Moving to Ireland from Canada, Door to Door from Toronto

How a move from Toronto to Ireland 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 Revenue and your insurer will rely on. The shipment comes to our North York warehouse, where it is loaded into a dedicated 20′ or 40′ container, or consolidated with other Ireland-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 Dublin or Cork, usually with a feeder leg from Liverpool, Rotterdam or Antwerp. Our Irish partner — an IAM member agent — lodges the customs entry with your Transfer of Residence approval, collects the container, and delivers to your new home with unpacking and debris removal included in the door-to-door service.

1. Free survey (home or video) and fixed door-to-door quote
2. Apply to Revenue for Transfer of Residence relief — we prepare the inventory and check the file
3. Packing, crating and inventory at your home in the GTA
4. Loading into a dedicated container or Ireland groupage at our warehouse
5. Rail to Montreal / Halifax and ocean sailing to Ireland
6. Customs clearance by our Irish agent using your relief approval
7. Delivery to your door with unpacking and packing-material removal

Transfer of Residence relief: no duty or VAT on your household goods — and your car

Ireland applies the EU's transfer-of-residence relief through Revenue: household goods you have owned and used for at least six months are free of import duty and VAT if you have lived outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months, you bring them in within 12 months of moving, and you do not sell, lend or hire them out within 12 months of import. The relief covers furniture, household items, clothing, personal effects and — with the same six-month ownership condition — a private vehicle, which also qualifies for an exemption from Vehicle Registration Tax when you register it in Ireland after arrival.

The application is made to Revenue with proof of your residence in Canada for the past year, proof of your new address in Ireland, your PPS number where you have one, and a full inventory; for a car, the Canadian registration and proof of purchase and insurance. Our Irish agent lodges the entry against the approval, and without it the shipment is cleared as a normal import with duty and 23% VAT on the declared value. We prepare the inventory in the format Revenue expects and check the application before you submit it. Northern Ireland is a UK move — see our UK page for the ToR1 process.

What it costs to ship household goods to Ireland

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 (stairs, elevators, distance from the truck), the amount of professional packing and crating, whether you need storage in Toronto or Ireland, and the delivery address — a Georgian terrace in central Dublin with no parking is a different delivery from a driveway in Kildare.

Our quotes are door to door and itemize what is included: packing and materials, loading, drayage and rail, ocean freight and port charges, Irish customs clearance, delivery, unpacking and debris removal. The only items outside the quote are duty and VAT 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 Ireland

Ocean transit from Montreal or Halifax to Dublin or Cork is 12–20 days, depending on whether the service is direct or feeds through Liverpool, Rotterdam or Antwerp. Around it: two to five days from packing to sailing depending on the rail cut-off, and five to ten days at destination for customs clearance, container collection and delivery scheduling. A dedicated container typically arrives at your Irish door five to eight weeks after packing day. Groupage shipments wait for the consolidation to fill and add two to four weeks. 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

Ireland runs on 230 volts, so Canadian 110-volt appliances need transformers or replacement; kitchen electrics are the usual casualties. Mattresses are heavy for their value and Irish bed sizes differ. Furniture built for a Canadian house does not always fit an older Irish one. Cars are the pleasant exception: a vehicle you have owned and used for six months qualifies for the relief and the VRT exemption, and left-hand-drive cars are legal to drive in Ireland — though resale value is lower and some people prefer to buy right-hand-drive on arrival. Firearms need a licence before they ship, and most food, plants and soil stay behind.

• Prohibited or restricted: firearms without a licence, most meat and dairy, 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: eligible for relief and VRT exemption at 6+ months' ownership; register after arrival

Why families moving to Ireland 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 Galway 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.