You have worked out the visa and you have an idea of the house. Now come the two questions nobody answers properly: what happens to everything you own, and what happens to the dog.
Neither is difficult. Both have one detail that ruins the move if you find out about it too late.
Your household goods
Shipping your belongings into France from the United States is an import from outside the EU. On paper that means customs duty and 20% value-added tax on the declared value of everything in the container, which would be ruinous.
In practice it does not, because of a relief called the transfert de résidence — transfer of residence. Meet the conditions and your household goods come in free of duty and free of VAT.
The four conditions
You must have been living outside the EU for at least twelve months. Straightforward for anyone moving from the States.
You must have owned and used the goods for at least six months before the move. This is the one that catches people. Furnishing the new French house by buying everything new in the closing-out sale before you leave puts all of it outside the relief.
Your goods must arrive within twelve months of you establishing residence in France. You do not have to ship it all at once.
You must not sell, lend or rent the goods out for twelve months after they arrive. The relief is for your possessions, not for importing a container to resell.
The paperwork
A detailed inventory in two copies, signed and dated, with values. These are used values — what your things are worth today, not replacement cost. Americans routinely over-declare here and it gains them nothing.
Plus form CERFA 10070, the declaration of transfer of residence, and proof of residence at both ends: the sale of the US house or the end of the lease, and the deed or lease on the French one.
A decent international mover handles the whole file. Ask, before you sign, whether customs clearance in France is included in the quote or billed separately.
How it actually ships
Three routes, and the right one depends on how much you are bringing.
A full container (FCL). A 20-foot container holds roughly the contents of a two-bedroom home; a 40-foot holds a family house. It is sealed at your door and opened at the other end, which is the least handling and the least risk.
A shared container (LCL). Your things travel as part of a consolidated load. Cheaper for a partial household, but slower — it waits for the container to fill at both ends, and it is handled more.
Air freight for a small, urgent load. Fast, and several times the price.
Plan on four to eight weeks door to door for sea freight, and remember it arrives after you do. Take quotes from three movers who actually do France, not three who say they can. Rates move with shipping markets, so quotes from six months ago mean nothing.
What not to ship
American appliances. France runs on 220–240 volts at 50 hertz. Your 110-volt refrigerator, washer and dryer will not work properly on a transformer and are not worth the freight. Sell them.
Oversized furniture. French rooms, doorways and staircases are smaller than American ones. The sectional that filled a den in Ohio may not go round the turn of a Breton staircase. Measure before you pay to ship it.
Your car. Bringing an American vehicle into France means homologation — proving it meets European type-approval — and for most US-market cars that is slow, expensive and occasionally impossible. Sell it and buy here.
What is worth shipping: anything with meaning, anything genuinely good, books, tools, and the things you would be sad to replace. Everything else is cheaper to buy in France than to move across an ocean.
Your dog or cat
France is straightforward about American pets, because the United States is a listed country for rabies. No blood titer test is required, which is the expensive, three-month hurdle that catches people moving from unlisted countries.
Here is what you need.
The mistake that strands dogs at the airport
The microchip must be implanted before the rabies vaccination. Not the same day, not afterwards — before.
If your dog was vaccinated first and chipped later, that vaccination does not count for EU purposes. Your vet has to revaccinate and start the clock again. This is the single most common reason American pets cannot travel on the date the family booked, and it is entirely avoidable if you check the dates on the records now.
The chip must also be ISO 11784/11785 compliant. Many American chips are not. If yours is not, you can either travel with a scanner that reads it or have a second, compliant chip implanted — with both numbers recorded on the certificate.
The rest of it
Rabies vaccination at least 21 days before travel, given after the microchip. Note that in the United States a primary rabies vaccination counts as valid for only one year for EU purposes, even if your vet used a three-year vaccine — and any lapse in coverage resets it to primary. Check the dates carefully.
An EU health certificate, completed by a USDA-accredited veterinarian and then endorsed by USDA APHIS. For a normal family move this is the non-commercial certificate: it is valid for 30 days from issue, must be endorsed within 10 days of your arrival in the EU, and the owner must travel within five days of the pet. Up to five animals.
The endorsement is done through the APHIS Veterinary Export Health Certification System, and appointments at endorsement offices can be slow in summer. Start early.
You do not need tapeworm treatment for France. That applies to Ireland, Finland, Malta and Norway.
Flying
Small animals can usually travel in the cabin; larger ones go as checked baggage or cargo. Rules differ by airline, so choose the airline before you book anything. Air France carries pets in cabin on transatlantic routes, which is worth knowing.
Two things to plan around: summer heat embargoes, when airlines refuse to carry animals in the hold in hot weather, and snub-nosed breed restrictions — bulldogs, pugs, Persians and similar are refused by many carriers because of the genuine risk to them. If you have one, find out early; it may decide your travel dates or even your airline.
Direct flights are worth paying for. A connection means your animal is unloaded, moved and reloaded in a strange airport.
The seven-day rule on arrival
Once you are living in France, you must register your animal on I-CAD, the French national identification database, within seven days of arrival. I-CAD is the microchip register here, and being on it is what makes your pet legally identified in France.
Seven days, in the middle of an international move. Almost nobody mentions it. Put it on the list.
And then it gets easy
Once you are resident, a French veterinarian can issue your pet an EU pet passport. From then on, travelling anywhere in Europe is a matter of keeping the rabies vaccination current. No more certificates, no more endorsements, no more fees.
The order to do it in
Six months out. Pull your pet's records and check two things: was the microchip implanted before the rabies shot, and is the chip ISO compliant? Fix it now if not. Start taking moving quotes.
Four months out. Choose your mover. Choose your airline, and confirm it will carry your animal on the route and in the season you need.
Two months out. Book the flights. Begin the inventory as you pack, room by room.
Ten days out. The health certificate appointment, then the APHIS endorsement.
On arrival. I-CAD within seven days. Then, once you have caught your breath, the EU pet passport.
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If you are still at the stage of working out the numbers, our guide to the whole move — the American dream in France — covers the visa, the money, the contract and what the sale of a US house actually buys here. Our free Building a New Home in France guide goes through the contract and costs in full, and every house and land package on this site quotes one all-inclusive price.
Checked in September 2026. Pet and customs rules change — confirm the current position with your veterinarian, with APHIS and with your mover before you travel.