Moving to India

Moving to India from Dubai puts a household onto a short, well-worn lane — Jebel Ali to Nhava Sheva, Salalah feeder or direct, then alongside at the JNPT terminals in roughly eleven to eighteen days quay-to-quay. We hand you the vessel name and a working ETA the day after your survey, and tell you before the box is sealed whether your effects clear under Transfer of Residence relief or attract duty. That is the standard a move to India runs on, built into this corridor across 22 years and more than 1,213 moves.

The traffic takes a few recognisable shapes: a Keralan family in Sharjah closing a fifteen-year chapter and re-establishing a home in Ernakulam; a Mumbai-born finance professional returning to a flat in Bandra; a UAE technology firm moving an engineering team into Whitefield, furniture by sea and servers by air. Most pass through Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad or Kochi, each with its own paperwork and pace. Set up correctly at the Dubai end, the route stays orderly.

1. Survey and eligibility

   UAE survey or video walk-through, volume in cubic metres, destination confirmed. We establish whether the move qualifies for Transfer of Residence relief and flag anything restricted.

2. Documentation before sail

   TR declaration prepared with passport, visa-cancellation evidence and a dated stay record; CSB-V paperwork for any express component; inventory cross-referenced to the bill of lading.

3. Export pack and dispatch

   Export-grade pack from Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah. Booked rotation to Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Chennai, Cochin or Vishakhapatnam, or air from DXB to BOM, DEL, BLR or MAA.

4. Clearance and delivery

   Bill of entry filed through our customs broker at the port CFS, TR relief applied, IGST settled only where it falls due. Container devanned, trucked inland, unpacked and reassembled.

The UAE–India corridor in detail

Ports, air and transit times

Most household sea freight lands on India’s west coast. Nhava Sheva (JNPT), across the harbour from Mumbai, is the default — the busiest container port in the country, with the deepest frequency from Jebel Ali. Mundra in Gujarat suits Delhi and the NCR via inland depots at Gurugram. For the south, Chennai (with Ennore for heavier ro-ro and project cargo) serves Tamil Nadu and routes by road to Bengaluru; Cochin takes Kerala traffic directly; Vishakhapatnam covers the eastern seaboard. We pick the port against your final city — an inland haul from the wrong one erases the saving at the quay. Jebel Ali to Nhava Sheva runs eleven to eighteen days quay-to-quay, the southern calls longer; air from Dubai to the major gateways is four to six hours.

ICEGATE, Transfer of Residence and CSB-V

Indian customs clearance is electronic, lodged through ICEGATE under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). For a returning resident the working filing is Transfer of Residence relief under the Baggage Rules 2016, which lets used household effects owned and used abroad enter at concessional or nil duty, with separate treatment for higher-value appliances. It turns on documented evidence of the stay abroad and an inventory that matches the packing list: assemble that in Dubai and the box clears as a TR consignment; assemble it badly and the same goods attract an IGST assessment at the CFS. An express-courier element clears through the CSB-V (Courier Shipping Bill V) route under the same umbrella.

Restricted goods, pets and vehicles

A short list of items turns a clearance slow. Gold and jewellery beyond the inbound passenger allowance is assessable and tightly watched. Drones are regulated, and satellite phones are barred for private import without specific licensing, as are some wireless and radio devices. Plants, seeds and certain foodstuffs need phytosanitary cover; quantities of new boxed electronics read as commercial. Pets move under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAH&D) framework — an import permit before travel, current rabies vaccination, and a health certificate from an official UAE vet. A used car can move under Transfer of Residence conditions, but India’s rules on age, homologation and specification are exacting and the duty can be heavy even under TR, so we advise before you crate it.

Destination cities and pricing

We deliver into all the major clusters — Mumbai, the Delhi NCR, Bengaluru’s Whitefield and Outer Ring Road, Chennai’s OMR belt, Hyderabad’s HITEC City and the Kerala coast, which carries one of the heaviest concentrations of returning UAE residents anywhere in India. Pricing builds from volume, port and inland distance, freight mode, customs treatment and access at the address — a top-floor flat in a lift-less building in old Ernakulam is a different job to a villa in Whitefield. Every quote itemises freight, customs, haulage, packing and insurance separately.