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Two households can leave the same UK street on the same day with identical contents and pay completely different amounts at Laem Chabang. The difference is not the goods. It is the visa in the passport when the container clears.
This is the single most expensive thing people get wrong on this route, and it catches retirees hardest because the retirement visa is the one most likely to be refused relief. Read this before you decide what to ship, not after.
Thailand does relieve duty on used household effects. It is aimed at people arriving to work and at Thai nationals coming home, and it is applied strictly.
The goods must arrive no earlier than one month before you do, and no later than six months after. Miss it at either end and the relief claim fails even when everything else is in order.
This bites in practice because sea freight to Thailand runs six to twelve weeks and a part load can add three more waiting for the container to fill. Ship too early to beat a deadline and you land outside the window from the front.
Extensions exist in exceptional cases. Nobody should plan around one.
The relief covers a single unit of each type of electrical appliance. A second television, fridge or washing machine is dutiable at the normal rate.
The detail that costs people money: customs apply the exemption to whichever unit carries the lower duty. So if you ship a cheap spare television and a good one, the exemption lands on the cheap one and you pay on the good one.
Duplicates are one of the commonest reasons a shipment gets pulled for assessment.
Vapes and e-cigarettes are banned from import outright. Buddha images, gold and silver are sensitive and need clearance first. Firearms, drones and certain radio equipment need permits. Alcohol and foodstuffs need a licence and should not go into a household container without advice.
Coming back from Thailand to Great Britain, the equivalent scheme is Transfer of Residence, claimed on form ToR1. It is a different scheme with different rules, and the same principle applies: it is not automatic.
The ToR1 goes in before the goods leave Thailand, not after they arrive. Approval takes two to four weeks, stretching to six in the June to September peak. Ship without it and the goods sit at the UK port accruing storage while you wait.
Second home furniture does not qualify. Goods must be for your own use and you must be transferring your normal place of residence, not furnishing a property you also own. Students use a different code, so say if that applies.
There is no ToR for goods moving from the EU into Northern Ireland, which is a separate arrangement. If your final destination is Northern Ireland, raise it early because the routing changes.
Usually not. Thailand's Bureau of Customs treats non immigrant O and O-A retirement visa holders as falling outside the relocation criteria, so their household goods are normally assessed for duty and tax rather than cleared free. Education and Elite visa holders are in the same position. This is the single most expensive surprise on this route.
Holders of a one year non immigrant visa with a one year work permit to go with it, and Thai nationals returning after twelve consecutive months or more abroad. The goods must also have been owned and used for at least six months before shipping.
No earlier than one month before you arrive in Thailand, and no later than six months after. Miss the window at either end and the claim fails even if everything else is correct. Sea freight runs six to twelve weeks, so work backwards from your own arrival date rather than forwards from the packing date.
No. It is a once in a lifetime allowance covering one sea shipment and one air shipment. If you use it on a partial move and then ship the rest later, the second shipment is assessed.
Only one unit of each type of electrical appliance clears free, and customs apply the exemption to whichever unit carries the lower duty. Ship two and the exemption lands on the cheaper one. It is the commonest duplicate problem and it is entirely avoidable by shipping one.
Transfer of Residence relief for goods coming into Great Britain. Apply before the goods leave Thailand, not after they arrive. Approval takes two to four weeks, stretching to six between June and September. Shipping without approval means storage charges at the UK port while you wait.
No. Transfer of Residence requires that you are moving your normal place of residence and that the goods are for your own use. Furnishing a UK property you also own, while living elsewhere, does not qualify. Students moving for study use a different code.
Relief is assessed against your status when the goods clear, not when they left. If you ship expecting a work permit that does not materialise, the shipment is assessed for duty. Tell the moving company if your status is unsettled and the timing can be planned around it.
Every firm in the network holds FIDI FAIM certification. Ernst and Young audit them against more than two hundred criteria on a three year cycle: financial standing, insurance, customs competence, staff training and how claims get handled. On a route with a sea leg and a clearance in the middle, that audit is what separates a problem being solved from a problem being argued about.
We have run this service since November 2010 and have handled over 850,000 enquiries in that time. We are a Working Member of the AGM Group network, agm.group. We are not a removal company and we do not own a lorry: your details go to one vetted firm and they survey and quote directly.
Tell us which visa you will be holding when the goods land, along with the addresses, a rough inventory and your date. One vetted moving company confirms where you stand.
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Written by Darren Benjamin, founder of International Removals Companies. Darren has run this service since November 2010 and has overseen more than 850,000 moving enquiries.
Customs rules were checked in DATE against the Thai Customs Department and Thailand's published relocation criteria, and against GOV.UK for the ToR1 return leg. Rules and prices change, so confirm your own position before you ship. Questions: 07551 855 064 or WhatsApp. Read our Google reviews.
A free enquiry service run by DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, and a Working Member of the AGM Group network, agm.group. We are not a removal company.
Use this page to prepare the enquiry, then deal directly with the moving company we introduce before you book anything.