Moving to the USA

A move from the UAE to the United States is as much a paperwork exercise as a logistics one. US Customs & Border Protection applies some of the strictest import controls of any destination we serve — documentation, prohibited items, accurate classification and often additional inspections. On this corridor, the difference between a shipment that arrives on schedule and one that sits in a US port accruing storage charges usually comes down to how thoroughly the paperwork was prepared before the goods left the UAE.

The UAE–USA route has well-known friction points: CBP documentation, the inland leg from the US gateway port, and building access rules in cities such as New York and San Francisco. The corridor rewards preparation. This page explains how the route works. From here, choose the guide that matches your situation and we will go from there.

Sea and air: choosing the right mode

Both are options on this corridor, and both have a clear use case. Since the Strait of Hormuz closed to commercial shipping in February 2026, sea freight goes by road to a port outside the strait, such as Khor Fakkan or Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast or Sohar in Oman, and sails from there to New York or Newark, to Los Angeles or Long Beach on the west coast, or to Houston or Savannah, with routing and dates confirmed at the survey. Air freight from DXB to JFK, IAD, ORD or LAX moves in 14 to 16 hours of actual flight time, with typical door-to-door windows of 5 to 10 days once consolidation, customs and inland trucking are factored in.

Sea freight is the primary choice for full household shipments — cost-effective for volume, with a longer transit that is built into the planning from the start. Air freight is the right call for urgent items, high-value goods or a smaller shipment where transit time matters more than cost. We present both options with honest numbers so you decide with full information, including the inland trucking that takes you from the US gateway port to the final address.

US gateway cities we work through

What CBP wants to see

US Customs & Border Protection treats every inbound shipment as commercial unless the documentation clearly establishes it as personal-effects. For residence-shift movers, that means a CBP Form 3299 (Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles) supported by a valued inventory and proof of residency status. Used household goods generally enter duty-free under the returning-resident or new-resident provisions, but the exemption is conditional on the form being correct, the inventory matching the container, and prohibited items being absent. ISF (Importer Security Filing) — the “10+2” rule — applies to ocean shipments, household goods included, and must be submitted at least 24 hours before vessel loading at the departure port; commercial consignments also need accurate Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification on every line item.

How a UAE–USA move is put together

1. Survey and quote. We assess what is moving from your Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah address, recommend sea or air freight, and set realistic port-arrival and final-delivery dates against the relevant US gateway.
2. Customs preparation. Every item is documented to the standard CBP expects — classification, valuation, prohibited-items check — before the shipment leaves the UAE. ISF is filed for sea shipments, household goods included; CBP 3299 is completed where the shipment is personal-effects.
3. Pack and ship. Export-standard packing with a full inventory, dispatched on the booked route into the appropriate US gateway. Sailing dates are confirmed at the survey.
4. Clear and deliver inland. Our destination partner handles US customs clearance and arranges the inland trucking leg from the port of entry to your US address — whether that is a residential street in Queens, a tech campus in Mountain View, or a warehouse in suburban Houston.

Which guide fits your move?

The USA is a wide country in every sense — geography, purpose of move, what is being shipped. A family household moving from Dubai, a tech company relocating a team to San Francisco, and a commercial shipper sending goods to a Houston distributor are all on the same corridor but running entirely different moves. Each guide below addresses one of those situations properly. Find yours, or start with a quote and a coordinator will point you in the right direction.