Move from Belgium to Brazil return home with peace of mind

Yes, and this is not our preference: it is not possible to complete the customs clearance before your disembarkation in Brazil. Receita Federal requires, among the dispatch documents, proof of the traveler's arrival in the country, and the right to customs duty relief is tied to your final disembarkation. The cargo can leave Belgium and arrive before you — the legal window allows up to 3 months in advance — but it will remain waiting at the port or airport until you arrive, with storage and demurrage accruing in that interval. This is why we schedule from your disembarkation date, not from the date when the house is ready to be packed.

Unaccompanied baggage must arrive within the window that goes from 3 months before to 6 months after your disembarkation in Brazil. It is a strict deadline: outside it, the exemption is lost and the shipment is treated as a regular import, with taxes. Because the transit takes 45 to 60 days door-to-door, the shipment must be planned before you set your flight date, and that is what we do at the start of the process.

The DSI is the Declaração Simplificada de Importação (Simplified Import Declaration), registered in Siscomex, the system of the Receita Federal do Brasil (Brazilian Federal Revenue Service), by an authorized customs broker. It is through the DSI that the relocation is declared and the exemption is requested. On this route, the DSI registration and all monitoring of the customs clearance are conducted by One Moving's own team in Brazil, without intermediaries, which is precisely the most sensitive end of a return move.

Proof is provided by a set of documents, and the hierarchy among them matters. The two proofs that effectively support the customs clearance are the Declaration of Residence issued by the Brazilian Consulate in the city where you live and utility bills in your name, such as water, electricity, gas and internet: these demonstrate effective residence at the address. Documents such as the proof of registration in the municipal population register of the Belgian municipality, employment contracts, the lease contract or property deed, tax returns filed in Belgium and proofs of mutuality or health insurance enter the dossier as supporting evidence, together with the passport showing entries and exits, but do not prove residence in isolation, because they attest authorization to reside rather than the fact of having lived there. We assemble this dossier with you before shipment, because gathering documents abroad after you are already in Brazil is much more difficult.

They are two distinct consequences. On the Brazilian side, the tax exemption requires residence abroad for more than 1 year, so it does not apply: the relocation can arrive, but taxed. On the Belgian side, if you entered the country with customs duty relief for a move, the goods are under transfer restriction for the twelve months following importation, and the exit must be handled with the Douane en Accijnzen before shipment. We assess both ends before structuring the operation.

Not within the moving exemption. Brazilian legislation excludes motor vehicles from the exemption for unaccompanied baggage, unlike the Belgian rule, which admits the vehicle in the move and provides a specific procedure for customs clearance, homologation and registration. Bringing the car back is possible, but it constitutes a separate import operation, with its own taxes and requirements, and must be quoted independently from the relocation of the household goods.

It depends on the equipment. Belgium operates at 230 V with type E and F plugs, while in Brazil the voltage varies between 127 V and 220 V depending on the region and the socket standard is the Brazilian one. Equipment with dual-voltage power supplies, such as laptops and chargers, work without problem. Motorized appliances, such as washing machines and refrigerators, usually require a permanent transformer. We analyze item by item in the pre-move survey, because in many cases the freight is not worth it.

Yes. Transporting the animal is a process separate from the relocation of the goods, with its own requirements for microchip, rabies vaccination, international veterinary certificate and compliance with Brazil's entry rules. Our pet department conducts this process in parallel with the relocation, with the documentation synchronized to your flight dates. We have already transported more than 1,000 animals.

The customs duty relief covers used household goods and personal effects. Excluded are motor vehicles, new goods in original packaging, items in quantities suggesting commercial intent, as well as perishable food, plants and animal-origin products subject to sanitary control. We review the inventory before shipment to separate these cases, because a single misdeclared item can hold the entire cargo at the port.

In Belgium, we work with accredited agents from our international network for collection, packing and exit documentation. In Brazil, we have our own team: we are the ones who register the DSI in Siscomex, conduct the customs clearance at Receita Federal do Brasil (Brazilian Federal Revenue Service) and handle delivery and assembly at your final address. On this route, the critical end is the Brazilian side, and that is exactly where we do not rely on third parties.