MetEx House, 496a Great West Road, Hounslow, Middlesex, TW5 0TE  ·  Shipping since 1998
0800 096 38 39
🩺 Shipping for Doctors • UK relocation specialists • Since 1998

Shipping for Doctors
Taking a post abroad? We’ll move your home — without the airline excess fees

A consultant post in Australia, a hospital contract in the Gulf, a move to Ireland — we ship your household and personal effects from your UK door to your new posting, so the move is one less thing to manage alongside registration and a start date.

Relocating as a doctor usually means moving a whole home, often with family, and doing it around GMC good-standing, overseas medical registration and a contract start date. We’ve helped doctors and healthcare families relocate from the UK since 1998, and this page is everything we’d tell a colleague making the move.

Where doctors relocate — and how we ship there

Wherever your post takes you, we move luggage, boxes and full households from the UK:

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Australia. AMC/AHPRA registration and a start date to meet — full-household sea freight for a family move, air for the essentials.
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The UAE & the Gulf. Hospital and clinic contracts across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the Gulf (DHA, DoH, MOH) — fast air freight or a full sea shipment.
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Ireland & Europe. Nearer moves by road, air or sea, door to door, without airline excess charges.
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Canada & beyond. Household and personal-effects moves worldwide, handled end to end.

What to ship — and what to keep with you

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Send. a family home’s contents — furniture, boxes, kitchen, clothes, books and medical reference materials. Sea freight is the economical way to move a full household.
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Keep with you: passport, visa documents, and the original certificates, references and registration paperwork you’ll need on arrival. Never ship anything you need for registration or at the airport.
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Batteries: no lithium batteries in a standard shipment, including inside laptops, phones, tablets and power banks. Batteries can be packed and exported as declared dangerous goods — ask us before you pack.

Timing it around registration and your start date

Doctors are usually juggling GMC good-standing, an overseas registration process (the AMC in Australia, the Medical Council in Ireland, DHA/MOH in the Gulf), a visa and a contract start date. A full-household sea shipment takes weeks, so it needs planning.

Work backwards from your start date. Air freight is typically 4–10 working days if you need essentials quickly; sea freight for a full home runs to weeks — the average is anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks depending on destination and sailing dates, so allow a week or two either side. Tell us your start date and we’ll tell you when to book.

How it works, step by step

1
Quote & book. Tell us what you’re sending and where. We give you a clear quote up front — and as long as your shipment is what you told us, that’s the price you pay, subject to airline rates at the time of booking.
2
Door collection. We collect from your address anywhere in the UK — no depot runs, no airport queues.
3
Pack & itemise. We export-pack and prepare the inventory customs needs, so your belongings clear smoothly at the other end.
4
Ship by air or sea. Air for speed, sea for value — delivered to your new address abroad.

Shipping for doctors — your questions answered

Can you move a full family household? +
Yes — a full home’s contents by sea freight is one of the most common moves we handle. We collect from your UK door, export-pack, and deliver to your new address abroad.
How does this work alongside a hospital relocation package? +
Many doctors get a relocation allowance but still arrange the shipping themselves. We give you a clear, itemised quote you can submit or claim against, and handle the move door to door.
Can I ship before my registration or visa comes through? +
Sometimes — it depends on the destination’s customs rules, which may want proof of residence or a visa first. Tell us where you’re going and we’ll tell you what needs to be in place before your shipment arrives.
How long does it take? +
Air freight is typically 4–10 working days plus clearance, subject to space and flight availability with the carriers. Sea freight runs to weeks — roughly 4 to 12 depending on destination and sailing dates.

Ready to plan your move?

Tell us your destination and your timeline, and we’ll come back with a quote and a realistic transit-time estimate — before you commit to anything.

Get a quote📞 0800 096 38 39