Sterling to dollars is the deepest currency pair there is outside the euro, at around 11% of global foreign exchange volume. Spreads are tight and providers are plentiful, so there is no excuse for a poor rate on a transfer to America. The difficulty with US money is not buying the dollars. It is what happens to them afterwards.
Two rules catch British movers in particular. Once you are a US person for tax purposes you have to report UK accounts whose combined balance crosses ten thousand dollars at any point in a year, which moving your savings across does by itself. And if you buy a house and later sell it while still a foreign person, the buyer is legally required to withhold a share of the sale price and send it to the IRS before you see any of it.
This page covers the currency side of an American move, and the customs rules that change what is worth shipping in the first place. How transfers are priced in general, and the payment fraud that catches property buyers out, is in our guide to currency when moving abroad.
Your things, and the rule about when you bought them
Used household goods and personal effects enter the United States free of duty, but only if you owned and used them abroad for at least a year before they are imported. Items owned for less than a year are dutiable.
Read that again with a shopping list in mind, because this is the one that costs people money for no reason. A sofa bought in the sale six weeks before you emigrate is dutiable. The same sofa, bought fifteen months ago, is not. If you are replacing furniture anyway, replace it at the other end rather than buying new here and shipping it. If you have already bought it, expect a bill.
The claim for duty-free entry is made on CBP Form 3299, the Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles. Anything travelling separately from you, which is everything on a sea or air freight shipment, is unaccompanied and needs it. Your mover will normally prepare the form, but you are the one signing a declaration to a federal agency, so read what has been written on it.
There is a time limit at the other end of the process as well. Goods should be imported within ten years of your last arrival in the United States from the country where you used them. Beyond that, duty-free entry needs an explanation to the Port Director rather than being automatic, which matters if you are shipping the contents of a house years after you moved.
What cannot come, or cannot come easily
The car, in almost every case
This is the most common disappointment on an American move. The Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency prohibit permanent import of vehicles that do not conform to US federal safety and emissions standards, and the overwhelming majority of UK-specification cars do not conform. Being right-hand drive is not the barrier. Not being built to US standards is.
The exception is age. A vehicle twenty-five years old or more, measured from its month and year of manufacture, is exempt from both EPA and NHTSA requirements under the Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988, and can be imported without modification. That is the rule that lets a classic go and keeps a three-year-old estate car here.
If the car is the reason you are asking, check its build month before you plan anything around it. Twenty-four years and eleven months is not twenty-five years.
Alcohol, which depends on the state
Drink can travel as part of a household shipment, which surprises people who have tried to post a bottle. What governs it is not federal law but the state you are moving to. The Twenty-first Amendment left alcohol to the states, so each one writes its own rules, and they range from permissive to outright prohibition. Mississippi and Utah do not allow it at all.
If you have a cellar worth moving, establish the destination state's position before the container is packed rather than after it has sailed.
The usual list
Food, plants, seeds, live animals, medicines, cleaning products, aerosols, paint and anything flammable do not travel in a household container. Agricultural inspection at a US port is thorough, and a single bag of seeds in a carton can hold an entire shipment while it is dealt with.
The money
Sterling to dollars is the most traded currency pair in the world after the euro pairs, at around 11% of global foreign exchange volume. That is good news: the market is deep, spreads are tight, and there is no shortage of providers. It also means there is no excuse for a poor rate on a large transfer, because nothing about this pair is exotic.
The part specific to America is what happens after the money arrives.
The ten thousand dollar rule is not what most people think
Once you are a US person for tax purposes, which includes green card holders and anyone meeting the residency tests, you must report foreign financial accounts if their combined balance exceeds $10,000 at any point in the year. That is the FBAR, filed on FinCEN Form 114, separately from your tax return, by 15 April with an automatic extension to 15 October.
Two details catch British movers specifically.
It is aggregate, not per account. Four accounts holding £2,000 each will cross it. A single UK current account with the proceeds of a house sale sitting in it crosses it comfortably.
It is a high-water mark, not a year-end balance. If the total went over $10,000 for one day and then came back down, the filing requirement applies to the whole year. Moving your life savings across is precisely the event that does this. People who transfer the money, close the account and assume the matter is closed are the people who later discover it was not.
Owing no US tax does not exempt you from filing. The penalties for not filing are what make this worth an accountant's time in the first year.
Buying a house
The United States places no general restriction on foreign buyers. There is no licence to apply for and no permission to obtain, which makes it simpler at the point of purchase than most of the Caribbean or much of Europe.
The complication is at the other end, and it is a large one.
FIRPTA, and why it is a currency problem
When a foreign person sells US real estate, the buyer is required by law to withhold a share of the sale price and send it to the IRS within twenty days of closing, on Forms 8288 and 8288-A. The standard rate is 15% of the gross sale price.
Gross, not gain. This is the part that catches people. On a property sold for $600,000, $90,000 is withheld even if you made no profit at all, even if you sold at a loss. You get the excess back by filing a US tax return and waiting, and the wait is measured in months rather than weeks.
There are reduced rates on residential sales where the buyer will live in the property: nothing withheld up to $300,000, and 10% between $300,001 and $1 million. Above a million, or on anything commercial, it is 15% regardless of what the buyer intends to do with it.
You can also apply for a withholding certificate on Form 8288-B, which reduces the withholding to the actual tax on the gain rather than a percentage of the price. It needs to be applied for at least ninety days before closing, which means the decision belongs at the point you instruct an agent, not at the point you exchange.
The reason this sits on a page about moving is simple. If you are selling an American house to fund a move back to Britain, the sum arriving in sterling is not the sale price. It is the sale price less the withholding, and the difference will sit with the IRS for the best part of a year. Budgeting the move on the headline figure is how people end up short at exactly the wrong moment.
Getting the container there
Sea freight to the East Coast is the straightforward route and generally runs three to five weeks port to port, with the West Coast longer. Add time at both ends for collection, consolidation if you are sharing a container, customs clearance and delivery. A realistic door to door figure is six to ten weeks depending on the destination.
Two things shape the price more than distance does. Whether you take a full container or share one, and what the access is like at the American end. Long driveways, low branches and homeowners' association rules about where a lorry may park are all normal, and all of them turn a straightforward delivery into a shuttle with a smaller vehicle, which is charged.
Tell whoever quotes you what the destination address is actually like. A crew sized for a suburban street and sent somewhere a forty-foot trailer cannot turn will cost you the difference.
Common questions
Will I pay duty on my furniture?
Not if you owned and used it abroad for at least a year before import. Anything newer than that is dutiable. The rule is about how long you have had it, not what it is worth.
Can I bring my car?
Only if it is twenty-five years old or more, measured from its month of manufacture, or if it happens to conform to US federal safety and emissions standards, which almost no UK-market car does. For anything newer, plan to sell here and buy there.
Can I ship wine?
As part of a household shipment, often yes, but it depends entirely on the state you are moving to. Some permit it, some restrict it by type, and Mississippi and Utah prohibit it. Check the destination state before the container is packed.
Do I have to declare my UK bank accounts?
Once you are a US person for tax purposes, yes, if the combined balance of all of them passed $10,000 at any point in the year. It is an aggregate figure and a high-water mark, so a single large transfer can trigger the requirement for the whole year even if the money did not stay.
Is there anything stopping me buying a house as a foreigner?
No. The United States does not restrict foreign ownership of residential property. The restrictions that matter come later, when you sell.
What is FIRPTA?
A rule requiring the buyer of US real estate to withhold a share of the price when the seller is a foreign person, and remit it to the IRS. The standard rate is 15% of the gross sale price, with lower rates on some residential sales. You reclaim any excess by filing a return, which takes months.
How long does the shipment take?
Three to five weeks at sea to the East Coast, longer to the West. Six to ten weeks door to door once collection, clearance and delivery are included.
When should I fix the exchange rate?
Once you know the sum and the date. If you are buying and the completion is set, fixing forward removes the risk that the budget moves between agreeing a price and paying it. If you are selling American property, remember that FIRPTA reduces what actually arrives, so fix the rate on the figure you will really receive.
Next steps
The visa decides everything else, including when the container can sail, so settle that first and with someone qualified in US immigration. Then the inventory, because the one-year rule may change what is worth shipping. Then the rate.
Get a removals quote for the move, or a currency quote for the money. If you need both, say so on either and we will handle them together.
Figures on this page were checked in September 2026. Customs rules, withholding rates and reporting thresholds change, and the primary sources are US Customs and Border Protection, the Internal Revenue Service, FinCEN, the EPA and the Department of Transportation. Nothing here is tax, legal or immigration advice, and the American tax questions in particular are ones to put to a qualified US adviser before you act.
The move itself, and how it travels, is covered on our international moving services page.