The driven lorry from a UK depot to a French address used to be the simplest international move on the books. Load it in Kent on Monday, unload in Provence by Friday. Brexit didn’t change the geography, but it added a customs layer that didn’t exist before, and the practical effect is roughly two extra days, three extra forms, and a few hundred pounds extra per move. Worth knowing what’s actually different rather than assuming the move is now an ordeal, because in most cases it isn’t.
This guide walks through what a UK-to-France move involves in 2026: what’s changed since 2020, the routes still available, the working costs, and the paperwork that determines whether the move clears customs cleanly.
What Brexit actually changed for removals
Before Brexit, UK households could move goods to France freely under EU single-market rules. No customs declaration, no inventory submission, no duty consideration. The lorry crossed the Channel, drove south, delivered. The only complications were vehicles (always more involved) and pets (post-PETS scheme).
Since 1 January 2021, the UK is a third country to the EU for customs purposes. Every shipment now needs:
A customs declaration at the UK side (export). A customs declaration at the French side (import). An inventory in French and English with declared values. A nominated agent in France who handles the import declaration (most UK removals firms have a French partner or office). And in many cases, proof of residency in France that supports the duty-free treatment for personal effects.
What’s stayed the same: the goods themselves, the lorry routes, the driver shifts, the actual physical move. The geography hasn’t changed and neither has the operational shape of a Channel-crossing move.
The price impact is modest. A typical 3-bed UK-to-France move that cost £3,000 to £4,500 pre-Brexit now costs £3,500 to £5,500. The increase is the customs handling, the extra paperwork, and the marginal increase in lorry time at the border on busy days.
Residency status: the duty-free question
French customs (Douanes) treats personal household goods being imported by someone who’s becoming a French resident as a Transfer of Residence (ToR equivalent), which is duty- and VAT-free. The conditions:
The owner is moving their main residence to France (proven by a long-stay visa, a titre de séjour, a Carte de Séjour, or in some cases a Carte Vitale and registered address).
The goods have been owned and used by the household for at least six months before the move (the same rule as Spain).
The household has lived outside France for at least 12 months before the move.
A detailed inventory in French with declared values is submitted (the removals firm or their French partner usually drafts this from the survey).
If the move is to a second home or a holiday property without a residency permit, the goods are technically importable under standard customs rules, which means TVA (French VAT at 20%) on the customs value of the goods. Most movers don’t ship a full household to a second home for exactly this reason. They buy locally instead.
The way it usually goes is the residency paperwork gets sorted first, then the move books, then the goods cross. Trying to ship before residency is in place can mean either paying TVA or delaying the move while the visa processes.
Route options: lorry or sea
Sea freight or driven lorry, with most personal moves going by lorry.
Driven lorry (Eurotunnel or ferry)
The standard route. A removals lorry loads in the UK, crosses the Channel either via the Eurotunnel (Folkestone to Calais, 35 minutes train transit) or a ferry (Dover-Calais, Dover-Dunkirk, Portsmouth-Cherbourg, Portsmouth-Caen, Portsmouth-Le Havre, Plymouth-Roscoff), and drives to the French destination.
Distances and rough driving times from Calais:
- Paris: 3 to 4 hours
- Normandy: 3 to 4 hours
- Brittany: 5 to 7 hours
- Loire Valley: 5 to 6 hours
- Bordeaux and the south-west: 8 to 10 hours
- Lyon and the Rhône-Alpes: 7 to 9 hours
- Provence and the Côte d’Azur: 11 to 13 hours
- The Pyrenees and far south-west: 10 to 12 hours
Most lorries run with one or two drivers and complete door-to-door inside 3 to 7 days for any destination on the French mainland. Corsica needs a ferry hop from Marseille or Toulon and adds 1 to 2 days.
Cost-wise, the driven route runs £3,500 to £5,500 for a 3-bed household, with the longer destinations sitting at the higher end. The Eurotunnel option is faster and more reliable but slightly pricier than ferry. The ferry option is cheaper but adds 2 to 5 hours depending on the crossing.
Sea freight
Sea is rarely the right choice for mainland France because the lorry route is so direct. Sea freight to Marseille, Le Havre, or another French port adds 2 to 4 weeks port-to-port plus consolidation time, with no obvious cost benefit over the driven route.
The exceptions: very large households where a 40-foot container makes sense and the destination has good access from a port; Corsica, where the sea route into Bastia or Ajaccio sometimes beats a lorry plus ferry combination. And moves where the household is splitting (some goods now, some later) and a sea consignment fits the second half.
The paperwork
For a UK-to-France move under personal effects relief:
- Inventory in French and English, with declared values
- Cerfa 10070 customs declaration (the standard French import form for personal effects)
- Copy of the long-stay visa or titre de séjour
- Proof of UK departure address (utility bill, council tax statement)
- Proof of French arrival address (lease, purchase contract)
- Each family member’s passport
- A signed authorisation for the removals firm to act as customs agent in France
The Cerfa form has a French and an English version. The French version is the official one filed with Douanes.
For vehicles, separate paperwork: a Quitus Fiscal (French tax clearance), Carte Grise (French vehicle registration), and a Contrôle Technique (French MOT equivalent) once the vehicle has been imported. Most movers don’t import UK cars to France for the same reasons as Spain: the admin and cost rarely justify the saving.
Pets are now under the Animal Health Certificate (AHC) regime, not the old PETS scheme. The AHC has to be issued by a UK vet within 10 days of travel, the pet needs a current rabies vaccination, and ID through microchip.
Working timelines
A typical UK-to-France move runs on a quicker timeline than other international destinations because the lorry route is so direct.
From first enquiry to survey: 1 to 2 weeks. Survey to confirmed booking: 1 to 2 weeks. Booking to packing day: 3 to 6 weeks in normal periods, 6 to 10 weeks in summer (May to early September is peak for France moves). Packing day to delivery: 3 to 7 days driven, 4 to 8 weeks if shipped.
Customs clearance happens en route in most cases. The lorry crosses, paperwork is processed at Calais or the equivalent ferry port, and the lorry continues. Delays at the border do happen, particularly on busy summer days, but they’re usually measured in hours, not days.
Regional Préfectures vary slightly in how they process residency paperwork. Paris is fast and impersonal. The Languedoc and Provençal regions are slower. The Dordogne (which has a high concentration of British residents) has staff used to British paperwork and tends to be efficient. Worth knowing if the move date depends on residency processing time.
What to ship and what not to
The rule of thumb is the same as Spain or Australia, but with a shorter list of regional considerations. France has compatible electrical (230V, similar plugs), measurement units (metric, same as the UK), and a road network that delivers a lorry to almost any address. So most items that make sense to ship to France ship.
What doesn’t always make sense: very large UK kitchens (French kitchens are often sold built-in, with French appliances), some white goods (worth checking dimensions against French standards), and any large item that won’t fit through a French door (older French houses, particularly in Brittany, the Dordogne, and rural areas, often have narrow doorways and tight staircases).
What ships well: furniture (especially anything that would be expensive to replace), books, art, kitchenware, the household’s actual belongings. France is not a difficult destination logistically. The customs side is the only thing that’s changed since Brexit.
Our international removals team handles UK-to-France moves regularly, with our own lorries running Channel crossings throughout the year. The survey covers volume, route, and which crossings line up with the family’s dates. The price follows from there.