Chinese customs will let you bring your household belongings in without duty, but the relief is conditional and the conditions are checked. Almost every problem on this route comes from one of three things: the permit, the timing, or the inventory.
One vetted mover from our network handles the entry, and international movers who run China regularly know where the friction sits. Good movers present a file the office cannot query. They cannot make a decision for the customs office, but they can present a file that gives it nothing to query. Careful packing and a clean list do the rest.
Rules here are national rather than local, so what applies in Shanghai applies in Chengdu. That is unusual, and it makes shipping to China simpler to plan than it looks. What differs between ports is how busy the office is, not what it asks for. Ask your relocation coordinator which port is busiest.
Strip away the detail and the relief rests on three things.
A valid residence permit. Relief on household goods is tied to your right to live in China, not to your visa alone. A shipment that arrives before the permit is issued is the single most common cause of a container sitting at a port. Get the permit sorted, then let the goods follow.
One shipment, within the window. The relief generally applies to a single consignment arriving within a set period after you first enter the country. Splitting a household across two sailings months apart is where people lose it without realising. If you genuinely need two consignments, say so before either is booked so it can be handled properly.
A complete valued inventory in Chinese. Not a summary, not "one box kitchen items". An itemised list with a value against each entry. This is the piece people underestimate and it is the piece that stops a container most often. Your mover produces the Chinese version, but the accuracy comes from you.
Beyond those three, the goods must be used personal effects in reasonable quantity. Reasonable is judged, not defined. Ten shirts is personal. Two hundred identical shirts is stock, whatever you call it, and the whole shipment gets looked at differently once that appears on a list.
Returning Chinese nationals who have studied or worked abroad have their own separate concession with its own conditions. If that applies to you, say so at the outset, because the route through customs is not the same one.
Clearance itself is usually a modest handling charge. What costs money is delay, because a container waiting on a query accrues storage and equipment charges every day it sits. Those are the figures worth understanding before you book.
Handling charge only
The normal outcome when the paperwork is complete.
Storage from day one
Charges accrue daily while the question is resolved.
Examination plus storage
Selected containers. Not an accusation, just a check.
Tell us your permit position and your dates. Those two answers decide whether the timing works before anything else does.
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The inventory is where a straightforward clearance becomes a difficult one, so it is worth doing properly.
Itemise rather than summarise. "Carton 14: four dinner plates, two serving bowls, one casserole dish, six mugs" clears. "Carton 14: kitchen" invites a question, and a question means the container waits.
Put a value against each line. Second hand value, honestly assessed. Not what you paid, not what it would cost new. Undervaluing everything at a nominal figure looks exactly as odd as overvaluing it.
Flag anything unusual before it is packed. Musical instruments, professional equipment, artwork, anything electronic that transmits, anything old. Your mover can advise or exclude it. What they cannot do is fix it after the container has sailed.
Be careful about quantity. The single fastest way to turn a household shipment into a commercial one is a line reading "forty five identical handbags". If you have bought things in volume, they belong in a separate commercial declaration rather than in this one.
Keep your own copy. Numbered boxes matched to the inventory. If anything is queried, you can answer in minutes rather than trying to remember what was in carton twenty two.
On the Chinese version. Your mover produces it, but they are translating your list. If yours is vague, theirs will be too, and the office reading it has no way of knowing whose fault that is.
The rules for taking goods out of China are different again, and worth reading separately.
A move usually means moving money too, whether that is a deposit on a Chinese flat or funds coming back the other way. We have helped customers with currency exchange in any currency through trusted partners for many years, and our partners can help with the money side of your move. Mention it on the form and it gets included.
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Generally yes, subject to conditions. Relief on personal effects normally requires a valid residence permit, a single shipment arriving within a set window after you first enter the country, and a complete valued inventory. The goods must be used personal effects in reasonable quantity.
In practice yes, and this is the most common reason a container sits at a port. Relief is tied to your right to live in China rather than to your visa alone. Get the permit sorted, then let the goods follow rather than the other way round.
Relief generally applies to a single consignment, so splitting a household across two sailings months apart puts it at risk. If you genuinely need two, say so before either is booked so it can be handled properly rather than discovered at the port.
Every item, with a value against each line, translated into Chinese. Carton fourteen listing four dinner plates and six mugs clears. Carton fourteen listing kitchen invites a question, and a question means the container waits while it is answered.
Honest second hand values. Not what you paid and not replacement cost. Valuing everything at a nominal figure looks exactly as odd to a customs officer as inflating it, and either can prompt a closer look at the whole shipment.
It might be. Containers are selected for scanning or physical examination as a matter of routine, not as an accusation. A clean itemised inventory is the best protection, because an examination against a vague list takes considerably longer than one against a clear one.
In order: a vague inventory, goods arriving before the permit is issued, and restricted items nobody flagged. All three are avoidable at the packing stage and none of them can be fixed once the container has sailed.
There is a separate concession for nationals who have studied or worked abroad, with its own conditions. Say so at the outset, because the route through customs is not the same one and your mover will prepare a different file.
Treat it as orientation. These rules have changed more than once in recent years, so confirm the position with your mover close to your move date rather than relying on anything written months earlier, including this page.
Send your collection address, your Chinese destination, a rough idea of the volume and your date. A vetted mover from our network checks the route, the paperwork and the access, then comes back to you with the price.
Send your move detailsWe match international moving enquiries with vetted moving companies in the AGM Group network, each holding FIDI FAIM certification and BAR Overseas membership.
We are not a removal firm ourselves. We find you the one that suits your route, and you deal with them directly from there.