Movers from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Canada

From your home in the UAE to your new one in Canada

Moving to Canada from Dubai or Abu Dhabi takes months of planning, and a good mover to Canada does much more than pack boxes. Canada asks new settlers to declare their household goods in person when they land, including the shipment that follows, so the paperwork has to be right before anything leaves your home. Seemleius packs and ships from the UAE, and our destination partner clears and delivers your goods in Canada.

We are based in Dubai Investment Park, and one coordinator runs your move from the survey to the last box unpacked, so you always know who to call.

Two questions are worth asking any international movers to Canada: who prepares the goods list for your BSF186 declaration, and how will they time the sailing around your flight? We draw up the list from our packing inventory, and we plan the sailing so that you land first.

Canada relocation services: what your quote includes

Your fixed, itemised quote lists each service separately. A full household move to Canada includes:

• A free in-home survey to measure the volume and note fragile, valuable or bulky pieces.
• Export packing by trained crews, crating for glass, artwork and other fragile items, and furniture dismantling and reassembly.
• Export documents prepared in Dubai, and the itemised, valued goods list for your BSF186.
• Sea freight in a full or shared container, depending on volume, and air freight for what you need in the first weeks.
• Customs clearance in Canada with our destination partner.
• Delivery to your new home, furniture placed room by room, and unpacking.
• Transit insurance available (terms confirmed with your quote).
• Storage in Dubai, short or long term, if you fly before your Canadian home is ready: see household goods storage.

Customs rules for your relocation to Canada

Canada treats you as a settler if you are entering to establish a residence for the first time, for one year or more. A settler can bring household and personal effects in free of duty and taxes, provided they owned, possessed and used them before arriving. People coming for employment of 36 months or less, or to study, are not settlers for customs purposes.

The declaration is made on form BSF186, the Personal Effects Accounting Document, in person at your first point of arrival in Canada. It must include the goods that will follow by sea: goods arriving later qualify only if they are on that original list, and a shipment left off it at the airport loses the exemption.

• What we prepare: the export documents in Dubai and, from our packing inventory, the goods list in two copies, with each item's value, make, model and serial number, and the goods to follow listed separately.
• What you do: check the values, complete the BSF186 (it can be done online before you fly), declare your goods in person when you land and keep the original. It must be produced when the shipment arrives, or regular duty and taxes may apply. Bills of sale and registration documents help show that you owned and used the goods.
• After clearance: if goods imported free of duty are sold or given away within 12 months, the duty and taxes become payable.
• Value limit: the per-item limit of 10,000 Canadian dollars you may read about on the CBSA website applies only to former residents returning to Canada, not to settlers.

The exemption does not cover goods for business, sale or hire, farm equipment, goods owned or leased by a company, or purchases shipped without meeting the owned, possessed and used test. Alcohol and tobacco are covered by the exemption only within personal-exemption limits, for example 200 cigarettes.

Restricted or prohibited items include food, plants, animals, health products, vehicles, firewood, cultural property, firearms, weapons, ammunition, explosives, fireworks and used mattresses. Canada has zero tolerance for foreign soil: used goods with soil on them from countries not free of foot-and-mouth disease are cleaned at an approved facility at the importer's full cost. Please clean garden tools, bicycles and outdoor furniture before packing day.

Shipping routes from the UAE and arrival in Canada

Since 28 February 2026 the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to commercial shipping. Containers from the UAE currently go by road to a port outside the strait, such as Khor Fakkan or Fujairah on the east coast or Sohar in Oman, and sailing schedules are longer and less predictable than before. We confirm the routing and dates at your survey rather than quote pre-2026 Jebel Ali transit times.

In Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) examines marine containers at facilities in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal and Halifax, and the arrival port depends on your new address and the sailings available. For Toronto, settlers' effects arriving by commercial highway carrier can travel in bond to an inland CBSA office for clearance.

Timing matters. If your goods reach Canada before you do, they are held in a sufferance warehouse for 40 days and then treated as unclaimed unless an extension is requested, so we plan the sailing around your flight. For the things you need in the first weeks, a small air shipment fills the gap.

International movers from Dubai to Canada: how the move runs

• Survey. A coordinator visits your home in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, goes through every room with you and notes what goes by sea, what goes by air and what stays.
• Fixed quote. You receive a fixed, itemised quote with the current routing and your options.
• Packing day. Trained crews pack, label and load, dismantle furniture and build crates where needed, and the inventory for your goods list is drawn up as they go.
• Departure. Export documents are completed in Dubai and your container goes by road to the departure port for loading.
• Arrival and clearance. You declare your goods when you land; when the container arrives, our destination partner clears it against your original BSF186.
• Delivery. The partner crew delivers to your home, places the furniture, reassembles what was dismantled and unpacks.

Packers and movers for Toronto, Vancouver and other Canadian cities

Whether you are moving to Toronto or anywhere else in Canada, the packing, export paperwork and loading all happen here in the UAE. Our trained crews handle that end, our destination partner handles clearance and delivery in Canada, and your coordinator is in charge of both.

• Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area: houses, townhouses and condominium towers, delivered and unpacked by our destination partner's crew.
• Vancouver: one of the four places where CBSA examines marine containers. Our page on moving to Vancouver from Dubai covers delivery in the city.
• Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal: delivered by our destination partner once your goods are cleared, on a date agreed with you.

Before delivery, your coordinator goes through access at the new address with you: stairs, any lift booking your building requires, parking for the truck and the delivery date that suits you.

Pets and vehicles

Pets travel as a separate service: see pet relocation. Cars are more restricted. Canada generally admits a vehicle from outside the US and Mexico only if it is at least 15 years old and not a bus, so most cars from the UAE cannot be imported. If yours qualifies, vehicle shipping is quoted separately.

Book your free in-home survey

The survey is 100% free and there is no obligation. A coordinator visits your home in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, sees every room, answers your questions about the BSF186 and the current routes, and then sends your fixed, itemised quote.

Book through the quote form on this page or our quote page, or call or WhatsApp +971 56 899 2011. Tell us your moving date and your Canadian city, and we will plan the move backwards from your flight.