Moving to the United Kingdom
Every year King & Wilson helps hundreds of clients relocate from Australia to the United Kingdom. Many are returning Brits looking to re-establish family ties after years of living in Australia, others include employee transfers and Australians wanting to gain professional or personal experience living and working in the United Kingdom. Our regular sea freight container services include all British towns and cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Southampton, Newcastle and Belfast.
We have the people, processes and infrastructure to make your move stress-free. Here's how it works:
On the scheduled moving day, we arrive at your home to carefully pack your belongings into specially designed international removal cartons. We also disassemble, wrap, itemise and prepare your furniture to export standards.
A detailed and descriptive customs export packing list is compiled and your packed belongings are loaded and secured into an appropriate shipping line container, transferred to our warehouse for weighing, security sealing and reporting. The container is then transported to the port and onto the vessel for international sailing.
Our experienced move coordinators will ensure all of your necessary shipping documentation is checked and in order to facilitate prompt customs clearance into your destination country. You will be provided with password protected access to our key date tracking system so you can monitor the progress of your shipment as well as a direct link to the shipping line container tracking and/or airline consignment tracing web pages.
We arrange customs clearance of your shipment, collection of the container from the destination port and the delivery of your belongings to your international residence - unpacking the cartons, re-assembling and placing all furniture items to your satisfaction and disposing of any packing debris and mess.
We pride ourselves on providing you with as much assistance as you need to make your move stress free. Should you require it, we can arrange:
- Storage of your belongings at either end of your move
- Support services including house cleaning or home rental search
- Visas and foreign exchange
UK shipping experts
Every year King & Wilson helps thousands of households move internationally - many of whom are moving to the UK.
Together with our UK partners, we lead our industry in our commitment to quality and cost-efficiency and regularly benchmark our services against world standards.
Grace Quality Assured
King & Wilson removals is managed and resourced by Grace Worldwide Australia.
Grace’s international and domestic quality assurances, accreditations and certifications ensure King & Wilson customers are receiving the highest quality consistent moving standards across the world.
Grace Australia is an active audited member of Australia's peak industry associations (AIMA and AFRA), both of whom administer independent and binding consumer complaint tribunals which are binding upon its members and endorsed by NSW and Victorian consumer affairs departments. Grace is also amongst a select group of international moving companies who have achieved Ernst & Young audited FAIM accreditation for all of its branches.
This accreditation gives Grace access to the FIDI Global Alliance, the only network of global mobility specialists who comply with an internationally recognised quality standard. This means that when you move with King & Wilson, you can be sure that you will receive the same seamless quality standard and support at over 500 destinations worldwide.
Faster transit times for shared shipments
To save costs, many shipping companies will hold your belongings at their warehouse until they are able to fill an entire shipping container bound for your destination. This means that you may wait weeks, or even months, for your belongings to depart Australia.
We are committed to shipping your belongings quickly and effeciently, and offer a transit time guarantee for all shared services to the UK. In the unlikely event that your belongings fail to arrive into one of the UK ports within 9 - 11 weeks, we will refund your freight charges in full.
UK moving resources
To help make your move to the United Kingdom a success, we are pleased to offer the following assistance:
- Supplementary services
- Moving planner
- Shipping & customs information
- Government resources
- Expatriate associations
To help our clients find their feet quickly, we offer additional services from the UK including home search, school search, furniture rental and more.
Request a quote or contact your moving consultant for more information.
Our comprehensive International Moving Planner provides a step-by-step guide to preparing yourself and your possessions for your move.
Frequently asked questions
Shipping from Australia to the UK takes 9-11 weeks depending on the time of the year.
In the unlikely event your shipment is delayed beyond this timeframe, we will refund your freight charges in full.
If you require some of your items to arrive within a shorter timeframe, we recommend utilising our air freight service. Many of our clients find this to be a more cost-effective solution than paying airline excess baggage.
Yes we can. Our excess baggage department specialises in packing and shipping small quantities of unaccompanied personal effects.
To get an excess baggage quote, please click here.
Yes, you can pack your own boxes. Some clients elect to pack clothes, books and linen and leave the more fragile items to us. If you choose to do this, we will supply you with appropriate export quality boxes and packing materials.
We can also provide you with instructions for packing your boxes to export standards, however we can not be responsible for any breakages in boxes packed by you.
Cartons and belongings which are to be transported overseas by air must be checked, repacked and sealed by King & Wilson security cleared staff.
Whilst it is unusual for items to be damaged or lost in transit, for your peace of mind we recommend that you take out transit insurance. To help you get the right cover, we have put together a cost-effective policy specifically designed to protect your belongings during transit and/or storage.
Request a quote or contact us to speak to a moving consultant about the appropriate insurance for your move.
Used personal effects are duty and VAT free for importation provided you have a valid residency permit such as a UK residency visa or EU passport. You will need to have owned the used items you are shipping in excess of 12 months.
Items such as alcohol, tobacco and commercial quantaties of goods are taxable and will also incur duties.
All our shipping services are inclusive of customs formalities and clearance. For more information on UK customs regulations, please download our guide.
For safety and security there are some items that cannot be shipped. Most of these items fall under the classification of prohibited belongings such as LPG gas bottles, paints, aerosols and solvents.
Our standard international moving service includes delivery to a residence up to first floor with clear vehicle access from the street. This service is inclusive of checking off the packing list, placing furniture and boxes into nominated rooms, unwrapping and re-assembling furniture items, unpacking boxes onto flat surfaces and removing the packing debris and rubbish.
Our international baggage services are priced to be a more economical transport solution and therefore delivery is to ground floor only and excludes unpacking.
Yes, we provide our customers with regular email updates and a client login to our website which allows you to monitor the progress of your shipment.
Have another question? Call us on 1300 368 893 or visit our FAQs page.