), is the form you use to bring your household goods into Canada.
Two things about it are worth more than everything else on this page.
Complete it on first entry, even if you have nothing with you. If you fly in ahead of your shipment, you still fill it out at the border when you arrive. People who skip it because they are carrying only a suitcase create a problem for themselves months later.
Only what is on your goods-to-follow list clears duty-free later. This is the single most expensive mistake in a Canadian move. Anything not written on that original list when you first entered can be assessed for duty when it turns up. There is no deadline for the goods themselves to arrive – but there is no adding to the list afterwards either.
So the list needs to be complete, detailed and valued, made before you fly, not from memory at a border desk. A proper inventory from your survey does this job. Keep your stamped copy: it is the document that releases your shipment.
Bringing a UK car to Canada - read this first
You can only permanently import a UK car if it is 15 years or older, measured from the month of manufacture. A vehicle under 15 years old that wasn’t built for the North American market and doesn’t meet Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards isn’t eligible, and most UK-market cars fit that description.
More UK-to-Canada moves come unstuck on the car than on anything else, because two separate rules are easy to confuse.
Customs duty is one question. Road admissibility is another. A vehicle can qualify for duty relief as a settler’s effect and still be refused permanent entry by Transport Canada. Passing one gate does not get you through the other.
The rule that matters: a vehicle built for a market other than the United States or Mexico, less than 15 years old, that does not comply with Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, is not eligible for permanent importation. Most UK-market cars fit that description.
Vehicles 15 years or older, measured from the month of manufacture, sit outside those regulations and can generally be imported with documentation proving age. The Registrar of Imported Vehicles programme, which people often assume they can use, is for US-specification vehicles, not a route for a UK car.
On the duty side, a vehicle only counts as a settler’s effect if you held a valid driving licence and actually drove it on public roads before moving. A dealership test drive does not count.
Check admissibility before you book any shipping. If the Canadian border refuses a car, you’re responsible for storing, re-exporting, or scrapping it at your cost. If your vehicle does not qualify, selling it here is almost always cheaper. See our vehicle shipping page for how the process runs where a vehicle does qualify.
What you cannot ship, and what needs declaring
Aerosols, paint, solvents, gas bottles, fuel, matches and fireworks never travel on any shipment. Plants, seeds, soil, untreated wood, firewood, food and firearms are restricted and must be declared. Alcohol and tobacco come in under personal allowances rather than as household effects. Declaring something restricted is rarely a problem; failing to declare it is.
Some of this is universal to sea freight; some is specifically Canadian.
Never travel on any shipment: aerosols, paint, solvents, thinners, gas bottles, fuel of any kind, matches, lighter fluid, fireworks. Drain and dry any petrol tools before they are packed. Removing an aerosol at the port costs a container unpack; declaring it honestly at survey costs nothing.
Restricted, and requiring declaration:
- Plants, seeds, soil and anything with soil on it. Garden tools, plant pots, bicycles and lawnmowers are routinely inspected. Clean them properly.
- Wood and wooden items, which can carry pests. Untreated wood and firewood are tightly controlled.
- Food. Meat and dairy are heavily restricted. Everything edible must be declared.
- Firearms. Canada classifies firearms as non-restricted, restricted, or prohibited, and you must declare them in writing on arrival. Get this confirmed before your shipment is packed, not after.
Alcohol and tobacco come in under personal allowances, not as household effects: broadly 1.14 litres of spirits or 1.5 litres of wine, and 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 200 grams of tobacco or 200 tobacco sticks, with minimum-age rules applying. A wine collection in the container is a dutiable import, and provincial rules apply on top.
Declaring something restricted is rarely a problem. Failing to declare it is what triggers inspection, delay and penalty – and an inspection holds the whole container, including everyoneelse’ss belongings if you are on a shared load.
Which Canadian port will my shipment arrive at?
Your shipment arrives in Halifax or Montreal on the Atlantic coast, or Vancouver on the Pacific coast, then travels inland by road or rail. The port depends on your Canadian destination: routing a Vancouver move through Halifax adds unnecessary cross-country travel. A quote that does not name the port cannot be compared.
Canada is the second largest country on earth, and that fact shapes the cost of your move more than anything except volume.
Your shipment arrives at a seaport – commonly Halifax or Montreal on the Atlantic side, or Vancouver on the Pacific – and then travels inland by road or rail. For a move to Toronto or Calgary, that inland leg can be a substantial share of the total cost, and it is the part most likely to be missing from a cheap-looking quote.
Which coast you route through is not a detail. A shipment to Vancouver routed via Halifax crosses the continent unnecessarily. A quote that does not name the port of entry is not a quote you can compare.
Winter matters too. Ice conditions and weather affect schedules on the St. Lawrence, and inland delivery in Alberta, Manitoba or northern Ontario in February is not the same job as in June. If your dates are flexible, say so; if they are fixed, say that louder.
Give your destination postal code at quote stage, not the city. Distance from the port, access to the property and whether a full-size vehicle can reach the door are what turn an estimate into a real price.
Full container or part load?
Choose a full container if you are moving roughly three bedrooms or more: a 20 ft container suits a two- to three-bedroom home; a 40 ft container suits anything larger. It clears Canadian customs on paperwork alone. Choose a part load for fewer than three bedrooms and pay only for the space you use.
Both are available on every Canadian route. The choice is about volume and timing.
A full container – 20ft for roughly a two- to three-bedroom home, 40ft for larger – is yours alone. It is sealed at your door and clears customs as a single consignment, so it clears on your paperwork, and nobody else’s.
A part load gives you a share of a container, and you pay for the space you use. For roughly three bedrooms or less, it is usually the sensible choice. The trade-off is timing: the container sails when it is full, and at the far end it clears as one unit – so your goods wait on every other consignment inside it. One other customer’s incomplete paperwork delays the whole container.
Air freight is there for the small and urgent – documents, a laptop, a few boxes to work from while the sea shipment crosses. It is priced by weight and volume and is not a route for furniture.
See container shipping costs for what actually fits in a 20ft and a 40ft container, and what sets the price of an international move.
How long do removals to Canada take?
Start planning removals to Canada eight to twelve weeks before you want your belongings there: book the survey then, build your BSF186 inventory six to eight weeks out, and confirm documents at four weeks. Sea freight to Canada typically takes several weeks depending on the port and season.
Working backwards from the date you want your belongings in Canada:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| 8–12 weeks out | Book your survey. This is when you can get a fixed, itemised quote and find out whether the car qualifies. |
| 6–8 weeks out | Build the inventory that becomes your BSF186 goods-to-follow list. Decide what is genuinely worth shipping – sea freight is priced on volume, and shipping something you would replace cheaply in Canada is money spent twice. |
| 4 weeks out | Confirm documentation: passports, immigration papers, the valued inventory. Sort anything restricted now. |
| Packing and collection | Professional packing is not upselling on a sea move – a container is lifted, stacked and works loose at sea for weeks, and insurance terms generally reflect who packed the box. |
| On arrival in Canada | Complete your BSF186 at the border, whether or not you have anything with you. Keep the stamped copy. |
| Sea transit | Typically several weeks, depending on the port, routing and season, plus consolidation time on a part load and the inland leg at the far end. |
The two things that cause most delay are neither shipping nor customs policy: an inventory built in a hurry, and a goods-to-follow list that was never completed properly.
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Removals to Canada: frequently asked questions
How long does shipping to Canada take?
Sea freight to Canada typically takes several weeks depending on the port and season. A dedicated container clears faster than a shared load, because a part load waits on every consignment in the container before release.
What documents does Canadian customs require?
A detailed valued inventory, passport copies, immigration or residency documentation, and a completed goods-to-follow list if some belongings arrive after you do. Canada expects the inventory to itemise contents rather than list boxes generically. Settlers and returning residents can normally import personal effects free of duty where the goods were owned and used before arrival.
Can I bring a vehicle to Canada?
Vehicles can be imported but must meet Canadian safety and emissions standards, and not all UK vehicles qualify. Check eligibility before shipping. See vehicle shipping.
What cannot be shipped to Canada?
Aerosols, paints, solvents, gas bottles and fuel cannot travel on any shipment. Food, plants and soil-contaminated items are restricted. Firearms are tightly controlled and require advance declaration. Raise anything unusual at survey.
Do you deliver inland from the Canadian port?
Yes, door to door including the inland leg. Given the distances involved, the inland journey can be a significant part of the cost, so the destination address matters as much as the port.
Do I qualify to bring my belongings in duty-free?
If you are entering Canada intending to establish a residence for the first time for at least 12 months, you are generally treated as a settler and your personal and household effects come in free of duty and tax. Coming for employment of 36 months or less, or to study or visit, does not qualify. You must also have owned, possessed and used the goods abroad before you arrive – all three.
What is the BSF186 form and when do I complete it?
The BSF186, still often called the B4, is the Personal Effects Accounting Document. You complete it when you first enter Canada, even if none of your belongings are travelling with you at that point. Anything arriving later must already appear on the goods-to-follow list you declared then – items left off it can be assessed for duty when they arrive. Keep your stamped copy; it is what releases your shipment.
Can I sell things after they arrive in Canada?
Not immediately, without a duty consequence. Goods imported duty-free as settler’s effects that you sell or give away within 12 months of importation become subject to duty on their value at the time you dispose of them. The 12 months run from your physical arrival in Canada.
How much alcohol and tobacco can I bring?
These come in under personal allowances rather than as household effects: broadly 1.14 litres of spirits or 1.5 litres of wine, and 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 200 grams of manufactured tobacco or 200 tobacco sticks, subject to minimum age requirements. Quantities beyond that are a dutiable import, and provincial rules apply on top.
Moving somewhere else? See all removals to the USA and Canada, or browse every destination we cover.