Moving to Australia

Moving your home? Relocation Services from Dubai to Australia, Door to Door · Moving Services from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Melbourne

Since the Strait of Hormuz closed to commercial shipping in February 2026, a Sydney-bound container goes by road to a port outside the strait, such as Khor Fakkan or Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast or Sohar in Oman, then usually tranships at Singapore for Port Botany. Routing and dates are confirmed at your Dubai survey, and your coordinator gives you the vessel name, the booking reference and the projected ETA once the sailing is booked. That is the level an Australian move runs on, backed by our 22 years’ experience.

Moves from the UAE to Australia tend to follow a familiar mix — a young family on a 189 skilled-migrant visa to Sydney’s inner west, a professional couple on employer sponsorship to Melbourne South Yarra, engineers heading for Perth, post-graduate professionals at a Brisbane hospital, and expat-returnees with permanent residency reopening a house on the Sunshine Coast.

Why move with Seemleius

How your move works

1. Survey and brief

   Survey or video walk-through in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah. Volume measured in cubic metres, biosecurity-sensitive items flagged, sea and air options put against your visa start date.

2. Documentation before sail

   B534 Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement drafted with you in English, each item checked against the 12-month ownership rule, passport and visa pages collated, evidence that the shipment is linked to your move (a ticket or work contract) assembled. Pet and vehicle files opened in parallel where they apply.

3. Treat, pack and dispatch

   Outdoor goods and wooden items cleaned and treated at the UAE end. ISPM-15 stamped crates for any timber. Sea freight to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Fremantle or Adelaide, or air ex-DXB to SYD, MEL, BNE, PER or ADL.

4. Clearance and delivery

   ABF import declaration lodged by our destination partner, who attends any DAFF inspection on your behalf and arranges heat treatment or fumigation in country if required. Parking or access permits arranged where needed. The partner’s crew unpacks, reassembles and removes debris on the same visit.

The UAE–Australia corridor in detail

Sea and air routes

Sea freight leaves the departure port on services that tranship at Singapore before splitting to the Australian rotation. Sydney lands at Port Botany. Melbourne calls at the Port of Melbourne, Australia’s busiest container port. Brisbane handles the Queensland flow at the Port of Brisbane. Fremantle, serving Perth, is the shortest sea leg from the UAE. Adelaide’s Outer Harbor takes the South Australian volume on a longer routing. Sailing schedules are longer and less predictable than before, so routing and dates are confirmed at the survey. Air from DXB goes direct to SYD, MEL, BNE, PER and ADL.

DAFF biosecurity

Australia runs one of the strictest biosecurity regimes in the world. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), which runs Australian biosecurity, assesses every shipment on arrival and decides what to inspect. Officers look for soil, seeds, plant material, untreated timber, food residue, animal hair and pest evidence. Routine triggers: outdoor furniture, BBQs, lawn mowers, garden tools, golf bags, bicycles, wicker, rattan, wooden items, and timber packaging without an ISPM-15 stamp. Where treatment is needed, options are heat treatment or methyl bromide fumigation; risk items can also be exported or destroyed, at the owner’s cost. We pre-clean and document attention items at the Dubai pack.

ABF and the Unaccompanied Personal Effects regime

Australian Border Force handles the import declaration. For a household move the working filing is Unaccompanied Personal Effects: furniture and household goods you have owned and used for 12 months before leaving for Australia clear free of duty and GST under the UPE concession, with no permanent-residency condition. The B534 Statement, signed by you, carries the entitlement. Items owned for less than 12 months, anything new in box, alcohol, tobacco, vehicles, commercial stock and any shipment booked after you arrive sit outside the relief. We walk the inventory with you so the file lands right first time at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Fremantle or Adelaide.

Exclusions, vehicles, state access and pets

Biological-risk goods are the first filter — soil contamination, untreated seeds, certain wood species, ivory, animal-product items. Firearms need an import permit from the relevant state police service. A vehicle needs federal import approval before it ships and falls outside the household-goods concession; older vehicles may also need asbestos checks because of historical brake and gasket materials. Once cleared, delivery is planned around access at the new address, with parking or access permits arranged where local rules require them. Pets need an ISO microchip, rabies vaccination, RNATT titre test at an approved laboratory 180+ days before travel, an import permit, then a 10-day minimum at Mickleham PEQ.

Pricing

Three drivers shape the bill. Sea distance and the Singapore tranship add freight and dwell time. Biosecurity treatments — heat treatment, methyl bromide reservations, occasional wharf wash-down — are quoted as a likely provision, not a guess. Port and quarantine fees are charged per shipment, and DAFF charges inspection by time. Every quote itemises freight, customs, biosecurity, port fees, road delivery and packing; transit insurance (all-risk cover) is available, with the terms confirmed in your quote.