Moving to the United Kingdom

The India–United Kingdom corridor carries an enormous weight of human movement every year. Nurses and doctors heading to NHS trusts, software engineers joining London and Manchester firms on Skilled Worker visas, students arriving at universities from Edinburgh to Exeter, and families completing decades-long journeys to be together in the same country. With roughly 1.8 million people of Indian heritage already settled in the UK, this is also one of the largest diaspora corridors in the world — Southall, Wembley, Harrow and East Ham in London; Belgrave Road in Leicester; the Indian neighbourhoods of Birmingham and Manchester. Every one of those people, past and present, has a household that crossed the Indian Ocean to get there. Seemleius runs this corridor regularly, and that regularity means your move is not an experiment for us.

What distinguishes an India-origin move from most international relocations is the export side. Before anything reaches a UK port, it has to leave India correctly: a Shipping Bill filed on ICEGATE under your AD code, supporting export documentation that satisfies FEMA and GST conditions where they apply, and an inventory prepared to a standard that the UK Customs Declaration Service (CDS) will accept on arrival. We handle that entire chain under one coordinator — from the packing crew at your door in Mumbai or Bengaluru to the delivery vehicle pulling up at your new address in London, Leicester or wherever in the UK you have landed.

How goods leave India

Household goods and personal effects exported from India for a move abroad are processed through Indian customs at the port of departure. The shipper needs to prepare a detailed inventory, obtain export authorisation for personal effects, and file a Shipping Bill through ICEGATE, linked to the freight forwarder’s AD code with the bank that will handle any associated remittances. For sea freight this process typically runs through Nhava Sheva (JNPT near Mumbai), Mundra in Gujarat, Chennai Port or Cochin — depending on which origin city you are moving from. Air freight moves via Mumbai (BOM), Delhi (DEL), Bengaluru (BLR), Chennai (MAA) or Kochi (COK). We manage the Indian export paperwork as part of the move, so the FEMA, GST and ICEGATE complexity does not land on you.

The UK destination

The United Kingdom receives goods through well-established entry points. Sea shipments arrive at Felixstowe, Southampton or London Gateway for most of the country; Heathrow is the primary air freight hub. UK customs applies the Transfer of Residence (ToR1) relief for genuine personal and household effects being imported by someone shifting their main residence to the UK — this is duty-free entry, but it must be applied for before your goods arrive at the UK port and approved by HMRC. We prepare and submit the ToR1 application well in advance, and the resulting unique reference goes onto the CDS import declaration so customs can match the relief to the shipment at clearance.

Which India cities we move from

Seemleius covers the full breadth of India’s major urban centres: Mumbai and the wider MMR, Delhi and the NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kochi and Kerala, Ahmedabad, Surat and Kolkata. Origin city determines the nearest port or airport gateway — Mumbai routes naturally through JNPT or BOM, Gujarat shipments through Mundra, southern India through Chennai or Cochin, and the NCR through DEL air or by surface to JNPT for sea. We route accordingly, and the cost and transit time reflect where you actually are, not a single national rate.

Choose the guide for your situation

The corridor is the same whether you are a family shipping a household, a company opening a UK subsidiary, an employer running an immigration-driven mobility programme, a commercial exporter, or someone moving a pet or vehicle. The specific requirements are not. Each guide below is written for one of those situations — practical, honest about the India-specific export steps, and clear on what to expect at the UK end. Find yours below, or request a quote and a coordinator will start there.