Moving to France from Canada, Door to Door from Toronto

How a move from Toronto to France works

It starts with a survey — in person for a house, by video for a condo — so the quote is based on your actual volume rather than a bedroom count. On packing day our crew wraps and packs everything for ocean transit (export-grade cartons, paper, blankets and custom crates for art, mirrors and the TV) and builds the inventory that French customs and your insurer will rely on — a dated, valued, itemized list in French. The shipment comes to our North York warehouse, where it is loaded into a dedicated 20′ or 40′ container, or consolidated with other France-bound shipments if you are moving a smaller volume.

The container is drayed to the CPKC Vaughan or CN Brampton rail terminal on our own truck, railed to Montreal or Halifax, and sails to Le Havre — or to Marseille-Fos for the south. Our French partner, an IAM member agent, files the customs entry with your relief documents, collects the container, and delivers to your new home with unpacking and debris removal included in the door-to-door service. Paris deliveries with an exterior furniture lift (monte-meubles) and a street permit are routine for the agent and are priced at the survey.

1. Free survey (home or video) and fixed door-to-door quote
2. Assemble the customs file — visa, proof of your French address, proof of a year in Canada, inventory in French
3. Packing, crating and the French inventory at your home in the GTA
4. Loading into a dedicated container or France groupage at our warehouse
5. Rail to Montreal / Halifax and ocean sailing to Le Havre or Marseille
6. Customs clearance by our French agent under transfer-of-residence relief
7. Delivery to your door with unpacking and packing-material removal

Transfer-of-residence relief: how to avoid duty and TVA on your household goods

France applies the EU's transfer-of-residence relief: household goods you have owned and used for at least six months are free of import duty and TVA if you have lived outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months, you bring them in within 12 months of establishing residence in France, and you do not sell or lend them within 12 months of import. The relief covers furniture, household items, clothing, personal effects and, under separate conditions, a private vehicle. It does not cover alcohol, tobacco, commercial goods or items bought for the move.

French customs wants a specific file: your passport and long-stay visa or residence permit; proof that you lived in Canada for the past year — French nationals use the consular certificate of change of residence, Canadians use leases, bills, tax documents or an employer letter; proof of your new address in France; a dated, signed and valued inventory in French; the customs declaration for the duty-free entry of personal property; and a signed undertaking not to sell the goods for 12 months. Our agent lodges the entry against it, and without it the shipment is cleared as a normal import with duty and 20% TVA on the declared value. We prepare the inventory and the declaration and check the file before the container sails.

What it costs to ship household goods to France

Cost is driven by volume, so the survey matters. A one-bedroom apartment in the GTA is usually 12–20 cubic metres and ships as groupage (LCL) or a lightly loaded 20′ container. A three-bedroom house is typically 30–40 cubic metres and fills a 20′ container; larger homes ship in a 40′ or 40′ high-cube. Beyond volume, price is affected by access at both ends — a Paris apartment with no elevator and a monte-meubles to book is a different delivery from a house in the suburbs of Lyon — by the amount of professional packing and crating, and by storage at either end. Corsica adds a ferry leg.

Our quotes are door to door and itemize what is included: packing and materials, loading, drayage and rail, ocean freight and port charges, French customs clearance, delivery, unpacking and debris removal. The only items outside the quote are duty and TVA if the relief is refused, inspection fees if customs selects the container, and storage beyond the free period at destination.

Timelines from the GTA to France

Ocean transit from Montreal or Halifax to Le Havre is 10–14 days on the direct services, and 14–22 days to Marseille-Fos via a hub. Around it: two to five days from packing to sailing depending on the rail cut-off, and one to two weeks at destination for customs clearance, container collection and delivery scheduling. A dedicated container typically arrives at your French door five to eight weeks after packing day; groupage shipments wait for the consolidation to fill and add two to four weeks. August is slow in France; if your home is not ready, our agent holds the shipment in storage and delivers when you are.

What to leave behind, and what to think twice about

France runs on 230 volts, so Canadian 110-volt appliances need transformers or replacement. Mattresses and bulky, low-value furniture rarely justify the freight, and a North American king bed will not climb a Parisian staircase. Cars can be imported under the relief with six months' ownership, but French registration requires European conformity paperwork or an individual homologation that Canadian-market vehicles usually cannot pass economically; we generally advise selling in Canada. Firearms need authorization before they ship, and food, plants and soil stay behind.

• Prohibited or restricted: firearms without authorization, most food, plants and soil, endangered-species products
• Restricted: alcohol and tobacco (duty payable), medicines beyond personal quantities
• Usually not worth it: 110 V appliances, mattresses, bulky low-value furniture
• Vehicles: relief possible at 6+ months' ownership, but registration is difficult for Canadian-market cars — ask us first

Why families moving to France choose Metropolitan Logistics

We are an IAM Core Member with IAMTrusted status and the Receivable Protection Program behind our agent relationships — which means the partner unpacking your home in Lyon is vetted and financially accountable. The shipment is loaded in our Toronto warehouse by our own crews, not handed to a consolidator you never meet, and you can see it there before it sails. And because we ship commercial containers to Europe every week, the drayage, rail and ocean legs are the same lanes and carriers we book for exporters — which keeps the cost honest.