15
Years in international removals
850k+
Verified customer enquiries
3
FIDI-accredited partners
Trusted International Moving Network
Accredited Relocation Specialists
What Swiss customs actually asks for, taken from the authority and dated.
One form, 18.44, and one principle: the relief exists because you are moving your home to Switzerland. Every other requirement follows from that. Everything below comes from the Swiss authority itself and is linked so you can check it.
Swiss customs clearance for a household move runs on one document, form 18.44, and one principle: the relief exists because you are moving your home to Switzerland. Everything else follows from that. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security names transfer of domicile as the most important requirement for bringing household goods, collections, animals or a car in duty free.
The second condition is the one people trip on. Imported articles must have been used by you personally for at least six months before the move, and must continue to be used by you afterwards. Which means the item most likely to attract a question is not the old wardrobe. It is the television you bought last month.
Everything below is taken from the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security, the Swiss authority responsible, and linked so you can check it yourself. It was verified on 5 August 2026. Rules change, so verify again close to your own moving date.
Form 18.44 is the declaration and application for clearance of household effects. It exists in German as Übersiedlungsgut, in French as effets de déménagement and in Italian as masserizie di trasloco, which is the first practical sign that the language of your canton is going to matter.
It is presented at the customs office when your goods are imported, and it does not travel alone. It goes with a list of the goods being brought in. Anything that does not meet the requirements is itemised separately at the end of that list rather than quietly folded into the middle of it.
That is exactly why an itemised inventory matters so much more on a Swiss move than on a domestic one. Forty boxes described as household items is not a list. It is an invitation to be asked what is in them.
Three things, in this order.
That you are moving your home. Transfer of domicile is the requirement everything else depends on. Evidence means a Swiss employment contract, a lease or purchase contract, and confirmation that you have deregistered from where you were living.
That the goods are genuinely yours and used. Six months of personal use before import, continued use after. Keep receipts for recent purchases, because those are the ones that get questioned.
That you are entitled to be in Switzerland. How this is evidenced depends entirely on where you are coming from, and that is where a British departure separates from a French one. The next section is about nothing else.
The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security states that immigrants from the EU-27 states and from the EFTA states do not have to provide assurance of a residence permit. They may prove the transfer of domicile by other means instead: an employment contract, a lease, or confirmation of notice of departure from the country they are leaving.
The United Kingdom is in neither group. It left the European Union, and it is not an EFTA member. So a British departure does not get the benefit of that simplification, and the residence permit position has to be evidenced rather than assumed.
This is the single most useful thing for a UK mover to understand, and it is the thing most often missed, because the advice circulating online was written when Britain was still in the EU and the distinction did not exist.
Includes France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein as EFTA states.
No assurance of a residence permit required. Transfer of domicile proved by employment contract, lease, or deregistration confirmation from the country of departure.
Includes the whole of the UK, and non European departures such as the United States, Canada, Australia and the Gulf.
Outside the EU-27 and EFTA simplification, so plan on evidencing your permit position as well as the domicile transfer. Build extra lead time into the paperwork rather than into the driving.
Source: Federal Office for Customs and Border Security, Moving to Switzerland: Procedure, checked 5 August 2026. The EU-27 position is dated 1 February 2020 on that page. See also removals to Switzerland from the UK.
The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security runs a preliminary examination of relocation files. You send the completed form and the supporting documents by email to the customs office you intend to use, at least two working days before you plan to cross. The examination happens before the lorry gets there, and clearance on the day is faster as a result.
There is one condition attached, and it is absolute. Having sent your file to a particular office for preliminary examination, you must then cross the border at that office. Not a different one, not whichever the driver finds convenient.
Which makes this a route planning decision as much as a paperwork one. The office has to be chosen before the file is sent, and the driver has to be told which crossing is now fixed. Get those two facts joined up and this is free time saved. Get them out of step and you have created a problem that did not need to exist.
Clearance of relocation goods can be carried out at any customs office competent for commercial goods, and the opening hours of that office apply.
A household lorry cannot clear at two in the morning because that suited the drive. The crossing is planned around the office, which is one more reason a Switzerland transit time should be quoted as a window rather than a day.
Which office you use is a route decision. A northern approach clears near Basel, a western one near Geneva, and Ticino towns such as Lugano and Bellinzona are usually reached overland from Italy rather than driven over the Alps, so they clear at a southern office. Deliveries far inland at Chur or Sion, or into car free alpine villages such as Zermatt, add road time after clearance rather than before it.
The FOCBS information office for customs regulations can be reached on +41 58 467 15 15, Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 11:30 and 13:30 to 17:00.
A genuine exception. Household goods, personal effects and students' educational materials can be imported duty free even where domicile is not transferred to Switzerland. Given that transfer of domicile is the requirement everything else depends on, this is worth knowing if you are moving for a course rather than a job.
The general provisions for household effects apply to road vehicles, watercraft and aircraft, with their own further conditions on top. A car is not one more line on the inventory. Raise it at enquiry stage and check the vehicle guidance separately, because the requirements go beyond customs into roadworthiness and registration.
Animals are covered by the relocation goods regime but have their own entry requirements, documentation and transport rules, and these differ depending on whether you are coming from an EU country. Sort the animal paperwork on its own timetable, well before the household goods are collected.
Everything above concerns bringing goods into Switzerland. Going the other way you are dealing with United Kingdom import, and none of form 18.44, the six month rule or the preliminary examination applies.
What matters instead is the UK position. Transfer of Residence relief may be available where somebody is genuinely moving their home to Great Britain, and it carries its own conditions and evidence requirements. Check the GOV.UK guidance on moving personal belongings to Great Britain rather than assuming the Swiss rules mirror back.
Tell the moving company which direction you are travelling at the very start of the conversation. It changes who prepares what, and it changes the lead time.
Form 18.44 is the declaration and application for customs clearance of household effects, issued by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security. It is the document you present at the customs office when you import your removal goods, and it is accompanied by a list of what is being brought in. Anything that does not qualify as household effects is itemised separately at the end of that list.
The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security requires that imported articles have been used by you personally for at least six months, and that you continue to use them in Switzerland after import. This is why receipts matter for anything recently bought. A new television is the item most likely to attract a question, not the twenty year old wardrobe.
Effectively, yes. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security states that immigrants from the EU-27 states and from the EFTA states do not have to provide assurance of a residence permit, and may instead prove transfer of domicile by other means such as an employment contract, a lease, or confirmation of deregistration from the departure country. The United Kingdom is in neither group, so a British departure is treated differently from a French or German one.
Transfer of domicile. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security names it as the most important requirement for importing household goods, collections, animals or a car duty free. The relief exists because you are moving your home to Switzerland, not because the goods are old or personal.
Yes, and it is the single most useful thing you can do. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security operates a preliminary examination: send your relocation file to the relevant customs office by email at least two working days before you plan to cross, and clearance on the day is faster. One condition attaches to it. Having sent the file to a particular office, you must then cross the border at that office.
Clearance of relocation goods can be carried out at any customs office competent for commercial goods, subject to that office's opening hours. Because a household lorry cannot be cleared outside those hours, the crossing has to be planned around the office rather than around the driver's preferred schedule.
There is a separate position for students. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security states that household goods, personal effects and students' educational materials can be imported duty free even where domicile is not transferred to Switzerland. That is an unusual exception, because transfer of domicile is otherwise the requirement everything else hangs on.
The general provisions for household effects apply to road vehicles, watercraft and aircraft, but vehicles and animals each have their own guidance and their own conditions on top. Do not let a car or a pet be treated as one more line on the household inventory. Raise both separately and early.
Send both addresses, your inventory and your dates. One vetted moving company from our network prepares and presents the documents attached to the shipment, and tells you plainly which parts remain yours to sort. Planning the other direction? See coming home to the UK from Switzerland.
Send your move details07551 855 064 | WhatsApp: +44 7551 855 064
All Switzerland removals | From the UK | Packing and inventory | What changes the price
Operated by DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, company number 07425576, ICO registration ZB022743, registered at Norman House, Saint Saviours Estate, Abbey Street, London SE1 3DH. Running since 2010. We work with vetted moving companies in the AGM Group network.
Page reviewed and Swiss information checked on 5 August 2026 against the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security. General information, not advice on your own position.
Customs information above was taken from the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security and checked on 5 August 2026. It is general information, not advice on your own position.
Written by Darren Benjamin, founder of International Removals Companies, who has run the business since 2010. Last checked 5 August 2026.