This is the busiest route out of China for British families and the one most people plan worst. Not because the shipping is hard, but because the relief application has to happen before anything moves, and almost nobody starts it early enough.
One vetted mover from our network handles the collection in China and the delivery here. International movers with genuine China origin capability are a smaller group than those who ship outbound, so ask who does the packing at your end.
Good movers chase both of these and cannot do either. Two things sit outside the mover's control in this relocation and both are yours. Transfer of Residence relief with HMRC, and export certification for anything old you bought while you were there.
Apply for the relief first. Before the survey, before the booking, before anything. Transfer of Residence relief removes duty and VAT on your used belongings when you move your home to Great Britain. You apply to HMRC yourself, it is free, and you receive a reference that goes on the customs entry. Approval is not instant.
Then deal with anything old. Items made before 1949 need a Chinese export certificate, which means appraisal at an authorised station. Allow six weeks. Furniture, ceramics, scrolls, jade and paper rubbings are the usual catches.
Then survey and decide. A return shipment is almost always larger than the outbound one, and a good deal of what accumulates in China does not belong in a British house. Decide what is staying before the surveyor arrives, not after.
Then book. Coastal Chinese cities clear at their nearest port with a short road leg. Inland cities either take a long domestic drive to the coast, which happens before the sailing on this direction, or go by rail westbound from where you are.
Then ship. Roughly thirty five days at sea, a few working days clearing at Felixstowe, Southampton or London Gateway, then delivery.
On the arrival end. A great many returning families have no UK address yet. Arrange storage in advance rather than as an emergency, and remember that handling in and out usually costs more than the storage period itself.
These are corridor figures for planning the route rather than a full breakdown of what drives a price. The dedicated cost page sets out the five variables in detail and is worth reading before you compare quotes.
£250 to £1,000
Students and single people finishing a stay.
£1,100 to £4,000
Flat contents. The most common return.
£3,300 to £9,000
Families after several years, which is most of them.
Tell us your Chinese city and roughly when you are leaving. We will work backwards from the relief application rather than forwards from a sailing.
We match you with your vetted mover, which means one team handles the whole relocation. It is free, with no obligation. Get a quote today and hold your dates.
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Allow twelve to sixteen weeks from deciding to leave to having goods delivered in Britain. The sea leg is six to eleven weeks of that depending on your Chinese city.
Avoid Chinese New Year. The date moves between late January and mid February. Freight rushes before it, stops for two to three weeks during, and backs up afterwards. If your departure lands near it, plan deliberately around the exact date.
June and July are the other peak, driven by school terms and contract endings. Capacity tightens at the Chinese end and prices firm up.
Typhoon season from June to September holds sailings from the southern and eastern coast. Xiamen, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Haikou and Shantou are the most exposed.
Inland cities add a stage at the front. A container leaving Chengdu or Harbin travels a very long way before it reaches water. Westbound rail removes that entirely and is worth pricing.
If you are flying home before the goods, which most people do, plan a small air consignment. Living out of a suitcase in temporary UK accommodation for two months is worse than the same wait in a furnished Chinese flat.
Start with the relief page. It is the one part of this route that cannot be rushed at the end.
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.
Experts in currency exchange
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Apply to HMRC for Transfer of Residence relief. Before the survey, before the booking, before anything else. It removes duty and VAT on your used belongings, it is free to apply for, and the reference has to exist before your goods land in Britain.
Twelve to sixteen weeks from deciding to leave to delivery in the UK. The sea leg is six to eight weeks from a coastal Chinese city and eight to eleven from an inland one, since the domestic leg happens before the sailing on this direction.
For the same volume, usually slightly, because packing labour costs less in China. In practice most people return with considerably more than they took out, so the total often exceeds the outbound quote despite the cheaper origin work.
Not if you qualify for the relief and apply before the goods arrive. Alcohol and tobacco remain dutiable regardless, and anything commercial sits outside the relief entirely and needs declaring separately.
Anything made before 1949 needs a Chinese export certificate, obtained through appraisal at an authorised station. Allow six weeks. Furniture, ceramics, scrolls, jade and paper rubbings are the categories that catch people.
Usually not, unless it is genuinely good. Chinese apartments are smaller and furniture is sized accordingly, so pieces that suited a Shanghai flat often look wrong in a British house. Beds are a particular problem since mattress sizes differ.
Common on this route. Arrange UK storage in advance rather than as an emergency, and note that handling in and out usually costs more than the storage period itself, so short stays are expensive per week.
Mostly. China runs 220 volts at 50 hertz against the UK's 230 at 50, so appliances generally work with a plug change rather than a transformer. Whether they are worth the freight and whether they will fit are separate questions.
Yes, and rail westbound is worth pricing against sea. A container leaving Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an or Harbin by sea travels a very long way before it reaches water. The train starts where you are and removes that entirely.
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.