If you are thinking of shipping some of your household goods and/or personal effects to Australia the following information will be of assistance to you.
- Nuss is a privately owned independent moving company; the Nuss family has been moving peoples’ belongings into, out of and around Australia for over 100 years! You can find out more about us here.
- We provide a full door to door service including packing, shipping Customs/Quarantine clearance, delivery and unpacking
- We are experts at moving household belongings from China to Australia and so you will be well guided on all the requirements
- Our local partners in China provide top level services and have been hand picked by our management team
- Nuss and our partners in China are FIDI accredited which guarantees that you are dealing with a professional and reliable company
- Nuss has an approved Bonded Warehouse to facilitate Australian Customs and Quarantine clearance on arrival in Sydney .
- We offer very competitive pricing.
Ready to Move? Get a Quote Now
Call us now on +61 1300 466 877 or request a quick quote online
Once we receive the quote request from you we will have our partner in China contact you directly to provide you with more specific information and a quotation for your move.
Documents required for export clearance from China
For Chinese passport holders:
1) Original passport
2) Valid Australian Visa
3) For those who do not have the Beijing Hukou, the Employment certificate issued by the employer in Beijing is required.
4) The Exit & Entry record from National Immigration Administration (Our Partner in China will guide you on how to handle this)
For Foreign passport holders:
1) Original passport
2) Origin Resident Permit
3) Original Work Permit card
For Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan citizen:
1) Original Hui Xiang Zheng for Hong Kong & Macau citizen
2) Original Tai Bao Zheng for Taiwan citizen
3) Original Resident Permit card
Customs and Quarantine Clearance of Used Household Goods & Personal Effects in Australia
ALL household goods (HHG) and personal effects (PE) without exception are physically inspected at a bonded warehouse by Bio Security officers before they are released for delivery.
Nuss Sydney is licensed by both Australia Border Force (Customs) and Bio Security (Quarantine) to operate a Customs and Quarantine approved bonded warehouse. Customs Officers and Quarantine Officers therefore come to our warehouse to carry out their clearance procedures.
The Documents You Need for Clearance
- Completed Customs Form (B534 Form) – a separate form is required for both air & sea shipments. Digital signatures are not accepted by customs.
- Passport (photo page with signature)
- Visa (if applicable)
The general rules:
Duty & tax: Household goods and personal effects owned and used by you or your relocating family members for a minimum of 12 months prior to packing may normally be imported duty and tax- free (with the exception of alcohol, tobacco and motor vehicles). Should duty and or tax be applicable the rates vary depending upon the nature of the item. Customs Regulations and more information can be found here.
Alcohol & Tobacco: Should you decide to include alcohol and/or tobacco in your consignment these will be subject to the payment of duty and tax. The rates of will differ depending on the product, your Nuss import specialist will be able to provide you with information of current rates payable. A full alcohol descriptive inventory must be completed and this is best done before packing in your home country. Use this form to declare your alcohol (click here)
Items of interest to Bio Security (Quarantine) officers: Quarantine officers examine all shipments so as to prevent entry into the country of any plant diseases or insects which may pose a risk to the balance of nature in Australia. Consequently, the laws and regulations may appear to be somewhat strict. There are some items, which will be confiscated and destroyed but other items if considered a risk can be released after appropriate treatment.
Items that will normally be destroyed include (but are not limited to):
- Those with seeds including dried flowers and pine cones (often used in Christmas decorations).
- Raw or untreated timber
- Some animal products such as skins
- Foodstuff containing, meat or dairy products
- Plants
- Vacuum bags left in vacuum cleaners
- Items made of endangered species.
Items which will be inspected for evidence of soil, plant life (eg: grass cuttings etc) or woodworm (known as borer) include but not limited to:
- Any outdoor tools or furniture
- Bicycles
- Golf clubs
- Rattan, bamboo or antique furniture
- Lawn mowers
- Plant pots
It is advisable for you to clean any of the above items (which are not exhaustive listing) prior to shipment. Should Quarantine officers believe that any soil, borer, insect or plant be present then fumigation, gamma irradiation, steam cleaning or destruction will be ordered; Nuss will arrange this on your behalf on arrival but it can be costly.
Please see list of restricted items here. If you are unsure if a certain item can be imported please use this tool: Can you bring it in?
The Clearance Process
Physical inspections by Quarantine and Customs Officers are carried out in the secure and controlled conditions of the Bonded warehouse with skilled packers to re-pack and re-wrap the items after they have been checked. Normally only selected items are inspected, including items deemed ‘high risk’ as well as those at random.
Under normal circumstances the clearance process for a shipment arriving by sea ranges from 2 to 3 weeks from the date of the vessel arrival until the time your belongings are cleared by Customs and Quarantine. An air shipment would be normally take 7 working days to clear. Please expect clearance time frames to take longer if any items are held by Quarantine or if a more technical clearance entry is required.
Please note and check before sending if an import permit is required for the following items should you be considering including them in your consignment; (this is not an exhaustive listing)
- Motor Vehicles (including trailers)
- Replica Guns
- Firearms
- E-Bikes, Scooters (off and on road)
- Boats
- ATV’s and golf carts etc
- Scooters (off and on road)
Note that there are strict rules concerning the import of items such as those above and permits which must be issued in advance are required in most cases.
Storage is Available if Required
Nuss has warehouses available specifically and exclusively used for the high security storage of household goods and personal effects. Nuss is a specialist removalist and forwarder of household goods & personal effects, so you may be assured that your belongings would not therefore be stored alongside industrial equipment or such like.
As our facilities are bonded by Customs we are able to store prior to clearance as well as after clearance. Should you need your belongings to be stored for a short period (‘storage in transit or ‘SIT’) or longer term (‘permanent storage’) before taking delivery then we can provide this service for you.
We operate both module storage systems and steel containerised storage so your belongings would be loaded into wooden storage modules and stacked inside our clean secure facility until you wish to have them delivered or stored in weathertight steel containers. On subsequent delivery the modules or containers would be loaded into specialised trucks and driven to your new home, thus avoiding the potential for damage due to double handling.
Delivery After Clearance
Our delivery crews will unwrap and position furniture for you in the appropriate rooms and will unpack cartons to bench top, taking away the packing materials afterwards. Re-assembly of complex or specialist items such as climbing frames, waterbeds, complicated beds, bookcases etc, can be arranged on your behalf with ancillary service providers or by our specialist crews.
Assembly of ‘Flat packed’ items or new items are not part of our standard delivery service. Our uniformed crews are trained to be as helpful as possible, are assessed and receive regular refresher courses.
Our Customer Service
In handling the administrative side of clearance and delivery of your belongings, our highly trained and experienced team of import specialists will focus on providing a communicative and excellent level of service using empathy and drawing on knowledge and experience to keep you informed of progress during the clearance process.
We aim to make the final stage of your move as trouble free as possible by anticipating possible needs and working to exceed expectations. If at any time you feel we are not achieving this aim we ask that you let us know right away so that we can correct this.
For more information you can visit our Moving to Australia guide or our Nuss Import Guide.
We look forward to welcoming you to Australia!