Your new life in Canada starts here, straight from the UK

When your things reach Canada, they clear through CBSA (the Canada Border Services Agency). The important thing to understand: your customs treatment is set at your first entry into Canada, not when the container turns up at port. Since your sea freight almost always arrives after you do, the goods-to-follow declaration you make on arrival becomes the foundation for the whole customs file.

There's also a UK export leg to sort before anything leaves Britain. Since Brexit, goods sent from the UK to Canada are handled as third-country exports. We take care of the UK export declaration for you — the key is that the inventory and values on it line up with what's declared on the Canadian side.

On a UK-to-Canada sea move, your belongings almost always land days or weeks after you've already flown over. That's completely normal — it just needs declaring properly at your first Canadian entry. The goods-to-follow list has to match what's actually travelling by sea. A gap between what you declared on arrival and what turns up at the 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 UK-to-Canada shipments at the UK port.

For a British mover, two questions really matter: does your shipment qualify as settler's personal effects under CBSA rules, and might your UK-made things benefit from preferential treatment under the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement (CUKTCA)? The CUKTCA gives tariff preferences to qualifying UK-origin goods — your customs broker can confirm which commodity codes apply to what you're bringing.

A UK-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, unopened purchases, a duplicate appliance — are worth flagging before the container is packed, not after it's sitting at Halifax or Vancouver.

If you're not sure whether something belongs on the goods-to-follow list or should be declared on its own, ask us before it ships. Sorting a category question at origin is quick; sorting it after arrival is not.

A trans-Atlantic crossing is a long way for your things to travel, so cargo insurance is well worth having on any household move — especially 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.

British nationals have a good range of routes into Canada. The right one comes down to your age, your work situation, whether you've got a job offer, and how long you're planning to stay. 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.

UK household shipments to Canada leave through a handful of specialist container and groupage ports, then arrive at one of Canada's main gateways before heading inland by rail or truck. The UK port you leave from and the Canadian port you arrive at both shape your transit time, your cost, and how straightforward that final delivery leg is.

Since 1999 we've been moving people from the UK to Canada — from collection at your British address through export customs, the trans-Atlantic crossing, Canadian port 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 UK address

2. UK export and port handling

We sort the UK export documentation, load the container at your departure port (Felixstowe, Southampton, Tilbury, Liverpool, or Grangemouth), 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 Halifax, Montreal, or Vancouver on arrival. The customs sections above cover exactly what's 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 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 UK-to-Canada support is built around a single contact: a dedicated Move Manager who owns your file from the first quote through UK collection, export, the crossing, CBSA clearance, and Canadian delivery. You're not handed off between teams at each stage.

On a Canada move, that continuity really 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 lands at Halifax or Vancouver 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 in Britain through loading at Felixstowe or Southampton, the North 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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Shipping a UK car to Canada is trickier than it first looks. British cars are right-hand drive; Canada drives on the right, and most Canadian provinces won't register a right-hand-drive vehicle for everyday road use. So the honest answer for most British movers is to sell the car before leaving rather than ship it. If you do want to bring a vehicle, check its admissibility with Transport Canada and the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) before you arrange anything.

British pet owners have it a little easier here — the UK's disease-free status helps in a few ways — but Canada's entry rules are specific, and airlines add their own layer on top. Dogs and cats are generally manageable; it's the paperwork and the routing that need planning ahead, especially for travel in the hold.

Canada is one of the most popular places Britons move to — for work, study, family, and to settle for good. The two countries share a language, a lot of legal DNA, and a fair bit of cultural common ground, but the day-to-day realities of Canadian life differ from the UK in ways that genuinely affect how you plan and pack your shipment.

From a shipping point of view, Canada is pretty predictable for British movers who prepare their CBSA file properly. The real challenges aren't customs mystery — they're the inland delivery across a very large country, winter disruption in the east, and the appliance voltage difference that decides how much of your UK kitchen is actually worth bringing.

Canada's big cities — Toronto and Vancouver especially — are expensive by any measure. A one-bedroom in a city centre regularly runs CAD 2,000–2,500 a month. In pounds that's broadly like London zones 2–3, but often steeper than an equivalent-sized UK city like Manchester, Edinburgh, or Bristol. Montreal and Halifax are noticeably kinder on the wallet, and Calgary sits somewhere in the middle.

Groceries cost more than in the UK for most things. Alcohol is a lot more expensive thanks to the provincial liquor boards. Utilities and broadband vary by province but tend to run higher than at home. Transport depends heavily on whether you're somewhere walkable — Toronto and Vancouver have decent transit; a lot of Canadian cities outside those two effectively need a car.

Salaries in skilled roles are competitive in pound terms, particularly in tech and healthcare. For planning your shipment, the thing that matters most is housing: whether you've got a confirmed Canadian address before the container leaves Britain decides whether you'll need temporary storage on arrival. Lining up the container's arrival with a confirmed delivery address is the single most important decision in the whole move.

British professionals moving to Canada usually find salaries competitive, especially in tech, finance, healthcare, and the skilled trades — the sectors behind most employer-sponsored UK-to-Canada moves. Mid-career software developers or data engineers in Toronto or Vancouver commonly earn CAD 90,000–130,000+. Healthcare staff often move for better working conditions as much as pay, which compares well to NHS rates once provincial benefits are counted in.

British STEM workers are well placed for Canada's Express Entry system, which rewards age, education, language, and work experience. An employer LMIA offer can speed things up considerably. One thing to check early: Canadian regulators assess qualifications through provincial licensing bodies, so confirm your specific credential-recognition path before you build a job-offer timeline around it.

Canada trimmed its 2026 immigration intake targets by roughly 25% against previous years, which makes permanent residence more competitive. Tying your container's arrival to confirmed status — rather than betting on approval by a target date — keeps your shipment from landing before you have a confirmed Canadian address to deliver to.

Canada layers federal and provincial income tax. Provincial rates vary: Alberta generally has lower rates than several other provinces, while Quebec is among the highest-tax provinces. For British movers, becoming a Canadian tax resident doesn't automatically switch off your UK obligations in the year you leave — HMRC's split-year treatment applies if you go mid-tax-year, and you may still need to file a UK return for the departure year after you've settled in Canada.

If you keep UK assets — property, bank accounts, ISA holdings — with a combined cost amount over CAD 100,000 after becoming a Canadian tax resident, you're required to file Form T1135 (Foreign Income Verification Statement) each year. It's a disclosure requirement, not an extra tax, but not filing carries serious penalties. If you own UK property or have substantial pension savings, get cross-border tax advice before your first Canadian return. 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.

ISAs don't keep their UK tax-free status once you're a Canadian resident — income and gains inside an ISA after that point are generally taxable in Canada. Your UK State Pension can be paid to you in Canada, but it isn't uprated each year the way it is for pensioners in the UK and certain other countries. Check the implications with HMRC's International Pension Centre before you build it into your retirement plans.

Canada remains a major destination for British skilled workers, employer-sponsored moves, and career changes. Express Entry runs federal skilled-worker permanent residence; provincial nomination programs let provinces target specific occupations. British professionals in tech, healthcare, engineering, and the skilled trades are among the most in-demand groups in recent draws.

If you're aged 18 to 35 inclusive, the IEC Working Holiday is a low-commitment first step — you arrive without needing a job offer in hand, work legally for up to two years, and use that Canadian experience to build Express Entry points or a PR-qualifying LMIA permit. It's a common route for British movers who aren't ready to commit to settling permanently before they've actually tried Canadian working life.

Quebec's labour market runs on its own logic: French is the working language under Loi 101, and immigration goes through the Quebec-Canada Accord rather than federal Express Entry. If you're heading to Montreal, factor in French-language requirements for certain sectors and the different provincial nomination route.

Canada's provincial healthcare (Medicare) is free at the point of use for registered residents — comparable to the NHS in that sense. But some provinces, British Columbia and Quebec among them, have 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 health cover if you face that gap; a GHIC won't help you here. Dental, vision, and prescriptions aren't universally covered by provincial plans and often need private top-up insurance.

Banking is straightforward. The big Canadian banks (RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC) all run newcomer packages designed for people arriving without a Canadian credit history. For a large GBP-to-CAD transfer — savings, property-sale proceeds, or deposit funds — a specialist service like Wise usually beats a traditional bank wire by a meaningful margin.

UK driving licences are generally accepted for an exchange period in most provinces without a full test. Ontario, BC, and Alberta typically allow a direct swap from a full UK licence; Quebec asks for a knowledge test. The window varies by province — usually 60–90 days from arrival. And remember: you drive on the right from day one, even while you're still on your UK licence.

Canada uses the Canadian dollar (CAD). GBP/CAD has sat broadly in the 1.65–1.80 range in recent years, though it can move meaningfully over a multi-month relocation. If you're converting pound savings to dollars — for a rental deposit, first-month costs, or a Canadian property purchase — the timing and the method of the transfer can make a real difference to what you end up with.

Wise (formerly TransferWise) gives mid-market rates with transparent fees and is widely used by British movers for GBP-to-CAD transfers. A traditional UK bank wire to a Canadian account is slower and usually less cost-efficient for a personal transfer. If you'll have ongoing pound income — UK rental income, pension payments, investment distributions — set up a regular-conversion service or a multi-currency account before you leave Britain.

Your shipment is priced in CAD too — freight, Canadian port charges, inland delivery, and any temporary storage all sit in a currency that may drift against the pound between booking and paying. On a large move where the final delivery cost is substantial, it's worth confirming the CAD total at the time you book.