Relocation from Dubai to Paris or Anywhere in France

Moving to France from Dubai or Abu Dhabi

Leaving Dubai or Abu Dhabi for France? Whether it is a relocation to Paris or to a family house near Toulouse, we handle the whole move, from the free survey in your living room to unpacking at the new address. One coordinator stays with you from the first visit to the last box.

Seemleius Mobility and Cargo L.L.C works from Dubai Investment Park. Our crews pack your home in the UAE, we prepare the French customs file here, and our destination partner clears your goods and delivers them in France.

What our France relocation services include

You get one fixed, itemised quote for your whole relocation to France, customs clearance included. For a full home it covers:

• A free in-home or video survey anywhere in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah, so the quote is based on what you actually own.
• Export packing by trained crews, with crates for fragile items and art.
• Furniture dismantled before loading and reassembled in your new home.
• The export documents and the French customs file – Cerfa n°10070*03 and the valued inventory – prepared in Dubai.
• Sea freight in a full or shared container, depending on your volume, and air freight for the essentials you need first.
• Customs clearance in France through our destination partner.
• Delivery, placement room by room and unpacking.
• Transit insurance available (terms confirmed with your quote).
• Storage in Dubai, short or long term, if your dates don't line up.

Customs rules for your relocation to France

France lets you bring used household goods, furniture and a personal vehicle in free of duties and taxes when you move your main residence from a country outside the EU. This transfer-of-residence relief is not automatic: you claim it on Cerfa n°10070*03 with an inventory, and customs checks the conditions.

• Residence: you have lived outside the EU for at least 12 continuous months. Customs can make an exception if you clearly intended to stay 12 months.
• Use: you have owned and used the goods at your home abroad for at least 6 months before leaving, and you keep them for the same use in France.
• Taxes paid: the goods must have been subject to the normal customs duties or taxes in the country they come from. Cars, motorcycles, trailers, caravans, pleasure boats and private planes must have been bought with all taxes paid there.
• Timing: everything must enter France within 12 months of your change of residence. You can ship in several lots if the first inventory lists everything, and goods can be cleared up to 6 months before you take up residence, against an undertaking and a security.

The file has three parts:

• Cerfa n°10070*03, the declaration for duty-free entry of personal belongings from outside the EU (some official pages still show the older 10070*02).
• The inventory: detailed, valued, dated and signed, in 2 copies, and including any vehicle.
• Proof of your move: that your main residence was abroad and that you are settling in France – for example a certificat de changement de résidence, which French nationals can request from the French consulate before leaving, a transfer order or an employment contract. Your coordinator goes through these proofs with you at the survey.

After clearance, customs returns a stamped copy of the inventory and, for a car, certificate 846 A, which you need to register it. For the next 12 months, goods admitted duty-free cannot be sold, rented, lent or pledged.

Not covered: alcohol, tobacco, utility and mixed-use vehicles, transportable dwellings, professional equipment other than portable instruments, and stocks of materials. Furniture for a second home does not qualify at all: duty and VAT are due on the whole shipment. Pets, weapons and ammunition, cultural goods, endangered species, medicines and plants need their own formalities, and listed plants from outside the EU need a phytosanitary certificate.

Who does what: we prepare the Cerfa form and the valued inventory in Dubai from our packing list, and our destination partner presents them to French customs. You check the values, date and sign both copies, and provide the proof of residence.

Routes and transit times to France

Since 28 February 2026 the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to commercial shipping. Carriers now load UAE containers at ports outside the strait, such as Khor Fakkan and Fujairah on the east coast or Sohar in Oman, so your container goes there by road from Dubai or Abu Dhabi before it sails.

Carrier services from the region reach Le Havre, part of HAROPA PORT (Le Havre–Rouen–Paris), and Fos on the Mediterranean; from the port, your goods travel on to your new home. Schedules are longer and less predictable than before 2026. As a guide, CMA CGM's September 2026 schedule starts at Duqm in Oman and shows 49 days – about seven weeks – from there to Le Havre, port to port; the road and feeder legs from the UAE, customs clearance and delivery come on top.

Your coordinator confirms the routing and expected dates at your survey and again when the booking is made, so treat any figure here as typical, not a promise. If you need a few things quickly, send them by air and the rest by sea.

How your move to France runs

Our France removals follow seven steps, with one coordinator from start to finish:

• Survey: a coordinator walks through your home with you, room by room, noting what goes, what stays and what needs a crate.
• Fixed quote: an itemised quote listing the volume, the shipping option and the services at both ends.
• Paperwork: we draw up the Cerfa form and the inventory, and tell you which proofs of residence to gather.
• Packing day: trained crews pack, crate fragile pieces and art, dismantle furniture and load, in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
• Departure: the container goes by road to the departure port and sails; your coordinator keeps you informed.
• Arrival and clearance: our destination partner presents the file to French customs and agrees a delivery date with you.
• Delivery: furniture is placed room by room and reassembled, and your boxes are unpacked.

Where we deliver in France

Delivery covers the whole of mainland France, from city apartments to village houses. Among the places we deliver to:

• Paris and Île-de-France – apartments in the city and houses in the suburbs.
• Lyon, Grenoble and Annecy.
• Marseille, Nice and Montpellier.
• The south-west – removals to Toulouse, Bordeaux and the rest of the region.
• Lille, Nantes and Strasbourg, and everywhere in between.

At the survey we also ask about the new address – floor, lift size, stairs and where a lorry can stop – so the destination crew arrives with the right vehicle and enough hands.

Pets and cars

Pets and vehicles move as separate services, each with its own paperwork. A personal car can be part of the duty-free relief if it meets the conditions above and is on your inventory; utility and mixed-use vehicles are excluded. More on pet relocation and vehicle shipping.

Storage in Dubai

If your Dubai lease ends before the French home is ready, we can keep your goods in storage in Dubai, short or long term, and ship when you are ready. Keep the 12-month limit in mind: goods must enter France within 12 months of your change of residence to stay duty-free.

Book your free in-home survey

The survey is 100% free, with no obligation. A coordinator visits your home in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, looks at every room, asks about access at both addresses and answers your questions on French customs; your fixed, itemised quote follows.

When you compare international movers for France, the customs file is the best test: ask each one who prepares Cerfa n°10070*03 and the valued inventory, and who presents them to customs.

Book through the quote form on this page or on our quote page, or call or WhatsApp +971 56 899 2011.