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Moving To United Arab Emirates

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Moving To United Arab Emirates

If you are planning to relocate to the UAE, you are not alone. Only 11% of residents within the UAE are Emirati nationals. The rest are expats. UAE offers year-round warm, sunny weather. It is easy to see why so many are aiming to relocate to the UAE.

Moving and Shipping Household Goods

If you want to know how to move household items and belongings to the emirate states, the Dolphin Express would be a very solid source to guide you through. Looking at customs regulations in the UAE is very important.

Prohibited and Restricted Items in the UAE

  • Controlled/recreational drugs and narcotic substances
  • Pirated content
  • Items used in black magic, witchcraft, or sorcery
  • Publications and artwork that contradict or challenge Islamic teachings and values
  • Exotic, protected, and endangered animals and certain breeds of dogs
  • Gambling tools and machines

How to Ship Household Items and Belongings

While importing used items into the UAE can qualify them for duty free, you may need to provide a residence permit first. Customs tax may vary slightly from emirate to emirate, but overall, if a customs inspector believes something is being imported commercially, they will impose a 5% tax on the item.

Imported personal goods must arrive within one month of your arrival. You must be present for the goods to clear customs. Please be sure to keep an itemized list of what you have shipped as well as any relevant receipts, invoices, and insurance papers. These may be needed if you must prove ownership of certain items. If you do not have a residence visa yet, you can submit a letter from your UAE entry visa sponsor. You will need to make a deposit valuing 5% of your goods. This 5% will be refunded to you once you have your residence visa. To receive the refund, you must submit your residence visa within 59 days of your goods’ arrival in the UAE.

Importing Cars

If you want to bring your car to the UAE, you will have to pay an import tax. Also required are these documents:

  1. Passport
  2. Registration Documents
  3. Title
  4. Purchase Invoice
  5. Certificate of Origin (COO)
  6. Insurance Policy
  7. UAE Residence Permit

Cars with tinted windows are not allowed into the UAE.

Sending Individual items

Dolphin Express is providing services of shipping individual items, new, directly to your doorstep in the UAE. You may register to our offered services and ship new orders directly to our warehouse and Dolphin Express will forward them to your residence via air and will also handle the customs clearance at destination. Please contact us by clicking here for any additional information.