Moving to Ireland

Moving your home? Removal Company from Dubai to Ireland, Door to Door · Movers to Dublin from Dubai and Abu Dhabi

For UAE residents, Ireland has become the obvious European landing point, and the reason is plain. Since Brexit it has been the EU’s main English-speaking member, so a relocation that elsewhere means learning the local administrative language alongside a new job, a new school run and a new home is, here, simply a move. Most moves land in Dublin, where Google, Meta and LinkedIn run their EU headquarters and the data-centre and fintech roles cluster around the Docklands and the south-side suburbs. Cork follows, anchored by its pharmaceutical belt at Ringaskiddy, and Galway and Limerick round out the picture for med-tech and the growing midwest.

The people on this corridor sort into a handful of familiar shapes. A software or fintech professional taking an EU role at one of the Dublin tech campuses, often with a family and a school start to pin down. A pharmaceutical or process engineer heading to a Cork or Galway plant. An Irish citizen coming home after years in the Gulf, household and all. And the occasional commercial consignment bound for one of the industrial parks. The route is exacting on paperwork and longer at sea than the direct European corridors, because containers tranship at a continental hub before the last leg to Ireland. With 22 years’ experience and 1,213+ moves delivered across all our routes, we know where the paperwork tightens.

Why move with Seemleius

How your move works

1. Survey and brief

   A UAE survey in person or by video, volume measured in cubic metres, and any item that changes its customs treatment flagged early. Sea and air options come back priced against your Irish start date and the school calendar if there is one.

2. Documentation before sail

   The Transfer of Residence file is built with the Irish inventory and your proof of residence abroad, of the move to Ireland and of ownership and use. EORI confirmed for commercial flows, and the AIS data set readied so clearance is not improvised on arrival.

3. Export pack and dispatch

   Export-standard packing from Dubai or Abu Dhabi, with ISPM-15 timber where the crate calls for it. Booked onto a sailing transhipping through a continental hub to Dublin Port or Cork, or flown DXB to DUB, SNN or ORK.

4. Clearance and delivery

   AIS lodgement at the port of entry, Transfer of Residence relief applied, then devanning and road delivery to your address in Dublin, Cork, Galway or Limerick by our destination partner, who unpacks, reassembles the larger pieces and clears the packing debris on the same visit.

The UAE–Ireland corridor in detail

Dublin Port, Cork and the sea route

Ireland is the western edge of the EU and an island, which shapes every routing decision. There is no road option from the UAE, and since Brexit the old UK landbridge — trucking across Britain between two ferry legs — has become slower and heavier on paperwork. The settled answer is now an EU-direct sailing. With the Strait of Hormuz closed to commercial shipping since February 2026, a box is first trucked to a port outside the strait, such as Khor Fakkan or Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast or Sohar in Oman; it then tranships through Rotterdam or Antwerp and completes the final leg to Dublin Port, which handles the bulk of household and commercial traffic. The Port of Cork, with deep-water capacity at Ringaskiddy, is the natural second option for moves into the Cork pharmaceutical cluster and the south. Routing and dates are confirmed at the survey, and transhipment, clearance and inland delivery all add time to the sailing itself.

Air freight from Dubai

Air is the straightforward part of the corridor. There are direct flights from DXB to Dublin, with onward feeds to Shannon (SNN) and Cork (ORK). Cargo can move inland within a working day of a clean clearance, which is why we often split a move — the things a family needs in the first fortnight by air, the bulk of the household by sea behind it on the same relief umbrella.

Revenue, the Automated Import System and Transfer of Residence

Revenue Commissioners is Ireland’s tax and customs authority, and the import now runs almost entirely through its Automated Import System. For a household, the filing that matters is Transfer of Residence relief, declared on the electronic C&E1076 ahead of arrival. Where it is granted, it removes customs duty and the 23% VAT on used personal effects, provided you are transferring your normal residence to Ireland, have lived outside the EU for at least twelve continuous months and have owned and used the goods for at least six months. Without it, VAT at 23% falls on the assessed value of the goods, which on a full container is a real number rather than a rounding one. New white goods, commercial stock and certain vehicle situations sit outside the relief; the file we build makes that distinction explicit so nothing is challenged at the desk.

Used cars, the NCT and what stays behind

A used UAE car can come, but it is rarely the economical choice. It needs its own transfer-of-residence relief from Vehicle Registration Tax: the car must have been owned and used abroad for at least six months, be brought in within twelve months of the move and be fully tax and duty paid, and VRT becomes payable if you sell it within twelve months. Without that relief, VRT is calculated on CO2 emissions and the open-market selling price. The NCTS appointment must be booked within seven days of arrival and the car registered within thirty days, and from four years after first registration it must also pass the National Car Test — the NCT roadworthiness inspection. Left-hand-drive UAE cars are legal but resell poorly into a right-hand-drive market, so for most movers the maths points the other way. Beyond vehicles, the usual exclusions apply: firearms need the correct Irish certification, plants and seeds require phytosanitary clearance, alcohol above personal allowances attracts excise, and anything new and boxed is read as commercial rather than personal effects.

Pets, restricted items and pricing

Pets move under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). A dog or cat needs an ISO-standard microchip, a valid rabies vaccination, and entry through an approved route with the documentation DAFM specifies for a non-EU origin; dogs additionally require tapeworm treatment. We hand the animal to a specialist pet handler at the Dubai end, and our destination partner meets it at the Irish end. On pricing, every quote is built from the same parts — volume, route, freight mode, customs treatment and delivery access — and itemised so freight, customs, haulage and packing read as separate lines rather than a single opaque figure; transit insurance (all-risk cover) is available, with the terms confirmed in your quote. We do not quote a corridor average and hope; we quote your move.