📦 Shipping your belongings when you emigrate: what to ship, sell or leave

Every emigrating family ends up standing in the garage asking the same question: is this worth shipping across the world? Shipping a household is expensive, slow, and a big source of stress, but so is replacing everything from scratch on a new salary in a new currency. This guide helps you decide what to ship, sell or leave, choose how to ship it, and avoid the customs and biosecurity surprises that catch South Africans out in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Ship, sell or leave: room by room

Start with a simple test for each item: would I buy this again in my new country, at local prices, in my first year? If not, it probably isn't worth the freight. Remember that homes in London, Auckland or Amsterdam are often smaller than the house you're leaving, so big furniture may not fit.

• Lounge: ship good-quality solid furniture you love, art and photos. Sell large couches and wall units that won't suit a smaller home. Leave the TV if it's old: TVs are cheap to replace and fragile to ship.
• Kitchen: ship good knives, pots, a potjie or braai tools (cleaned spotless, see the biosecurity section), and sentimental crockery. Sell or leave large appliances: fridges and washing machines are bulky, often a different size from local fittings, and easy to buy second-hand on arrival.
• Bedrooms: ship bed frames if they're solid and standard-sized, but check local bed sizes first. Mattresses are usually better bought new, and some countries look closely at used bedding.
• Study: ship books, documents and laptops (laptops work on any voltage). Scan important papers too, and carry originals like birth certificates and degrees in your hand luggage, never in the container.
• Garage and garden: this is where biosecurity bites. Bikes, camping gear, golf clubs and garden tools can come, but only if they're scrubbed free of soil, seeds and plant matter. Sell the lawnmower and anything with fuel in it.
• Kids' rooms: ship favourite toys and books. Familiar things help children settle.
• Leave or give away: plants, soil, firewood, food, alcohol you don't want to pay duty on, and anything broken.

Container, groupage or air freight?

• Full container load (FCL). You get a 20-foot or 40-foot shipping container to yourself, usually packed at your home and sealed there. It's the safest option for a whole household and often the best value per cubic metre if you can fill it.
• Groupage (shared container, or LCL). Your goods share a container with other people's, and you pay for the cubic metres you use. It's good for a partial household, but slower: your goods may wait at a depot until the container fills, and they're handled more, so packing quality matters.
• Air freight. Fast but priced by weight or volume, whichever is higher, so it only makes sense for a few boxes of essentials: work equipment, kids' things, kitchen basics and clothes for the other season.
• Excess baggage. For small amounts, extra checked bags on your own flight can be the cheapest and quickest option. Compare it with air freight.

Sea freight from South Africa takes weeks, plus time for customs and (in Australia and New Zealand) biosecurity inspection. Many families send a sea shipment, fly with suitcases and a small air shipment, and live with borrowed or second-hand basics until the container arrives. Ask each mover for a realistic door-to-door estimate, not just the sailing time.

Getting quotes and insurance

1. Get at least three quotes from international movers, ideally with a home or video survey so they measure volume properly. A quote based on a guess is a quote that changes.
2. Check accreditation. Membership of international removals associations such as FIDI (the FAIM quality standard) or IAM means the mover has a network of agents at the destination. Ask who will handle your goods on the other side.
3. Compare like with like. Is it door to door? Does it include packing materials, export documents, destination port charges, customs clearance, delivery and unpacking? Biosecurity inspection fees, container storage and stair or long-carry charges are often excluded.
4. Read the insurance terms. Marine insurance is separate from your household insurance and usually costs a percentage of the value you declare. Value items at what they'd cost to replace in your new country, not what you'd get selling them in South Africa. Check whether cover is "total loss only" or full transit cover, the excess per claim, how pairs and sets are handled, and whether items you packed yourself are covered (often they're not).
5. Make a detailed inventory with photos. You'll need it for insurance, and customs and biosecurity authorities want one too.

At the other end: customs and biosecurity

United Kingdom. Transfer of Residence (ToR) relief lets you bring personal belongings into Great Britain without import duty or VAT. At the time of writing (October 2026) the main conditions are that you've lived outside the UK for at least 12 consecutive months, you've owned and used the goods for at least 6 months, you import them within 12 months of moving, and you won't sell, lend or hire them out within 12 months. You must apply on form ToR1 and get approval before your goods arrive. Alcohol and tobacco aren't covered. Your mover will need your ToR reference. The UK also doesn't allow meat or dairy products from outside the EU, so no biltong or droëwors in the boxes.

Australia. Migrants and returning residents can usually bring personal effects in free of duty and GST if they've owned and used them overseas, generally for at least 12 months. You complete an Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement (form B534), which goes to both the Australian Border Force and the agriculture department. Cars, alcohol, tobacco and commercial goods fall outside the concession. Biosecurity is the bigger issue: household shipments are often physically inspected, you pay for the inspection, and dirty or risky items are cleaned, treated, sent back or destroyed at your cost.

• Clean all soil and plant matter off shoes, bikes, tyres, camping gear, garden furniture, tools, pots and outdoor toys. Drain fuel and oil from braais, mowers and engines.
• Check wooden items for holes or powdery sawdust (signs of borer). All timber and wooden articles are inspected, and cane, bamboo, untreated wood and carvings attract attention.
• Don't use straw or wood shavings as packing, and don't reuse fruit, meat or egg boxes.
• Don't pack food. Biltong, droëwors and other meat products from South Africa aren't allowed as personal effects, and seeds, nuts, dried fruit and spices are restricted. Check anything you're unsure about on the BICON database.
• Group higher-risk items (shoes, garden tools, camping gear) in clearly labelled boxes so inspectors can find them quickly.

New Zealand. The Customs household effects concession applies if you're moving to New Zealand for the first time, or returning after 21 months or more away, and you hold a document that lets you live there (for example a residence visa or a work visa issued for at least 12 months). Goods must have been owned and used by you before you arrived. New and unused items, cars and other vehicles, and commercial goods aren't covered. You'll need the Customs NZCS 218 form, a packing list and an MPI biosecurity declaration. MPI's biosecurity rules are as strict as Australia's: the same advice on soil, wood, outdoor gear and food applies.

Other destinations have their own rules: Canada, for example, asks you to list goods "to follow" when you first arrive. Check the official customs site for your country on our country pages.