Your new life in Canada begins here, straight from France

When your things reach Canada they clear through CBSA, the Canada Border Services Agency. The point to hold onto: your customs treatment is fixed at your first entry into Canada, not when the container turns up at the port. Even on a short crossing like this one you will normally fly in ahead of your shipment, so the goods-to-follow declaration you make on arrival is the foundation of the whole customs file.

There is a French export leg to settle first. Goods leaving France for a country outside the EU clear French export formalities on the way out, and because Canada sits outside the single market this is a genuine customs export rather than an intra-EU move. We take care of the French export declaration; what matters is that its inventory and values match exactly what is declared on the Canadian side.

Even on a fast North Atlantic route, your belongings will usually land after you have already flown over. That is completely normal and causes no problem at all, provided it is declared properly at your first Canadian entry. The goods-to-follow list has to match what is actually travelling by sea. A gap between what you declared on arrival and what turns up at the quay is far slower and more expensive 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-Canada shipments at the French port.

For a French mover one question really matters: does your shipment qualify as settlers' effects under CBSA rules? If it does, your used household belongings generally come in free of duty and taxes. CETA, the trade agreement between Canada and the EU, matters mainly for goods you buy commercially rather than for a household move, but it is worth your customs broker confirming the origin and commodity codes for anything that might otherwise attract duty.

A France-to-Canada file is nearly always cleaner when your qualifying used belongings are clearly separated from everything else. The things that blur the line — new electronics, an unopened purchase, a duplicate appliance, the case of Bordeaux — are worth flagging before the container is packed rather than after it is standing at Montreal.

If you are unsure whether something belongs on the goods-to-follow list or needs declaring on its own, ask us before it ships. Settling a category question at origin takes minutes; settling it after arrival does not.

The North Atlantic crossing is short by international standards, but it is still the North Atlantic, and your shipment passes through two port operations and an inland leg on the way. Cargo insurance is well worth having on any household move, particularly for 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 nationals have an unusually good hand here, and it is worth understanding why before you choose a route. Canada has an explicit policy commitment to francophone immigration, and it shows up in two concrete places: category-based Express Entry rounds for French-language proficiency, and an LMIA-exempt work permit stream for French speakers. Programs and quotas change often, so always confirm the current rules with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) before you lock in any relocation or shipping decisions.

French household shipments to Canada leave through the major container ports on the Channel, the Atlantic coast, or the Mediterranean, then arrive at one of Canada's eastern gateways before heading inland by rail or truck. The port you leave from makes a real difference on this corridor: the Channel and Atlantic ports run direct North Atlantic services, while Marseille-Fos has to come out through Gibraltar and adds roughly a week.

Since 1999 we have been moving people from France to Canada — from collection at your French address through export customs, the Atlantic crossing, Canadian port clearance, and delivery to your new home. We handle every step, so your energy goes into the move itself rather than the logistics behind it.

1. Collection and packing at your French address

2. French export and port handling

We prepare the French export documentation, load the container at your departure port (Le Havre, Dunkerque, Montoir-de-Bretagne, or Marseille-Fos), and hand it safely to the vessel.

3. The crossing and Canadian customs clearance

We book the sea or air freight as agreed, track the container across the Atlantic, and manage CBSA clearance at Montreal, Halifax, or Saint John on arrival. The customs sections above set out exactly what is needed.

4. Delivery to your new Canadian home

Once your shipment clears CBSA, we arrange the inland leg and the final drop at your Canadian address.

5. Unpacking and setting up

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

Our France-to-Canada support is built around a single contact: a dedicated Move Manager who owns your file from the first estimate through French collection, export, the crossing, CBSA clearance, and Canadian delivery. You are not handed between teams at each stage.

On a Canadian move that continuity genuinely matters, because your BSF186 and goods-to-follow paperwork has to stay consistent across every document in the file. Any gap between what you declared on your first day in Canada and what actually arrives at Montreal creates friction that is slow and costly to fix afterwards. One accountable person who knows the whole file is how that gets caught before it becomes a problem.

From collection in France through loading at Le Havre or Dunkerque, the Atlantic crossing, CBSA clearance, port release, and the final delivery to your Canadian door — your Move Manager stays in touch and keeps you posted at every stage.

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This is the section where we would rather disappoint you early than expensively late. A car built for the French market generally cannot be imported into Canada. Transport Canada requires vehicles less than fifteen years old to comply with Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and most European-market models cannot be brought into compliance at all — the manufacturer simply never certified them for Canada. A vehicle that arrives and turns out to be inadmissible has to be exported again or destroyed. Check admissibility with Transport Canada before you arrange anything: 1-800-333-0371 or mvs-sa@tc.gc.ca.

Bringing a cat or a dog from France to Canada is one of the more manageable parts of this move. France is not a rabies-free country in Canadian terms, so a valid rabies vaccination is the centrepiece of the paperwork rather than something you can skip. The routing and the airline rules are what need planning ahead, particularly for travel in the hold.

Canada is one of the most popular destinations for French movers — for work, for study, for family, and to settle permanently. Quebec makes it unusual: a French-speaking province of nearly nine million people, with its own immigration system and a genuinely different relationship to France than the rest of the country has. But French movers land everywhere, from Toronto to Vancouver, and the day-to-day realities differ from France in ways that genuinely affect how you plan and pack.

From a shipping point of view, Canada is predictable for French movers who prepare their CBSA file properly. The real challenges are not customs mystery. They are the electrical difference, which quietly decides half of what is worth bringing, and the winter, which is a serious adjustment even coming from the Massif Central.

Toronto and Vancouver are expensive by any measure — a one-bedroom in the centre regularly runs CAD 2,000–2,500 a month, which will feel steep to anyone arriving from anywhere in France except central Paris. Montreal is the outlier and the reason so many French movers land there: rents are markedly lower than in Toronto, and lower than in Paris, Lyon or Bordeaux for comparable space.

Groceries run higher than in France for the things you will miss most. Cheese, wine, charcuterie and good bread are all available in Montreal and Toronto, and all cost noticeably more than at home — the provincial liquor monopolies, the SAQ in Quebec and the LCBO in Ontario, put a real premium on wine in particular. Everyday staples are broadly comparable. Utilities vary by province, though Quebec's hydroelectric power makes electricity cheap by both Canadian and French standards.

For planning your shipment, the decision that matters most is housing. Whether you have a confirmed Canadian address before the container leaves France decides whether you will need temporary storage on arrival — and on a ten-day crossing, that question arrives much sooner than French movers expect.

French professionals moving to Canada usually find salaries competitive in tech, engineering, finance, healthcare, and the skilled trades. Mid-career software developers or data engineers in Toronto or Montreal commonly earn CAD 90,000–130,000 or more, with Toronto paying above Montreal for the same role and charging considerably more in rent for the privilege.

Credential recognition is the piece to sort early, and it is not uniform. Regulated professions — medicine, engineering, law, architecture, accountancy — are licensed provincially, and each ordre or college sets its own requirements. Quebec and France have a longstanding arrangement on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications covering a list of specific professions, which can shorten the path considerably if yours is on it. Check whether it covers your profession before you build a job-offer timeline around it.

Canada trimmed its 2026 immigration intake targets against previous years, which makes permanent residence more competitive overall — though French speakers are insulated from a good deal of that by the category-based rounds. Tying your container's arrival to confirmed status, rather than to a hoped-for approval date, keeps your shipment from landing before you have an address to deliver it to.

Canada layers federal and provincial income tax. Quebec has the highest provincial rate and collects its own provincial return separately, so Quebec residents file twice — once federally, once to Revenu Québec. Ontario and British Columbia sit in the mid-to-high range; Alberta does levy provincial income tax, but its entry rate is lower than in many other provinces. France and Canada have a double-taxation convention that prevents the same income being taxed twice, and a social security agreement that coordinates pension rights between the two systems, with a separate France-Quebec arrangement covering Quebec.

If you keep French assets — property, bank accounts, an assurance-vie, or securities — with a combined cost amount over CAD 100,000 after becoming a Canadian tax resident, you are required to file Form T1135 (Foreign Income Verification Statement) each year. It is a disclosure requirement rather than an extra tax, but the penalties for not filing are serious. For property you already owned when you became resident, the cost amount is its fair market value on that date; for property acquired later, it is generally the adjusted cost base, not simply today's market value. Property you hold mainly for your own use does not count towards it, and interests in foreign pension or retirement plans are generally excluded. You are also exempt for the first tax year in which you become a Canadian resident, so the obligation starts the year after.

Two French products deserve specific advice before your first Canadian return: the assurance-vie, whose French tax treatment does not carry over and which Canada may treat quite differently, and any PEA or livret savings. Neither is a disaster, but neither behaves the way it does at home. If you own French property or hold either of these, get cross-border tax advice before you file.

Here is the fact worth building your plans around. Canada runs category-based Express Entry rounds specifically for candidates with French-language proficiency at CLB 7 or above. Through 2026 those rounds have been issuing invitations at CRS cut-offs between roughly 379 and 446, while general rounds have sat around 514–525. For a French national, that is a structural advantage nobody else on this website's other route pages has.

Francophone Mobility is the other route to know about. It is an LMIA-exempt work permit for French speakers with a job offer outside Quebec, requiring French at NCLC 5 in speaking and listening. The job itself does not have to be in French — your French is the justification for the exemption. For an employer, that removes the labour market impact assessment entirely, which makes you a materially easier hire than an equivalent candidate from a non-francophone country.

Quebec is a separate system rather than an easier one. Under the Canada-Quebec Accord the province selects its own economic immigrants through the Arrima portal, and a federal Express Entry profile does not carry over. If Montreal or Quebec City is the destination, plan for the Quebec route from the start rather than discovering the difference halfway through.

Provincial healthcare is free at the point of use for registered residents, which will feel broadly familiar after the French system, with two real differences. Some provinces, British Columbia and Quebec among them, impose a waiting period of up to three months before new residents are enrolled, so check your destination province's rules — eligibility also depends on your immigration status — and arrange private interim cover if you face that gap. And dental, vision and prescriptions are not universally covered — the role your mutuelle plays in France is filled by private top-up insurance, often through your employer.

Banking is straightforward. The large Canadian banks — RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC — and Quebec's Desjardins all run newcomer packages designed for people arriving with no Canadian credit history. Building a Canadian credit file from zero takes longer than French movers expect and matters more than it does at home; it affects renting as well as borrowing.

On driving: Quebec has a reciprocal exchange agreement with France, so a French licence can generally be exchanged for a Quebec one without a road test, provided you apply within six months of taking up residence. You may drive on your French licence for those first six months. Other provinces have their own arrangements and they are not identical — check the rules for your specific destination rather than assuming Quebec's terms apply nationally.

Canada uses the Canadian dollar. The euro has generally traded well above the Canadian dollar in recent years, which works in your favour when converting French savings, though the rate can still move meaningfully across a multi-month relocation. If you are converting for a rental deposit, first-month costs, or a property purchase, both the timing and the method make a real difference to what lands in the Canadian account.

Wise is widely used by French movers for EUR-to-CAD transfers and gives mid-market rates with transparent fees. A traditional French bank virement to a Canadian account is slower and usually less cost-efficient for a personal transfer. If you will have ongoing euro income — rental income from a French property, dividends, or a pension — set up a multi-currency account or a regular-conversion service before you leave rather than after.

Your shipment is priced in CAD as well: freight, Canadian port charges, inland delivery, and any temporary storage all sit in a currency that may drift against the euro between booking and paying. On a large move it is worth confirming the CAD total at the time you book.