Moving from Southeast Asia: what your destination asks of a household leaving
Everything published about moving points into Asia. This page points out of it: what Canada, Germany, Australia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States ask of a shipment leaving Thailand, the Philippines or Vietnam, corridor by corridor.
A household leaving Southeast Asia goes through the same export formalities as any arriving expatriate did, in reverse, then meets a customs office that Asia Relocation does not run: the destination's. What may enter, what must be listed and what is duty-free is decided there, differently in Canada, Germany or Australia. The origin side is ours in all three of our countries; the destination side is read, corridor by corridor, before anything is packed.
Six corridors have been written down from moves actually run, each with its guide: Thailand to Canada, Thailand to Germany, Vietnam to Australia, Vietnam to France, Vietnam to the United Kingdom and Vietnam to the United States. What they share is one lesson: the customs file starts at the origin address, not at the destination port.
Asia Relocation has moved households out of Asia since 2011, with its own crews, warehouses and export desks in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, and briefed partners at the far end. Beyond the six corridors we do not pretend to have written what we have not; we read the rules with you.
What Asia Relocation does on a move out, and what the destination decides
Ours, and the destination's.
Carried by the service
- The destination's requirements, read first: its customs form, its proof of prior residence, its prohibited list, and the status that makes household goods duty-free.
- The survey and the inventory at the origin address, itemised and, where required, numbered with declared values: the document every customs office reads.
- Export packing, crating and clearance in the country you are leaving, by our own crews, the declaration lodged before the container is booked.
- Freight against a granted visa, sea or air, a sailing that follows the decision rather than the hope.
- The far end through a briefed partner, working from our inventory, clearing, delivering and reporting to your coordinator.
Surveyed and quoted in Thailand, the Philippines or Vietnam, in writing.
Decided elsewhere, or a different service
- What the destination admits. Its customs office, not ours, decides entry, duty and inspection; we read its rules.
- The visa that makes the goods duty-free. Yours to obtain; in several corridors it decides whether the shipment enters free of duty.
- The move itself. Modes, crating and the origin work are international moving; this page is the destination's side.
- The car and the animals. Each on its own file and destination rules: vehicle transport and pet transport.
One coordinator carries the departure.
Four families of destination, and what each asks
Facts from six corridors out of Southeast Asia; where none exists, we say so.
North America: Canada and the United States
Canada asks for the BSF186 form, presented to the border agency at the first point of entry even when the goods arrive later. In the United States the visa category decides whether the shipment enters duty-free and which documents travel with it; the inventory is itself a customs document.
Europe: Germany, France, the United Kingdom
Germany runs a defined framework for household goods: a numbered inventory with declared values, proof of prior residence, a duty-exemption filing. France and the United Kingdom keep their own lists of restricted and taxed items, the United Kingdom its own plugs.
Australia
The strictest of the six: biosecurity screening, a border list of prohibited and restricted goods with written permission required for whole categories and seizure as the consequence, and no booking before the visa is granted.
Everywhere else
Through a briefed partner at the far end, from our inventory. We have not written these corridors down, and say so rather than borrow a neighbour's rules; the destination's own office is read with you before packing.
Five steps from the decision to a cleared shipment abroad
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The destination, read first
Its customs form, its residence proof, its prohibited list and the status that makes goods duty-free, from the corridor guide where one exists, from the destination's own office where not.
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The survey and the inventory
At the origin address, in Thailand, the Philippines or Vietnam. Volume fixed, the inventory written the way the destination will read it, what it will not admit taken out first.
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The departure closed
Lease, utilities, vehicle, and the permits or cancellations either country may ask to see, run as a file of their own.
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Export and freight
Packing, crating and export clearance by our own crews, a sailing booked against a granted visa, the file handed to the partner at the far end.
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Clearance and delivery abroad
The destination's customs office reads the inventory built for it; the partner clears, delivers and reports to the coordinator who has held the file since the survey.
Four households leaving Asia
The direction the industry advertises least, and the one Asia Relocation built this page around.
The expatriate going home
Years in one of our countries, a household grown beyond what arrived, and a home country whose customs office now treats them as an importer with residence abroad to prove.
The family leaving for work, study or relatives
Thai, Filipino and Vietnamese households going abroad for the first time: the same export formalities, a visa granted before the container is booked, a destination that reads the inventory.
The assignee posted on, outside the region
Next posting in Europe or North America, a last month already full, and a departure to close properly in the country left behind while the destination's rules are read.
The mobility team repatriating staff
Several departures a year, to several destinations, from more than one of our countries. One coordinator, one inventory standard, a guide for each family.
Three countries a departure can start from
The destination reads the file; the country you leave writes it.
Leaving from Thailand, the survey, the packing, the Thai export documentation and the loading are done by Asia Relocation's own crews, and two written corridors, Canada and Germany, start there. From the Philippines, the departure adds an archipelago's port logic to the export file, with the same crews and export desk.
From Vietnam, four of the six corridors have been written, to Australia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the departure may add an exit and re-entry permit or a residence cancellation confirmation, depending on your status. In all three, the export side is ours and the inventory is written for the office that will read it.
What households ask before leaving the region
Is leaving Southeast Asia different from arriving?
Where does the customs file actually start?
Which destinations do you have written guides for?
Can we book the container before the visa is granted?
What does a destination typically ask for?
Are there things we cannot ship at all?
What has to be closed on this side before we leave?
How is a move out of the region priced?
The service that carries the shipment, and the whole offer
You want the move itself, not only the destination's rules
Survey, packing, crating, export and freight from any of the three countries, in both directions, our own crews at origin.
International moving to and from Southeast Asia →The whole moving service
Seven services across the region, in and out of Asia, and which of them your move needs.
Moving services in Southeast Asia →Tell us which country you are leaving, and for where
Asia Relocation reads the destination's rules first, writes the inventory the way that office will read it, and runs the departure from the country you leave.
Plan a move out of the region →