Household & Personal Moves to Ireland

Relocating a home to Ireland from the UAE is rarely a snap decision. Most people arrive at it after months of research — weighing the schools, the cost of living, the rhythm of a very different climate and culture. By the time the call comes to start packing, the life question has been answered. What remains is making sure the household arrives safely, on time, and without a customs drama at the other end. That is what Seemleius household and personal relocation to Ireland is built to deliver.

Sea or air — choosing the right freight for Ireland

The UAE to Ireland is a sea-freight corridor at its core. A containerised shipment leaves Jebel Ali and, in most cases, transships through Rotterdam or Antwerp before completing the final leg into Dublin Port. That routing means a door-to-door window of roughly twenty-eight to thirty-five days — longer than corridors with direct services, but predictable when planned around. Air freight compresses transit to days. With direct Emirates flights from DXB to DUB at around seven and a half hours, an air consignment can be cleared and delivered to a Dublin address inside a working week. The trade-off is cost per cubic metre, so most families use air selectively: essentials, school uniforms and work-critical items in the air stream, and the bulk of the household by sea.

Settling into Dublin, Cork or Galway

Most of our UAE arrivals settle in greater Dublin — the southside suburbs of Rathmines, Ranelagh and Dundrum for families looking for established neighbourhoods, the Docklands for professionals working in the IFSC, or the commuter belt out toward Maynooth and Greystones for more space. Cork attracts families connected to the pharmaceutical and technology cluster in Ringaskiddy and Little Island, and Galway is steadily growing as a lifestyle destination on the west coast. Each city has its own rental market dynamics and its own pace; the right choice is rarely obvious from the UAE, and we are happy to share what we see on the ground.

What we move

• Furniture — wrapped, dismantled where needed, and reassembled at your Irish home
• Art, mirrors and fragile items — crated and cushioned to export standard
• Electronics and appliances — packed against handling, humidity and temperature variation
• Clothing, books, kitchenware and the full everyday contents of a family home
• Personal effects, documents and anything with sentimental value treated with the same care as the high-ticket pieces

The move, step by step

1. Home survey. We assess your home in the UAE — in person or by video — and confirm the volume, the freight recommendation, and the realistic transit window for your chosen Irish city.
2. Packing day. Our crew arrives with all materials and packs to export standard. Every carton is logged into your inventory before anything leaves the house.
3. Transit and customs. The shipment travels on the booked route; we manage both the UAE export documentation and Irish import clearance under EU rules.
4. Delivery and placement. We unload, unpack and place your belongings in the new home so you walk into rooms that feel inhabited, not a warehouse of sealed boxes.

Transfer of Residence relief — the paperwork that matters

Ireland, as an EU member, offers a Transfer of Residence relief that can significantly reduce or eliminate import duties and VAT on personal household goods when you are establishing a new primary residence. Without it, VAT at twenty-three per cent applies to the value of the goods on arrival — not a small number on a family shipment. Eligibility hinges primarily on the length of time the goods have been owned and used outside the EU (typically at least six months) and on the move being a genuine change of normal residence. The claim is submitted electronically through Revenue’s AIS system using the C&E1076 form — ideally before the shipment arrives so it is processed alongside the import declaration rather than after. We prepare and lodge that submission as part of the standard scope.

The wider settling-in: PPS, tax residence and schools

You will need a PPS (Personal Public Service) number to do almost anything administrative in Ireland — open a bank account, register with Revenue, enrol children in publicly funded school places. It is issued by the Department of Social Protection and the application is made in person after arrival. Tax residence is a separate question: Ireland generally treats you as resident if you spend 183 days or more in the country in a tax year, or 280 days across two consecutive years, with implications for worldwide income that are worth a conversation with an Irish tax adviser before you arrive. On schools, the system is divided between Catholic-patronage schools (still the majority), Educate Together (multi-denominational and increasingly sought-after), Gaelscoileanna (Irish-medium) and a smaller private sector including Wesley College, Belvedere and St Andrew’s. Demand in popular Dublin catchments is high — early application matters more than it would in the UAE’s school market.

From a compact one-bedroom apartment to a full family home, the standard of care is the same. Request a quote and we will plan the move around your dates and your chosen city.