International moving, with a quote that still means the same thing on delivery day.
Packing, export clearance, freight, customs and final delivery to 150+ countries. Each move is priced against your own inventory, and one team owns it from your door to your new home.
Everything between your front door and your new one.
An international move rarely goes wrong at the packing. It goes wrong at the join, when customs clearance meets a new set of hands. A move with us runs as one file from the first survey to the last carton.
The far end is run by our own in-house coordinators, working with a vetted agent network and local destination partners. We move from India, the UAE and Singapore, with our own offices in Bangalore (head office), Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kochi, in Dubai and in Singapore. For corporate clients, we have relocated 5,000+ employees on transfer since 2010.
Scope
What an international move includes, and what it doesn't.
Every mover publishes the first column. The second is where quotes stop matching invoices.
Included in every international move
- A pre-move survey, and the valued inventory it produces
- Export-grade packing, room by room
- Sea freight, sole-use or shared, or express air
- Export clearance at origin
- Import entry at destination, with transfer-of-residence documentation
- A duty pre-assessment before sailing
- Delivery, unpacking, re-assembly and debris removal
- All-risk marine cover at declared replacement value, included as standard
- One team accountable for your file, from survey to delivery
Not included
We quote some once we know your address. An authority sets the others.
- Destination duty and taxes, pre-assessed before sailing and never waivable
- Custom crating for artwork, antiques and mirrors, priced per item
- A destination agent fee, where a local partner delivers
- A last-mile surcharge where access decides the day
- Port storage and demurrage past the terminal's free period
- Storage beyond the period agreed in your quote
- Quarantine, inspection and fumigation a destination orders
- Specialist trades, such as an electrician, a plumber or a carpenter
A quote that leaves this column blank is not cheaper. It is less finished.
How it works
Five stages, one file.
This is the order, not a timetable. Your dates live on your quote.
The survey
A surveyor walks your home with you and lists what is going, room by room. That list covers what travels, what you are selling, and what goes separately.
The written quote
Your quote is itemised against that inventory, with the exclusions listed on the same document as the price.
Packing and collection
Your home is packed around you. Every carton is checked against the survey inventory, so your shipment is measured against that list, not a memory.
Freight, and customs at both ends
Clearance runs on your passport, visa and destination address. Then comes the stretch where nothing seems to happen. It stalls on missing information far more often than on inspection.
Delivery, unpacking, re-assembly
Delivery is the last stage of the same file that opened at the survey. Unpacking and re-assembly happen at your new address, working from the same inventory that has tracked your shipment throughout.
What decides your quote
Why two families pay differently.
You can know what a surveyor measures before committing. There's no price list. Every quote is surveyed, not templated.
- 01
How much goes
A survey turns your home into the number your quote uses. - 02
Sea or air, or both
Air arrives sooner, priced on weight and volume. Sea freight is priced on space. - 03
Access at both ends
A driveway and a walk-up are the same volume, a different day. Told early, it's in the quote. Found late, it's a surcharge. - 04
What destination charges
Every country sets its own duty, relief and inspection fees. None of it is ours. - 05
What needs more than a carton
A packing crew is in every quote. What a crew cannot do is not. - 06
When you move
Peak season costs more. A fixed week has fewer sailings. Storage between dates is quoted.
Routes from India
Four of the routes from India have their own page.
Every corridor page names the paperwork asked for at both ends, and the authority that asks for it.
Where we ship from
And every move begins in one of three places.
The port decides the inland leg, the sailing and the paperwork. These are the three we sail from, the same three the enquiry form offers.
What customers say
Moves like yours, in their words.
We shifted from Bangalore to Auckland and our complete move was handled by Venissa from IMove Global Mobility LLP.There was a vessel delay due to port congestion in Hong Kong, but the team communicated well and managed everything smoothly. Still very happy with the service. Highly recommend their service for international relocation. Thank you Vanessia and I Move
Kumail Abbas Jung Mir · Household move · Bangalore → Auckland
Special mention of appreciation to Venissa for handling our shipment door to door from Bangalore to Chicago. Her crew had packed all the items very well and marked each item for identifying as it was a shared container. All the items were intact and without damage or scratch especially the Marble dinning tables, chairs, Diwan and the console. Venissa was tracking the shipment from port to port an updating us every step of the way. Her counterpart team in New Jersey also did a very good job of unloading, opening crates and assembling the furniture. Also they removed all the debris from our site. Overall we were very impressed with the service the Venissa - IMove had provided and will definitely recommend them to our friends and also to people who wish transport items from India. Well done IMove. Once again special thanks to Venissa.
Harish Manjunath · Household move · Bangalore → Chicago
I recently moved from Australia to India and IMOVE handled Indian customs and the experience was seamless. They delivered my shipment within the promised timeframe, and the process was straightforward from start to finish. Riju kept us informed every step of the way, providing regular updates, assisting with the paperwork, and ensuring everything went smoothly. Their professionalism and excellent communication made the move incredibly easy and stress-free. I highly recommend their services to anyone looking for reliable relocation services.
Anushree Chacko · Household move · Australia → India
Questions
The things people ask before they book.
What does an international move include, and what is not in the price?
The quote covers the move, and what it can't cover is anything a third party prices, such as a customs authority, a port or a specialist trade, or anything that depends on a detail nobody has seen yet, like the access at your new address or a piece that turns out to need a crate. The column above names the ones this page can name in advance.
Do I pay customs duty when I move my used household goods?
Usually less than you fear, and often nothing at all, because most destinations give some form of relief on used household effects you have owned and used for a qualifying period before the move, though every country sets its own rule, its own qualifying period and its own list of what that relief does not cover. We pre-assess your exposure before anything sails.
Is insurance included, and what does it actually cover?
Insurance is all-risk marine cover at declared replacement value, included as standard, so it's never an extra you have to remember to ask for once everything else is agreed, and what matters more than whether you're covered is the valued survey inventory, made before anybody packs a carton. A claim is made against the values on that list, so an item you undervalued is one you are underinsured on.
How far ahead should I book?
Book as soon as you have a date you believe in, and earlier than feels necessary, because the two things that run out are survey slots in peak season and space on the sailing you actually want, and neither is something we control, though both are easier to secure while your dates stay flexible. A survey costs you nothing and gives you a real number to plan around.
Can I ship part of my home, or only a full container?
You can ship as little as a few cartons, since a full container is a choice and not a floor, and you choose between a shared container that takes the space your things occupy, a sole-use container that is yours from the moment it is loaded, and air freight for the consignment you need in your hands on arrival. Sharing is slower, because a shared container waits to fill.
Who handles the destination end?
Once your shipment reaches the other end, it's handed to our own in-house coordinators, working with a vetted agent network and local destination partners, so you're not handed to a stranger when your container clears customs, and the team that has held your file since the survey is who you call if a date moves or one is held. Where a local partner clears and delivers instead of one of our own offices, their charge is a destination agent fee, named in your quote's exclusions.
Get a quote that still means the same thing on delivery day.
Tell us what is moving, roughly when, and where it is going. A real person replies within 2 hours.
After the survey comes a written quote, with the exclusions listed on the same document as the price.