Two questions come up more than any others once people have decided to move: what happens to all our things, and what happens to the dog.
Both answers changed after Brexit, and one of them changed again this April in a way that caught a lot of people out at the ferry port. Here is where it stands now.
Part one: your furniture
Since Brexit, moving your belongings from Great Britain to France is an import from outside the EU. In principle that means customs duty and 20% VAT on the value of everything in the lorry, which would be a catastrophe.
In practice it does not, because of a relief called the transfert de résidence — transfer of residence. Get it right and your household goods come in free of duty and free of VAT.
The four conditions
All four have to be met.
You must have been living outside the EU for at least twelve months. For someone moving from the UK that is almost always satisfied without thinking about it.
You must have owned and used the goods for at least six months before the move. This is the one that trips people up. Buying a new sofa in the closing-down sale before you go, and shipping it three weeks later, puts that sofa outside the relief.
The goods must arrive within twelve months of you establishing residence in France. You do not have to bring everything at once. You can move with the essentials and come back for the rest, as long as it is all inside the year.
You must not sell, lend, hire out or pledge the goods for twelve months after they arrive. The relief is for your possessions, not for importing a van of furniture to sell on.
The paperwork
Three things, and your remover will usually handle the lot:
A detailed inventory, in two copies, signed and dated. Not "box 14: kitchen". An itemised list with values. The values are second-hand values — what the things are actually worth now, not what they cost or what they would cost to replace. People routinely over-declare here and it does them no favours.
Form CERFA 10070, the declaration of transfer of residence.
Proof of both ends: that you were resident outside the EU, and that you are now resident in France. Closing UK utility accounts, the sale or end of tenancy on the old house, and the deed or lease on the new one.
What cannot come in under the relief
Alcohol and tobacco beyond the normal personal allowances, commercial vehicles, and professional equipment — although portable tools of a trade are allowed. Everything else in a normal household is fine.
A car
A vehicle you have owned and used for more than six months can come under the same relief. Re-registering it on French plates afterwards is a separate job with its own deadlines, and it deserves an article of its own.
Remover or do it yourself?
An international remover who does France regularly will prepare the customs file as part of the price, and for a full house that is money well spent. If you are doing it yourself in a hired van over several trips, the declaration is still required — the relief is not automatic and turning up at Calais with a loaded Transit and no inventory is how a straightforward day becomes a long one.
Part two: your dog or cat
This is where it has changed, twice.
The pet passport is gone — and stayed gone
If you are resident in Great Britain, the old EU pet passport is no longer valid for travelling to France. That has been true since Brexit, but there was a long grey period in which some carriers went on accepting old passports issued to British residents.
That ended on 22 April 2026. Passports issued to GB residents before that date are now formally invalid for EU travel, and although a few operators have still been waving them through, the European Commission has confirmed that is incorrect. Do not rely on it. People have been turned away at the port.
What you need instead
An Animal Health Certificate, issued by an official vet in Great Britain shortly before you travel. To get one your pet needs:
- A microchip, implanted before the rabies vaccination
- A rabies vaccination, given at least 21 days before you travel
- The certificate itself, completed by an official vet — not every practice is authorised, so ask first
It costs somewhere between £100 and £200, and you need a fresh one for each trip. You can take up to five pets.
You do not need tapeworm treatment for France. That requirement applies to Finland, Ireland, Malta and Norway, and a surprising number of guides get this wrong.
The bit almost nobody tells you
Once you arrive to live in France, you must register your animal on I-CAD, the national identification database, within seven days. I-CAD is the French microchip register, and being on it is what makes your pet legally identified here.
Seven days is a tight window in the middle of a house move, and it is the single most commonly missed step of the whole process. Put it on the list now.
And then it gets much easier
Once you are resident, a French vet can issue you an EU pet passport. From that point the £100-to-£200 certificate every time you cross disappears. The passport lasts as long as the rabies vaccinations are kept up, and travelling back to the UK and around Europe becomes the simple thing it used to be.
There is talk of the UK and EU realigning their animal health rules, possibly during 2027, which might bring UK pet passports back. It has not happened yet, so plan on the certificate.
On the boat
Book the pet space when you book the crossing — they are limited and they go. Most ferries put dogs in kennels or require them to stay in the vehicle; a few have pet-friendly cabins, which are worth the money on a long crossing and sell out first. On the tunnel your animal stays in the car with you, which many people find far less stressful for everyone.
The order to do it in
Three to four months out. Check the rabies vaccination is in date, and get it done if not. Find an official vet who issues animal health certificates and ask what they need. Start getting quotes from removers who do France regularly.
Two months out. Book the crossing, including the pet space.
Six weeks out. Begin the inventory. Do it as you pack, room by room, rather than trying to reconstruct it afterwards from memory.
Ten days out. The animal health certificate appointment.
On arrival. Register the pet on I-CAD within seven days. Then, once you are settled, get the French vet to issue the EU pet passport.
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None of this is difficult. It is simply a list, and the people who find the move stressful are almost always the ones who found out about an item on the list too late to do it calmly.
If you are still at the stage of working out what the house itself would cost, our free guide — Building a New Home in France — sets out the contract, the costs and the timeline over thirty-two pages. And every house and land package on this site quotes one all-inclusive figure, so you can see the real number rather than a starting price.
Rules change. Everything above was checked in September 2026, but check the current position with your vet and with French customs before you travel.