Moving from the UK to Vietnam (2026): Complete Guide

Relocating from the UK to Vietnam means clearing two very different customs systems: the UK’s HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) export regime on the way out, and Vietnam’s General Department of Customs / VNACCS import regime on the way in — governed by whatever visa or residence status you hold in Vietnam. This guide is written for UK residents (British or otherwise) moving to Vietnam for work, marriage, study or retirement, and it covers both halves of the move plus a short note on shipping back to the UK later.

Key takeaways

• Vietnam only grants duty-relief on your used household goods if you hold a valid long-stay basis — typically a work permit and Temporary Residence Card (TRC) — issued by the Immigration Department, Ministry of Public Security; a 90-day e-visa alone does not carry the same import treatment.
• HMRC requires a customs export declaration for goods leaving Great Britain, now filed exclusively on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) — the older NES/CHIEF system stopped accepting export declarations on 4 June 2024 — and most movers filing on your behalf need an EORI number.
• The UK has no population-deregistration office — instead you notify HMRC directly via the P85 form and check your tax-residence position under the Statutory Residence Test.
• Vietnam requires an official import declaration through VNACCS, typically lodged with supporting documents via the National Single Window.
• Dogs and cats need a UK export health certificate — certificate 4068 for Vietnam — issued by an Official Veterinarian and endorsed by APHA, plus a Vietnamese quarantine registration with the Department of Animal Health.
• Carrying £10,000 or more in cash out of Great Britain must be declared to Border Force; carrying the equivalent of USD 5,000 or VND 15,000,000 or more into Vietnam must be declared to border-gate customs under State Bank Circular 15/2011/TT-NHNN.
• Household goods, not vehicles, are what Vietnam’s duty-free "movable assets" allowance covers for someone on a TRC: under Decree 134/2016/ND-CP the exemption explicitly excludes cars and motorcycles, so plan to sell or store your vehicle in the UK rather than ship it.
• Taking a UK-registered vehicle out of the country for 12 months or more means notifying DVLA of permanent export before you leave.

1. Why your Vietnamese immigration status decides your customs treatment

Vietnam does not treat "moving house" as a stand-alone customs category. What determines whether your shipment clears with duty relief or gets taxed as a commercial import is the visa/residence basis you enter on. A short-stay e-visa (issued via Vietnam’s National Electronic Visa system, valid up to 90 days) does not establish the kind of long-term residence Customs looks for. What does is a work permit followed by a Temporary Residence Card (TRC), issued by the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security, typically valid for one to three years depending on the sponsoring basis (work, investment, marriage to a Vietnamese national, etc.). Under Article 7 of Decree 134/2016/ND-CP, which implements Vietnam’s Law on Export and Import Duties, movable-asset (personal effects) duty exemption is available to foreigners and overseas Vietnamese who are permitted to enter Vietnam to work or study for 12 months or more — in practice, this means your TRC, work permit and passport entry stamp are the documents Customs will ask for before releasing your shipment duty-free. Apply for your visa/work-permit route and TRC before you ship anything; a shipment that lands before your residence status is confirmed risks being treated as a standard commercial import, with duty and VAT applied.

2. The UK export side: HMRC, the Customs Declaration Service and leaving your tax record straight

Customs authority. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is the UK’s customs authority. Goods leaving Great Britain for any country outside the UK — Vietnam included — require a customs export declaration; there’s no blanket exemption just because the shipment is household effects rather than commercial cargo. Declarations are now filed exclusively on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS): the older National Export System / CHIEF was phased out for exports, with HMRC’s final deadline for the switch falling on 4 June 2024, so anyone (or any mover) filing on your behalf needs to be CDS-registered. International movers arranging the declaration for you will typically need your EORI number (Economic Operators Registration and Identification), which HMRC issues free of charge. The step-by-step export guide on GOV.UK is the master reference; in most household-move cases your removal firm or their customs broker handles the CDS filing on your behalf, but the legal responsibility for accurate paperwork sits with you as the exporter.

Deregistration and "leaving" the UK. Unlike many European countries, the UK has no central population register or municipal "deregistration" step — there’s no office you visit to formally announce you’re leaving. Instead, the process is a set of separate notifications: tell your GP surgery you’re leaving (you may lose entitlement to free NHS care once you’ve moved permanently, per NHS guidance linked from GOV.UK’s moving-abroad page), remove yourself from the electoral register at your old address and, if you want to keep voting in UK elections, register as an overseas elector, and — if you take a vehicle with you for 12 months or more — send the V5C/4 permanent-export section of your log book to DVLA.

Tax-residency exit. Your UK tax position doesn’t end automatically the day you fly out. HMRC applies the Statutory Residence Test to determine when you actually stop being UK tax-resident, and the mechanism for notifying HMRC of your departure is form P85 (unless you’re filing a Self Assessment return for the departure year, in which case you use the residence pages, form SA109, instead). Filing P85 lets HMRC correct your PAYE coding and process any tax refund; see GOV.UK’s guide to tax if you leave the UK to live abroad for the full residency rules, including the split-year treatment that can apply in your year of departure.

3. Ports and transit times

Sea freight from the UK to Vietnam typically routes through one of the UK’s major container ports — Felixstowe (the UK’s largest container port), Southampton, or London Gateway — into one of Vietnam’s principal gateways, most commonly Cat Lai / Saigon New Port in Ho Chi Minh City in the south or Hai Phong in the north, depending on where in Vietnam you’re settling. Air freight moves through Heathrow or Manchester into Noi Bai (Hanoi) or Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh City).

These transit figures are freight-industry estimates, not official government data — treat them as planning guidance, not guarantees: sea freight typically runs 6–10 weeks port-to-port plus Vietnamese customs clearance, while air freight typically takes 1–2 weeks including clearance. Actual timing depends on sailing schedules, transhipment routing, and how quickly your TRC and import paperwork are ready when the shipment arrives — a shipment that arrives before your residence documents are in order can sit in a bonded warehouse accruing storage charges.

4. The Vietnam import side: VNACCS, the National Single Window and required paperwork

Vietnam Customs (the General Department of Vietnam Customs) processes import declarations through VNACCS/VCIS, its automated customs clearance system, with supporting applications and licences for many procedures — including quarantine and inspection dossiers — routed through the National Single Window portal, which links customs with the other ministries and agencies involved in clearance. For a household-goods shipment you should expect to provide: your passport (with entry stamp), visa/TRC and work permit, the bill of lading or air waybill, a detailed packing list/inventory, and an authorisation letter if a broker or your moving company is filing on your behalf. On arrival you (or your agent) typically obtain an arrival/import declaration confirming an unaccompanied shipment, which Customs stamps before the goods can leave the port. Duty-free treatment under Decree 134/2016/ND-CP applies to genuinely used personal and household effects (one piece or set per item, excluding vehicles) belonging to someone relocating their residence for 12 months or more; new goods, multiples of the same item, or anything that reads as commercial in quantity is liable to import duty and the standard 10% VAT — currently reduced to 8% on many goods through 31 December 2026 under National Assembly Resolution 204/2025/QH15 — regardless of your residence status.

5. Pets: UK export and Vietnam import

Leaving the UK. Because Vietnam sits outside the EU pet travel scheme, you need a country-specific Export Health Certificate. For dogs and cats travelling from England, Scotland or Wales, that’s certificate 4068, applied for through GOV.UK‘s online service and issued by an Official Veterinarian, with the process administered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) — part of DEFRA. Given blood-test windows, vaccination timing and government endorsement turnaround, start this process several months before travel, not weeks.

Entering Vietnam. Vietnam’s Department of Animal Health (under the Ministry of Agriculture) requires an animal quarantine registration before the pet arrives, submittable through the National Single Window or by post, using the request form and quarantine declaration set out in the applicable circular, plus your pet’s vaccination and veterinary health documents — a valid rabies vaccination record, issued at least 30 days before and no more than a year before travel, is required. A foreign national relocating personally is generally permitted to bring up to two pet animals for personal keeping, provided the species isn’t on Vietnam’s import-prohibited list, and imported pets go through quarantine inspection on entry.

6. Vehicles, money and things people forget

Vehicles. Don’t plan to ship your UK car to Vietnam as part of a standard household move. Article 7 of Decree 134/2016/ND-CP — the rule that gives duty-free treatment to your household "movable assets" — explicitly excludes automobiles and motorcycles from that exemption, for foreigners on a TRC and overseas Vietnamese alike. A separate, narrower vehicle allowance has historically existed for overseas Vietnamese who complete permanent-residence registration in Vietnam, but it sits under different, older regulations, has been repeatedly tightened, and does not apply to foreign nationals moving on a work permit and TRC. Even where any such allowance does apply, excise tax and VAT remain payable. Most UK relocators sell or store their vehicle in the UK and buy locally in Vietnam instead. If you do take a UK-registered vehicle out of the country for 12 months or more for any other reason, notify DVLA using the V5C/4 permanent-export section of your log book before you go.

Money. Leaving Great Britain with £10,000 or more in cash (or the equivalent in another currency) — for yourself or as a family group travelling together — must be declared to Border Force, and the declaration can be made online up to 72 hours before travel. On the Vietnam side, entering with more than USD 5,000 or VND 15,000,000 (or equivalent) in cash requires a declaration to border-gate customs under State Bank of Vietnam Circular 15/2011/TT-NHNN.

Things people forget. Household goods that arrive in Vietnam before your TRC is issued lose the duty-relief basis and get treated as ordinary commercial imports — sequence your shipping date around your visa/work-permit timeline, not the other way round. Keep your P85 confirmation and P45 alongside your shipping paperwork; HMRC correspondence about your UK tax position is easy to lose once you’ve left your old address. And because sea-freight transit is measured in weeks, plan enough accompanied luggage or an air shipment to cover the gap before your sea shipment lands.

Reverse move: Vietnam back to the UK

If you later move back, the process mirrors in reverse: Vietnam requires its own export clearance for your outbound shipment (through the same VNACCS system and, if applicable, closing out your TRC with Vietnamese immigration), while on the UK side you may be able to claim Transfer of Residence (ToR) relief from import duty and VAT — provided you apply for a ToR1 reference number before your goods are shipped and can show you lived outside the UK for at least 12 consecutive months.

How Flyto handles your UK to Vietnam move

Flyto runs its own offices, warehouses, crews and vehicles across Northern, Central and Southern Europe, so the UK collection, packing and export leg of your move is handled in-house from pickup through to the port. For the deep-sea leg to Vietnam and the final-mile delivery, customs clearance and any local storage, we work through a carefully vetted network of subcontracted ocean carriers and trusted local partners on the ground in Vietnam, coordinated by your Flyto move manager so you deal with one point of contact throughout.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a work permit before I can ship my belongings to Vietnam duty-free?
You need a valid long-term residence basis — in practice a work permit and Temporary Residence Card — for your shipment to qualify for the movable-assets duty exemption under Decree 134/2016/ND-CP. Shipping before your TRC is issued risks the goods being treated as a taxable commercial import.

What UK system do removal firms use to file my export declaration?
The Customs Declaration Service (CDS), which fully replaced the older National Export System/CHIEF for exports — CHIEF stopped taking export declarations on 4 June 2024.

Do I have to tell HMRC I’m leaving the UK?
Yes — via form P85 (or the residence pages of your Self Assessment return if you file one), so HMRC can update your tax record and process any refund.

Can I bring my dog or cat to Vietnam?
Yes, up to two pets per person is generally permitted for personal ownership. You’ll need a UK Export Health Certificate 4068 issued via APHA, plus a Vietnamese quarantine registration through the Department of Animal Health before or on arrival.

Can I ship my UK car to Vietnam?
Not duty-free. Decree 134/2016/ND-CP specifically excludes cars and motorcycles from the household-goods duty exemption, for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese alike. A separate, narrower allowance has existed for overseas Vietnamese completing permanent-residence registration, but it doesn’t extend to foreign nationals on a TRC, and even where it applies, excise tax and VAT are still due. Most people sell or store their car in the UK and buy locally in Vietnam.

Is there a limit on cash I can carry when I travel?
Yes on both ends: £10,000+ leaving Great Britain must be declared to Border Force, and USD 5,000 / VND 15,000,000+ entering Vietnam must be declared to border-gate customs under Circular 15/2011/TT-NHNN.

Sources

1. Immigration Department, Ministry of Public Security — Temporary Residence Card procedures
2. Vietnam National Electronic Visa system
3. GOV.UK — Export goods from the UK: step by step
4. GOV.UK — Making a full export declaration (CDS)
5. GOV.UK — Get an EORI number
6. GOV.UK — Get your Income Tax right if you’re leaving the UK (P85)
7. GOV.UK — Tax if you leave the UK to live abroad
8. GOV.UK — Moving, living or retiring abroad
9. GOV.UK — Taking a vehicle out of the UK
10. GOV.UK — Take cash in and out of the UK
11. GOV.UK — Export cats and dogs to Vietnam: certificate 4068
12. GOV.UK — Taking your pet abroad: getting an animal health certificate (APHA)
13. GOV.UK — Transfer of residence to Great Britain
14. General Department of Vietnam Customs (English)
15. Vietnam National Single Window
16. Decree 134/2016/ND-CP — National Database of Legal Documents (vbpl.vn)
17. Circular 15/2011/TT-NHNN, State Bank of Vietnam — Vietnam Trade Portal