When it goes wrong
What is different about moving between the US and Canada?
The short answer
It becomes a customs process. You need a detailed inventory suitable for customs, documentation of your status and eligibility for any personal-effects exemption, and a mover experienced in cross-border household goods — and the timing is less predictable because border clearance is not under the carrier's control.
What is genuinely different
- A customs-grade inventory, usually valued, rather than a moving inventory.
- Documentation of your immigration or residency status, which determines what may enter duty-free as personal effects.
- Restricted and prohibited goods, which are not the same list on each side and include firearms, some foods, plants, soil and certain wood products.
- Alcohol and tobacco, which have their own rules and quantities.
- Vehicles, which are a separate process with their own requirements in both directions.
- Timing, because clearance can add days that the carrier does not control.
Who to ask
The authoritative sources are the customs and border agencies of the two countries, and they publish what may enter and under what conditions. A mover experienced in cross-border work will know the process and will still not be the authority on your eligibility — that is a question for the border agency or a customs broker.
Build a buffer into the dates and keep the things you cannot be without with you. A cross-border shipment held for inspection is not a failure by the mover and it is still your sofa in a warehouse.
Also asked
Do I need a customs broker?
For personal household effects, often not, and many cross-border movers handle the documentation. For vehicles, high-value goods or an unusual status it can be worth it. The two countries' border agencies set the requirements and are the place to confirm what applies to you.
The long version
Moving in Canada: what consumers should check
Understand Canadian mover research, provincial consumer rules, quote taxes, contracts, industry membership, and cross-border questions.
Read the guide →General information about moving and about hiring, not advice about your move. Interstate household-goods moving within the United States is federally regulated; local, intrastate and Canadian moving is regulated by each state or province, and the rules differ. The authority for your move is the one to check.