Your new life in Australia starts here, straight from France

Australia runs two separate checks on an incoming household shipment: an Australian Border Force (ABF) customs assessment for duty and GST, and a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) biosecurity inspection. The biosecurity side is the one that genuinely differs from a move within Europe — Australia is an island with no land borders, and it protects that status by inspecting personal effects from every origin, France very much included.

There's also a French export leg to sort before anything sails. We take care of the French export documentation for you — the key is that the inventory and values on it line up with what's declared to ABF and DAFF on the Australian side.

On a France-to-Australia sea move, your belongings almost always land weeks after you've already flown over. That's completely normal — DAFF and ABF process unaccompanied personal effects on their own timeline once the shipment and your B534 statement are both in the system. The inventory has to match what's actually travelling; a gap between what's declared and what turns up at the Australian port is far slower and pricier to untangle later than it is to get right at the start.

For a full household, most families ship a 20ft or 40ft container. A single room or a studio's contents usually travels as LCL (Less than Container Load) groupage, consolidated with other France-to-Australia shipments at the departure port.

For a mover leaving France, the main question is whether your shipment qualifies for the duty and GST concession on unaccompanied personal effects. This is an Australian Border Force concession, separate from the DAFF biosecurity check — you can clear one and still need to satisfy the other.

A France-to-Australia file is nearly always cleaner when your qualifying used belongings are clearly separated from everything else. The things that blur the line — new electronics, unopened purchases, that case of wine tucked between the linens — are worth flagging before the container is packed, not after it's sitting at an Australian port awaiting inspection.

If you're not sure whether something qualifies for the concession or needs declaring on its own, ask us before it ships. Sorting a category question at origin is quick; sorting it after arrival, with the shipment held for reassessment, is not.

A France-to-Australia crossing is one of the longer journeys your belongings can make — through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, and the Indian Ocean — so cargo insurance is well worth having, especially on anything that matters to you or carries real value.

Always go through the policy terms, exclusions, and declared values with your broker or insurer before you commit to cover.

French citizens have several genuine routes into Australia, from a working holiday to a full skilled-migration pathway — and if you live in France with another passport, the same visa families exist with their own conditions. Which one fits comes down to your age, your occupation, whether you have a job or partner already in Australia, and how long you're planning to stay. Requirements and points thresholds change often, so always confirm the current rules with the Department of Home Affairs before you lock in any relocation or shipping decisions.

French household shipments to Australia leave through the country's two great container gateways — Le Havre on the Channel for the north, and Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille for the south — then sail via the Suez Canal, usually calling at Fremantle first before continuing to the eastern seaboard. Which gateway suits you is mostly a question of geography: the Le Havre catchment covers Paris and everything north and west, while Fos serves the Midi.

Since 1999 we've been moving people from France to Australia — from collection at your French address through export, the sea crossing, Australian biosecurity and customs clearance, and delivery to your new home. We handle every step, so you can put your energy into the move itself rather than the logistics.

1. Collection and packing at your French address

2. French export and port handling

We sort the French export documentation, load the container at your departure port — Le Havre for the north, Fos-sur-Mer for the south — and hand it safely to the vessel.

3. The crossing and Australian biosecurity and customs clearance

We book the sea or air freight as agreed, track the container on its way east, and manage the DAFF biosecurity check and ABF customs clearance at Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Adelaide on arrival. The customs and biosecurity sections above cover exactly what's needed.

4. Delivery to your new Australian home

Once your shipment clears biosecurity and customs, we arrange the final leg and the drop at your Australian address.

5. Unpacking and setting up

Our local delivery team places the furniture and boxes where you actually want them, so you can start settling in rather than facing a mountain of unpacking on your own.

Our France-to-Australia support is built around a single contact: a dedicated Move Manager who owns your file from the first quote through French collection, export, the crossing, DAFF and ABF clearance, and Australian delivery. You're not handed off between teams at each stage.

On an Australia move, that continuity really matters, because your B534 personal effects statement and your biosecurity preparation have to stay consistent across every document in the file. A gap between what's declared and what actually turns up at the Australian port causes friction that's slow and costly to fix afterwards. One accountable person who knows the whole file is how that gets spotted before it becomes a problem.

From collection anywhere in France through loading at Le Havre or Fos-sur-Mer, the crossing, DAFF and ABF clearance, port release, and the final delivery to your Australian door — your Move Manager stays in touch and keeps you posted at every stage.

Talk to a real person now

Chat on WhatsApp
Send an email

Here's the honest answer most movers on this route need early: Australia drives on the left, and a French left-hand-drive car generally can't be given full registration there until it's around 30 years old — the exact age and conditions vary by state and territory — or until it's been professionally converted to right-hand drive at real expense. On top of the drive-side problem, any vehicle import needs the appropriate approval before shipping: the personal-effects pathway is a concessional Register of Approved Vehicles (RAV) entry approval applied for through ROVER, with strict eligibility rules including continuous ownership and use overseas for at least 12 months immediately before first arriving in Australia with the intention to remain indefinitely. For most movers, selling in France and buying in Australia is the sensible plan — but if your car is a classic, a collectible, or simply non-negotiable, here's what's involved.

For an ordinary left-hand-drive daily driver, the numbers rarely work — selling in France and buying in Australia is almost always cheaper once conversion, approval, and freight are added up. The exceptions are genuine classics old enough to register in original form, and vehicles with value or meaning that justifies the cost. Cost both options properly before you commit either way.

Australia is rabies-free and intends to stay that way, so bringing a dog or cat from France is a government-supervised process with its own timeline, separate from your household shipment and your own visa. A French-origin pet generally falls under DAFF's pathway for approved rabies-controlled countries — expect a rabies vaccination, a blood test, several months of preparation, and a stay at the government quarantine facility on arrival.

We handle the freight and logistics side of your move; your pet's import permit, vet sequencing, and quarantine booking need arranging through DAFF's own process, alongside your move rather than as an afterthought to it. Our dedicated moving to Australia with your pet guide covers the full pathway in detail.

The France-Australia corridor runs busier than many people expect: tens of thousands of French-born residents call Australia home, French schools and francophone communities anchor Sydney and Melbourne, and a steady flow of postings, working holidays, and partner visas keeps the lane moving in both directions. The adjustments are real, though: a services culture that runs on online portals rather than the guichet, a retirement system with no bridge back to the French one, and a workplace that takes its four weeks of leave without a trace of guilt.

From a shipping point of view, Australia is predictable for movers who prepare their DAFF and ABF file properly. The real challenges aren't customs mystery — they're the biosecurity cleaning your outdoor gear needs before it travels, the seasonal stink bug measures that can apply to French-origin shipments, and the honest conversation about which foods and wines can actually make the trip.

Coming from Paris, Sydney's housing numbers will feel familiar rather than shocking — a one-bedroom apartment in central Sydney commonly runs AUD 2,500–3,200 a month, with Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth a little gentler and Adelaide noticeably kinder. Coming from Lyon, Toulouse, or anywhere outside the Paris orbit, the jump is real and worth budgeting honestly.

The structure of spending shifts in ways French movers notice quickly. Eating out costs more — the AUD 25 lunch is normal, and the €15 formule midi has no equivalent — while the coffee, mercifully, is excellent. There's no tipping culture, and the listed price includes tax. Wine costs meaningfully more than French pricing thanks to excise, which softens the blow of shipping limits on the cellar. Salaries in skilled roles are competitive, and the minimum wage is among the world's highest.

For planning your shipment, the thing that matters most is housing: whether you've got a confirmed Australian address before the container leaves France decides whether you'll need temporary storage on arrival. Lining up the container's arrival with a confirmed delivery address is one of the most important decisions in the whole move.

French professionals usually find Australian gross salaries generous by home standards — mid-career software engineers in Sydney or Melbourne commonly earn AUD 110,000–150,000+, and healthcare, engineering, and the trades pay competitively. The comparison needs care, though: Australian packages carry fewer embedded benefits than French ones, so the tickets restaurant, the mutuelle, the RTT days, and the thirteenth month all need mentally converting before you compare numbers.

What the Australian package does carry: employer-funded superannuation — currently 12% of ordinary earnings on top of the stated salary — four weeks of annual leave as standard, and low out-of-pocket healthcare once you're in the Medicare system. Australian workplaces also run flatter and more first-name than French corporate culture; the adjustment is usually pleasant but real.

French STEM and healthcare workers are generally well placed for Australia's points-tested skilled visas, which reward age, education, English ability, and skilled work experience — and English matters twice, since it scores points and shapes your professional ceiling. One thing to check early: Australian regulators assess many professional qualifications through occupation-specific licensing or registration bodies, so confirm your specific credential-recognition path before you build a job-offer timeline around it.

Australia taxes residents on worldwide income, assessed against tests covering where you reside, your domicile, and time spent in the country. Rates are progressive, from 0% up to 45% plus the Medicare levy, and the tax year runs 1 July to 30 June with returns generally due by 31 October. If you keep French income after the move — rent from an apartment you've kept, dividends — it's generally taxable in Australia once you're a resident, with the France-Australia tax treaty preventing the same income being taxed twice.

On the French side, tell the tax office you're leaving and settle your final resident return; French-source income you keep generally stays taxable in France as a non-resident, with the treaty allocating who taxes what. Property kept in France carries its own non-resident regime worth understanding before you decide to keep or sell. If your affairs span both countries, a cross-border adviser who knows both systems is worth engaging for the first year's returns.

The retirement picture is the corridor's honest hard edge: there is no social security agreement between France and Australia. Your French pension entitlements stay where they are — French state pensions can generally be paid abroad, so trimestres already earned aren't lost — but nothing bridges the two systems, and periods worked in one country don't help you qualify in the other. Superannuation starts building your Australian position from your first payslip, employer-funded at 12% on top of salary, which makes starting early matter more on this corridor than most.

Australia remains a major destination for French skilled workers, corporate postings, and career changes. The points-tested skilled visas run federal and state-nominated permanent residence pathways, and each state and territory targets specific in-demand occupations through its own nomination streams. French professionals in tech, healthcare, engineering, hospitality, and the skilled trades are consistently among the groups that appear on recent skilled-occupation lists.

If you're aged 18 to 35, the Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) is a low-commitment first step — French citizens get one of the widest age ranges going under the 2019 arrangement, effective 1 July 2019. You can arrive without a job offer, work legally, and use that Australian experience and network to build toward a skilled or employer-sponsored visa later. It's the classic French route: tens of thousands of French working-holiday makers have turned a year in Australia into a life there.

Regional Australia runs its own logic worth knowing about: the Skilled Work Regional visa (491) and various state nomination streams specifically target occupations and locations outside the major capital cities, often with a faster or less competitive points threshold than the capital-city routes. If you're open to living outside Sydney or Melbourne, it's genuinely worth comparing the regional pathway.

Healthcare needs the sequence explained honestly, because France sits outside Australia's reciprocal arrangements: there is no reciprocal health care agreement between France and Australia, so unlike British or Italian arrivals, movers from France can't enrol in Medicare as visitors or on most temporary visas. Until you hold a visa that carries Medicare eligibility — permanent residence being the main one — you'll need Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) or equivalent private insurance, and some visas require it as a condition. Once eligible, Medicare covers some or all of the cost of many services; treatment as a public patient in a public hospital is free, while non-bulk-billed and out-of-hospital care can leave a gap — a different architecture from the Sécu's reimbursement model, but a familiar philosophy.

Banking is straightforward. The big Australian banks (Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ) all run accounts designed for newcomers arriving without an Australian credit history, and you can usually open one online before you land. For a large EUR-to-AUD transfer — savings, property-sale proceeds, or deposit funds — a specialist service like Wise usually beats a traditional bank wire by a meaningful margin.

French driving licences are generally recognised for a limited period after arrival, and France sits on the recognised-country lists most states use, so exchanging for a local licence is usually straightforward — though the exact rules are set by each state and territory, so check your destination's transport authority. The bigger adjustment is the left side of the road: give yourself real practice on quiet streets before the freeway, and budget humility for the first month of windscreen wipers when you meant to indicate.

Australia uses the Australian dollar (AUD). EUR/AUD has moved around meaningfully over recent years, so the rate on the day you transfer can make a real difference over a large sum. If you're converting euro savings — for a rental bond, first-month costs, or an Australian property purchase — the timing and the method of the transfer both matter.

Wise gives mid-market rates with transparent fees and is widely used on this corridor for EUR-to-AUD transfers; a traditional French bank wire is slower and usually less cost-efficient for a personal transfer, and French banks' out-of-eurozone card fees make an Australian account worth opening early rather than living on the French card. If you'll have ongoing euro income — rent from a kept apartment, dividends, eventually a French pension — set up a multi-currency account or a regular-conversion service before you leave.

Your shipment is priced in AUD too — freight, Australian port charges, biosecurity treatment fees where they apply, and any temporary storage all sit in a currency that may drift against the euro between booking and paying. On a large move where the final delivery cost is substantial, it's worth confirming the AUD total at the time you book.