Most guides to moving to France are written for British buyers, and since Brexit they are full of customs declarations, health certificates and visa applications.
If you are Irish, you can ignore almost all of it.
Ireland is in the European Union. France is in the European Union. Your furniture, your pets and you are all moving within the single market, and the difference that makes is enormous. This article is mostly a list of things you do not have to do — and then the handful you do.
Your furniture: nothing to declare
There is no customs procedure. No duty, no VAT, no inventory for customs, no transfer-of-residence relief to claim, no CERFA form. Goods move freely between member states. You hire a remover, they load the lorry, and it arrives.
Compare that with a British family doing the same move, who need a signed itemised inventory in duplicate, a customs declaration, proof of residence at both ends, and evidence that they have owned the sofa for six months. You need none of it.
Your remover will still want an inventory for their own insurance. That is a commercial document, not a customs one, and it does not need values for the French state.
The one trap: the land bridge
Here is the thing that catches people out.
Historically, freight from Ireland to the continent went by road through Britain — the "land bridge". Since Brexit that route leaves the EU and re-enters it, which means transit paperwork, and a moving lorry sitting in a customs queue at Dover or Holyhead.
The answer is a direct sailing. There are now four, and there are more of them than there used to be for exactly this reason:
- Dublin to Cherbourg with Irish Ferries, around 19 hours
- Rosslare to Cherbourg with Brittany Ferries, around 18 hours overnight, seasonal
- Cork to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, around 14 hours
- Rosslare to Dunkirk with DFDS, around 24 hours overnight
When you take quotes from removers, ask directly: are you routing through the UK? If the answer is yes, ask what happens to the paperwork and whether it affects the price if it goes wrong. Most established Irish removers doing France now use the direct boats.
Roscoff and Cherbourg are also the convenient ports if you are heading for Brittany, Normandy or the Vendée — Roscoff puts you in Finistère, and Cherbourg is around two hours from the Manche and southern Normandy.
Your pets: the passport still works
If your dog or cat has an EU pet passport issued in Ireland, it is valid. You do not need an animal health certificate, and you do not need to pay for one every time you travel. British owners lost that in April this year; you did not.
What your animal does need:
- A microchip, implanted before the rabies vaccination
- A rabies vaccination given at least 21 days before travel, and kept in date
- The passport itself, with both recorded in it
You may travel with up to five animals.
The bit Irish owners get backwards
You do not need tapeworm treatment to enter France. Tapeworm treatment is required to enter Ireland, not to leave it.
So it matters on the way home, not on the way out. If you are bringing the dog back to Ireland for Christmas, a vet in France must treat it and sign the passport between 24 and 120 hours before you arrive. Get that wrong and you have a problem at Rosslare, not at Cherbourg.
The same applies to Finland, Malta and Norway. Not to France.
On arrival
One genuine obligation, and it is the one people miss: register your animal on I-CAD, the French identification database, within seven days of arriving. I-CAD is the national microchip register, and being on it is what makes your pet legally identified in France.
Seven days is tight in the middle of a move. Put it on the list now.
Book the pet space when you book the crossing. These are long sailings and the pet-friendly cabins — where the dog stays with you rather than in a kennel — are limited and go first.
And you
As an Irish citizen you are an EU citizen, which means freedom of movement. No visa, no application, no minimum income to demonstrate, no health insurance policy to buy before you are allowed in. You can simply come and live here.
France does not require EU citizens to hold a residence permit, though you can apply for one if you would like the card for practical purposes.
Your driving licence is valid in France as it stands. You can exchange it for a French one if you prefer, but there is no obligation.
Healthcare: for visits, your European Health Insurance Card covers you. Once you are living here, you join the French system — in most cases after three months of stable residence. If you are drawing an Irish state pension, Ireland issues an S1 form which entitles you to French healthcare with Ireland picking up the cost. Ask about it before you go.
The order to do it in
Three months out. Check the rabies vaccination is in date. Take quotes from removers and ask each one whether they sail direct.
Two months out. Book the crossing and the pet space.
One month out. Confirm the sailing and the loading date.
On arrival. I-CAD within seven days. Then register with a doctor and start the healthcare paperwork.
That is genuinely the whole list. Being in the EU is worth more on a move like this than most people realise until they watch a British neighbour do it.
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If you are still working out what the house itself would cost, our free guide — Building a New Home in France — covers the contract, the costs, the guarantees and the timeline over thirty-two pages. Every house and land package on this site quotes one all-inclusive figure, sorted by region.
Checked in September 2026. Ferry routes and timetables change seasonally — confirm with the operator.