Moving from Switzerland to Vietnam (2026): Complete Guide

Switzerland to Vietnam is a landlocked-Europe-to-Southeast-Asia corridor with no direct sea link: your shipment starts on a truck, not a ship, and your paperwork runs through two very different systems — Swiss federal customs and municipal population registers on one end, Vietnamese customs and immigration on the other. This guide is written for a Swiss resident (Swiss national or foreign national registered in a Swiss commune) relocating to Vietnam for work, marriage, or retirement, and covers both halves of the move plus what changes if you later move back.

Key takeaways

• Duty-free import of your household goods into Vietnam depends on your visa/residence status — you generally need a valid work permit or Temporary Residence Card (TRC) sponsored by a registered employer before customs will treat your shipment as personal relocation goods rather than a commercial import (Vietnam Immigration Department).
• On the Swiss side, the responsible authority is the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG/FOCBS), formerly the Swiss Federal Customs Administration; household goods are exported by presenting a duplicate inventory list at a commercial-goods customs office — no export duty and no separate customs form is required for the export itself (BAZG – Relocation: export from Switzerland).
• You must deregister ("Abmeldung Wegzug ins Ausland") from your Swiss commune before or shortly after leaving — in Zürich, for example, notification is due within 14 days of the move, and a deregistration certificate (Abmeldebestätigung) costs CHF 20 (Stadt Zürich – Wegzug).
• Unlimited Swiss tax liability ends on your date of departure, but you must still file a part-year tax return, and a Swiss-based representative may be required if property, employer withholding, or unfinished assessments remain (Stadt Zürich – Wegzug ins Ausland, tax).
• Switzerland has no sea port; freight is trucked to a Benelux or North Italian port, or the Rhine port of Basel for barge/rail feeder service, then shipped onward — these are freight-industry routings, not government-mandated corridors.
• Pets entering Vietnam need a microchip, rabies vaccination and veterinary health certificate, plus a quarantine-registration dossier filed with Vietnam’s Department of Livestock and Veterinary before travel, with a final check by a quarantine officer on arrival (cucthuy.gov.vn); a Swiss export health certificate is issued under rules overseen by the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (BLV – Travelling with pets).
• Bringing a personal car into Vietnam is not a simple import: it falls under the "movable-property" temporary-import regime, restricted to eligible categories under Ministry of Industry and Trade rules (Vietnam Trade Portal, Ministry of Industry and Trade).
• Cash above roughly USD 5,000 (or VND 15 million) must be declared to Vietnamese border customs on entry and exit — this is enforced at the same checkpoint where you file your arrival declaration (Vietnam Customs).

1. Your Vietnam immigration status decides your customs treatment

Vietnamese customs does not treat "moving your household" as a standalone category open to anyone who buys a plane ticket. Duty-free clearance of personal effects is tied to having a legitimate long-stay basis to be in the country — in practice a work permit and either a long-term work visa or a Temporary Residence Card (TRC), issued by the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security, sponsored by a registered employer or, for family reunification, a Vietnamese/foreign-resident spouse (Vietnam Immigration Department). Short-term e-visa or tourist-visa holders are not the intended audience for a relocation shipment, and customs will scrutinize a shipment against your passport stamps and permit paperwork. If your work permit and TRC are not yet issued when your container leaves Switzerland, expect delays or a request for guarantees at the Vietnamese end — get the visa/permit track moving first, then time the shipment.

2. Switzerland — the export and deregistration side

Customs authority. Exports from Switzerland are handled by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG), the merged customs and border-guard body that replaced the former Federal Customs Administration. For a household relocation, BAZG requires no export declaration, no customs form and no export duty — you simply present an inventory list "in duplicate indicating your address in Switzerland and abroad" to the customs office for commercial goods during opening hours, and it stamps and returns one copy as proof of export (BAZG – Relocation: export from Switzerland; BAZG – FAQ removal goods). There is no fixed minimum value or weight threshold — BAZG’s guidance is to make "a rough estimate," using your insurer’s valuation or your mover’s weight estimate, grouping standard items ("x boxes of books, x boxes of clothes") while itemizing valuables individually (BAZG – FAQ removal goods). General rules for exporting goods from Switzerland are set out on BAZG’s exportation pages (BAZG – Declaring goods, exportation from Switzerland). Note that Form 18.44 ("Zollveranlagung von Übersiedlungsgut") is a different document — it applies on the import side, when household goods later enter Switzerland (see "Moving back," below), not when they leave.

Deregistering from your commune. You must deregister ("Abmeldung wegen Wegzug ins Ausland") with your commune’s residents’ registration office before you can close out tax and social-insurance obligations. Using Zürich as a representative example: notification is due within 14 days after the move (this deadline also applies to moves abroad), and a deregistration certificate/residence certificate (Abmeldebestätigung/Wohnsitzattest) costs CHF 20 (Stadt Zürich – Wegzug). Exact procedures and fees vary by commune — check yours directly. Keep the deregistration certificate: banks, insurers and pension funds will ask for it. Swiss citizens should also register with the Swiss representation covering Vietnam within 90 days of deregistering — there is no fee, and it makes you easier to reach in an emergency (FDFA – Emigrating).

Tax-residency exit. Unlimited Swiss tax liability — federal and cantonal/communal — ends on your departure/deregistration date, when outstanding tax becomes due and a part-year return must be filed for income from 1 January to departure (Stadt Zürich – Wegzug ins Ausland, tax). If your assessment can’t be finalized before you leave — property ownership, continuing employer withholding, or open source-tax obligations — you must name a Swiss-resident tax representative to file on your behalf; rules on this differ by canton, so contact your commune’s tax office early (Stadt Zürich – Wegzug ins Ausland, tax).

3. Ports and transit — Swiss reality, industry estimates

Switzerland is landlocked, so there is no Swiss port where a container is loaded onto an ocean vessel. In practice, movers truck consignments from your home to a European gateway port — most commonly Rotterdam or Antwerp (Benelux, the shortest road leg from most of Switzerland and the deepest Asia-service rotation), with Genoa or La Spezia in Northern Italy used as an alternative Mediterranean routing. Switzerland’s own port infrastructure is the Rhine ports of Basel (operated as Schweizerische Rheinhäfen), which move containers by barge and rail as a feeder link into Rotterdam/Antwerp rather than handling ocean-going vessels directly — this is standard freight-forwarding practice, not a government-mandated route. For airfreight, Zurich (ZRH) and Geneva (GVA) are the two international gateways typically used.

These transit estimates are freight-industry planning figures, not official published figures, and vary by carrier, season and routing:

• Sea freight (FCL/LCL), door-to-port-to-door via Rotterdam/Antwerp or Genoa to Ho Chi Minh City (Cat Lai/Cái Mép) or Hai Phong: roughly 6–9 weeks total, including truck collection, ocean transit (typically 4–6 weeks sailing time) and Vietnamese customs clearance.
• Airfreight, Zurich/Geneva to Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi: roughly 1–2 weeks door-to-door once booked, faster but priced by volumetric weight and best suited to smaller, time-sensitive shipments.

4. Vietnam — the import side

Vietnam Customs, under the Ministry of Finance, processes import declarations electronically through its VNACCS/VCIS system, but a personal relocation shipment is still handled as a physical unaccompanied-baggage clearance at the arrival airport or port, tied to your passport (Vietnam Customs). On arrival you complete an arrival declaration, and clearance generally cannot be finalized until you have personally entered the country with your original documents on file. Your employer’s sponsor letter/work permit, TRC or valid long-term visa, a detailed English-language packing list, and your bill of lading/airway bill are the core documents customs will ask for. Genuinely used personal belongings are the basis for duty-free treatment; new, high-value, or commercial-quantity goods attract import duty and VAT at the border.

5. Pets — both ends

Leaving Switzerland. An ISO-compliant microchip and valid rabies vaccination are the baseline for any international pet move; the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (BLV/FSVO) oversees veterinary export certification and the rules for travelling with dogs, cats and ferrets (BLV – Travelling with pets; BLV – Dogs, cats and ferrets). Since you’re exporting rather than importing, Vietnam’s requirements govern what your Swiss vet needs to certify — coordinate the health certificate timing with those rules, not the other way round.

Entering Vietnam. Vietnam’s Department of Livestock and Veterinary (Cục Chăn nuôi và Thú y), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, handles quarantine and health inspection of imported animals (cucthuy.gov.vn). In practice you (or your agent) submit a quarantine-registration dossier — including vaccination and health documents — before the animal travels, either through Vietnam’s National Single Window portal or by post to the department’s Hanoi office; a written quarantine approval is typically issued within a few working days of a complete application. Your pet’s rabies vaccination record, microchip documentation and veterinary health certificate are then checked on arrival by a quarantine officer, and import-permit requirements can scale with the number of animals. Exact timing windows and thresholds are set by periodically updated circulars — confirm current specifics with the department before travel, and start early, since rabies vaccination requires a waiting period before it counts as valid.

6. Vehicles, money, and things people forget

Vehicles. Bringing your own car is not a standard import — Vietnam treats a foreign resident’s personal vehicle as "movable property" under a temporary-import regime restricted to eligible categories of long-term residents, on top of general compliance and documentation rules administered by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Vietnam Trade Portal, MOIT). For most people, selling in Switzerland and buying locally is simpler than shipping.

Money. Vietnamese border customs requires a declaration for cash equivalent to roughly USD 5,000 or more, or VND 15 million or more, per person, on entry or exit, checked at the same point where you file your arrival card (Vietnam Customs). Bank wire transfers avoid this entirely for larger sums.

What people forget. Cancel or transfer Swiss subscriptions and insurance tied to your commune address before deregistering. Pillar 2 and Pillar 3a pension arrangements have their own exit rules handled through your pension fund, not BAZG or the commune — start that early, since it runs on a different timeline. Keep certified/apostilled civil documents (marriage, birth, diplomas): Vietnamese authorities routinely require legalized translations for TRC, work-permit and school-enrolment processes, and these are far easier to obtain in Switzerland than afterward.

Moving back — Vietnam to Switzerland. The process runs in reverse: deregister your Vietnamese residence/TRC, and when you re-arrive in Switzerland, household goods qualify for duty-free import as "Übersiedlungsgut" if you have genuinely transferred your domicile back, the goods were used for at least 6 months, and they’re imported within 2 years of the move, declared on Form 18.44 at a Swiss customs office (BAZG – FAQ removal goods). You’ll also need to re-register with your new Swiss commune, which restarts your unlimited tax liability.

How Flyto handles your Switzerland to Vietnam move

Flyto runs its own offices, warehouses, crews and vehicles across Northern, Central and Southern Europe, so the Swiss collection, packing and consolidation stages of your move are handled in-house rather than handed to a random local agent. For the long-haul leg and Vietnamese destination services, we work through a carefully vetted network of subcontracted carriers and trusted local partners on the ground in Vietnam, who handle customs clearance, quarantine coordination for pets, and final delivery — giving you one point of contact in Switzerland while still benefiting from real local expertise at the Vietnam end.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a Vietnamese visa or TRC before I can ship my household goods duty-free?
Yes in practice — Vietnamese customs treats duty-free personal-effects clearance as tied to a legitimate long-stay basis, typically a work permit and TRC or long-term work visa (Vietnam Immigration Department).

Which Swiss authority handles my export paperwork, and do I need a special customs form?
The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG), at the commercial-goods customs office. No special export form is needed — a duplicate inventory list is sufficient; Form 18.44 only applies when goods later enter Switzerland (BAZG – Relocation: export from Switzerland).

When exactly does my Swiss tax liability end?
On your date of departure/deregistration from your commune, though you must still file a part-year return and may need a Swiss tax representative if your assessment isn’t finished by then (Stadt Zürich – Wegzug ins Ausland, tax).

Can I ship by sea directly from a Swiss port?
No — Switzerland is landlocked. Freight is trucked to a Benelux port (Rotterdam/Antwerp) or a North Italian port (Genoa/La Spezia), or barged from Basel’s Rhine ports as a feeder link, then shipped on to Vietnam.

Can I bring my dog or cat to Vietnam?
Yes, with a microchip, rabies vaccination and veterinary health certificate. You’ll need to register a quarantine dossier with Vietnam’s Department of Livestock and Veterinary before travel, and your pet is checked again on arrival; import-permit requirements scale with pet numbers, so confirm current specifics with the department before booking travel (cucthuy.gov.vn).

How much cash can I carry into Vietnam without declaring it?
Roughly under USD 5,000 (or under VND 15 million) per person; above that, declare it to border customs on entry or exit (Vietnam Customs).

Sources

• Vietnam Immigration Department
• BAZG (Federal Office for Customs and Border Security) – FAQ removal goods
• BAZG – Relocation: export from Switzerland
• BAZG – Declaring goods, exportation from Switzerland
• BAZG – Form 18.44, Übersiedlungsgut (import into Switzerland, PDF, German)
• Stadt Zürich – Wegzug (deregistration when moving abroad)
• Stadt Zürich – Wegzug ins Ausland (tax obligations)
• FDFA (EDA) – Emigrating
• BLV (Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office) – Travelling with pets
• BLV – Dogs, cats and ferrets
• Vietnam Customs (Cục Hải Quan, Ministry of Finance)
• Vietnam Department of Livestock and Veterinary (Cục Chăn nuôi và Thú y)
• Vietnam Trade Portal, Ministry of Industry and Trade – used vehicle import guidance