Thank you for your feedback!
We will contact you shortly
Free consultation
Enter your phone number and we will call you back for a consultation on any moving and storage services
Northwest Territories
Moving to the Northwest Territories from the US
On the highways of the Northwest Territories, getting across a big river depends on the season. Ferries take vehicles over while the water is open, ice crossings are built once it freezes, and through freeze-up and break-up neither one runs. The Liard River ferry on Highway 1, for example, opens on May 14 and closes on November 1, on average. One crossing ignores the calendar. Since November 30, 2012, the Deh Cho Bridge has carried Highway 3 over the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And that road goes on to Yellowknife.
Star Van Lines takes households from anywhere in the US to the Northwest Territories, and if no road reaches the community at the end, the goods go by sea. Before anything is packed, a survey sizes your household in cubic feet, and that volume is what the written estimate prices. On the American part of the trip, our authority is federal and public: USDOT #4176875 and MC #1607491.
Moving to the Northwest Territories from the US means one customs entry, a road north through Alberta or British Columbia and a few territorial sign-ups. With the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the question is whether you count as a settler, and work of 36 months or less or study falls outside that status. Then come the NWT Health Care Plan, a licence and car registration.
Phone (855) 822-2722 to arrange the survey and get the price in writing. Star Van Lines dates from 2016, has moved households in all 50 states and shows 240+ reviews on public platforms.
Dennis has 15+ years of experience in interstate moving and has coordinated over 1,000 relocations across the United States.
Moving services to the Northwest Territories
Star Van Lines moves households from the US to the Northwest Territories: survey, written estimate, valued inventory at loading, then the US road leg under our federal authority. At the border, CBSA's settler rules take over. Before loading day, we'll sit down with you and explain, line by line, what a settler declares.
How does a move to the NWT work?
It starts with a survey, at home or by video, that puts a cubic-foot figure on everything you're sending. That number becomes the written estimate. At loading, each item goes onto an inventory with its value, a record you can build CBSA's two-copy settler list on.
Check us before you book. On the SAFER registry, a search for USDOT #4176875 shows an active status, MC #1607491 and authority to carry household goods, all issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for the US road leg. But FMCSA's reach ends at the border. North of it, the rules belong to CBSA and the territorial government.
How do goods reach the Northwest Territories?
By road through a Canadian province, or by sea where no road goes, because the NWT has no land border with the US. Highway 1, the Mackenzie Highway, starts at the NWT/Alberta border and runs about 690 km to Wrigley. Highway 7, the Liard Trail, runs 254 km of gravel north from the BC border to Highway 1, and Highway 8, the Dempster, covers 272 km from the Yukon border to Inuvik.
Wherever they cross, your goods are declared where they first enter Canada. CBSA's highway memorandum lets settlers' effects on a commercial carrier clear at the first port of arrival or travel in bond to a designated CBSA office. And that office should be contacted ahead of time. Packing up a home in Montana? The Montana moving page covers that end of the trip.
When are the ferries and ice crossings open?
The department publishes averages, not a schedule:
- Liard River ferry, Highway 1: average opening May 14, average closing November 1.
- Mackenzie River ferry at N'Dulee, Highway 1: May 25 to October 30.
- Liard River ice crossing at Fort Simpson: December 2 to April 18 on a 5-year average.
- Mackenzie River ice crossing at N'Dulee: December 13 to April 16 on a 5-year average.
And the Deh Cho Bridge took four years to build. Before it opened, this stretch of the Mackenzie was crossed by ferry in summer and over the ice in winter. Now the 1.045-kilometre bridge keeps Highway 3, the paved Yellowknife Highway along Great Slave Lake, open through freeze-up and break-up.
How long does an NWT move take?
A shipment bound for the Northwest Territories is usually delivered within about 30 days of pickup, and that figure is typical rather than promised. That figure leaves out any community with no road, where the goods go by sea. Some communities sit past river crossings that work by season. On the Dempster Highway to Inuvik, two ferries run in the warmer months and an ice crossing is built in the colder ones, and freeze-up and break-up close both for a time. But Yellowknife, past the Deh Cho Bridge, stays within reach all year. Because those crossings answer to the river rather than to anyone's calendar, we won't name a firm number of days for legs outside our hands.
Still choosing where to live in the NWT?
Then the shipment can wait for you. Until you confirm the address, we hold it where we picked it up, and storage is priced by the volume it takes up.
How much does moving to the NWT cost?
An NWT move is priced like our other moves, after a survey, with only the route logistics different. The price turns on how much you're sending, how far your US home is from the border, whether you want packing and whether the community at the end has a road or relies on the sea.
What sets the price of an NWT move?
- Volume - the cubic feet recorded at the survey.
- Your US starting point. A home far from the border means a longer US road leg.
- The community at the end. No road means the goods go by sea.
- Packing, if you'd like it done before pickup: see packing and unpacking.
Which agency fees come with an NWT move?
Mostly car fees, charged by agencies and separate from any moving estimate. For a car under 15 years old, the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) fee on the Vehicle Import Form is CAN$325.00 plus GST/HST. CBSA's vehicle memorandum adds a CAN$100 excise tax for air conditioning. Cars of US origin, new or used, face a surtax of their own: 25% under Customs Notice 25-15, in force since April 9, 2025. But it spares goods under a Chapter 98 tariff item that Schedule 2 doesn't list, and 9807.00.00, the settlers' effects item, isn't listed. A car with CUSMA (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement) treatment is surtaxed on 85% of its value for duty by default. CBSA decides which rule applies.
The Deh Cho Bridge toll doesn't touch your car: the territory charges it northbound only, to commercial vehicles over 4,500 kilograms with more than two axles, and personal vehicles don't pay.
Where does a quote for the NWT start?
The line, (855) 822-2722, answers from 08:00 to 20:00 every day. A survey date goes on the calendar, and the estimate comes to you in writing. Far from the border? The long-distance moving page covers a long US road leg.
Moving to the NWT: what you should know
The federal rules for bringing goods, a car and pets into Canada are the same wherever you're headed, and our Canada moving guide gathers them. What's particular to the NWT starts once you've arrived: the health care plan, your licence, car registration and territorial tax.
What makes household goods duty-free?
A settler's goods, as CBSA uses the word. CBSA counts you as a settler if you're coming to Canada to live there for the first time and plan to stay at least a year. The Definition of Settler Regulations leave out people arriving for work of 36 months or less, and students. If that's you, your household goods fall outside the settler rules, so ask CBSA how they'll be treated. To come in free of duty and taxes, a settler's goods must have been owned, possessed and used before arrival. But anything leased fails that test, because CBSA doesn't see you as its owner.
The paperwork starts with a list of your goods in two copies: every item with its value, plus make, model and serial number where those exist. At your first point of entry, the border services officer turns that list into Form BSF186, the Personal Effects Accounting Document, and your copy later claims whatever arrives after you. You can fill the form in before you travel; CBSA's moving to Canada page sets out the main conditions. And there's a holding rule: goods sold or given away within 12 months of import owe the waived duty and taxes after all.
Customs status isn't immigration status. Your status in Canada is a matter for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which describes its role as managing the selection, settlement and integration of newcomers. No moving company has a say in it.
Can a second load come later?
Yes, as goods to follow, if they were on the list you gave the officer when you first crossed; that's what lets them in duty- and tax-free. The Customs Tariff doesn't put a deadline on them; CBSA can confirm the details for your shipment. But alcohol, tobacco and vaping products are the exception: they must be with you at the crossing to count at all.
What gets checked before you reach the NWT?
Wherever you cross, these items have rules of their own:
- Alcohol. Wine up to 1.5 litres, or up to 1.14 litres of other alcoholic beverages, counts only if it's with you when you cross. And the minimum age follows where you enter Canada, not where you'll live: 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, 19 in every other province and territory.
- Tobacco. 50 cigars, 200 cigarettes, 200 tobacco sticks and 200 grams of manufactured tobacco, also only if they're with you; CBSA's I Declare page gives 18 as the tobacco age for a personal exemption.
- Firearms. Every firearm gets declared on arrival. A Canadian resident needs a Possession and Acquisition Licence to import non-restricted firearms, and visitors can never bring in prohibited firearms, devices or weapons, CBSA says.
- Cannabis. Illegal to carry across the border, medical cannabis included, according to Health Canada.
- Food, soil and firewood. Declare food, plants and animal products, bring a permit for firewood, and expect goods with soil on them to be refused in most cases.
- Money. Amounts of CAN$10,000 or more, in currency or monetary instruments, are reported to CBSA when you arrive.
Driving your car to the Northwest Territories
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) comes first: for a car exported by road, 19 CFR 192.2 sets a minimum of 72 hours between handing in the export documents and departure. Leasing or a recorded lien adds one document, a letter from the lessor or lienholder expressly permitting the export. And Electronic Export Information is required for a used car of any value (15 CFR 30.2), with the filing citation reaching CBP on the same 72-hour timetable (15 CFR 30.4).
Canada's federal check comes next. A car younger than 15 years on its import date goes through the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV). To qualify, the model mustn't be marked inadmissible on the Vehicle Import Compatibility List, no safety recall can be outstanding, and the original US title has to come with the car. You declare it on Form 1, the Vehicle Import Form, and the RIV inspection must be done within 45 days of import. A loan on the car is fine under CBSA's vehicle memorandum. But a car leased in the US doesn't meet the settler ownership requirement.
Then the territory's Motor Vehicles Act takes over. A non-commercial vehicle validly registered elsewhere may run on that registration for up to 90 consecutive days. By the day it has been in the territory 91 consecutive days, driven or not, it needs an NWT certificate of registration. For a first NWT registration, Driver and Vehicle Services wants proof of insurance with an NWT address and, for a vehicle coming from another jurisdiction, the previous registration. Registrations are issued annually.
Will a US licence work in the NWT?
The territory doesn't say either way. Its page for foreign nationals says a first-time applicant in Canada may be able to transfer an international licence if the country is eligible, but it doesn't list the eligible countries, and the United States isn't named. Driver and Vehicle Services makes the call. If a transfer isn't possible, you'll need a knowledge test for a learner's permit and then a practical road test. An International Driving Permit, meanwhile, is valid for 12 months and equal to an NWT Class 5 licence for foreign nationals living in the territory with a valid foreign licence.
What do NWT-bound pets need?
A rabies certificate, in most cases. The United States isn't on the rabies-free list of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). That's why a cat aged 3 months or more, or a dog older than 3 months, needs a valid rabies vaccination certificate, and the dog must have been at least 3 months old when vaccinated. If a dog younger than 8 months makes the crossing without you, CFIA adds a Veterinary Certificate of Health. Canada doesn't ask for a microchip or tattoo.
How does the 2026 surtax treat settlers?
CBSA's classification of your goods is what counts. Under Customs Notice 26-23, certain goods originating in the US have carried a surtax of 15%, 25% or 50% of their value for duty since September 8, 2026. Chapters 98 and 99 are exempt unless Schedule 4 to the Order lists the tariff item, and 9807.00.00, the settlers' effects item, isn't in Schedule 4. Anything doubtful is a question for CBSA.
Your first weeks in the NWT: a checklist
- Apply for the NWT Health Care Plan. All permanent NWT residents must apply, the Department of Health and Social Services says. The start date it publishes, the first day of the third month after the month you became a resident, is for people moving from elsewhere in Canada: arrive July 4, eligible October 1. Their previous province or territory covers the wait, and if their employer offers no medical travel benefits, the NWT recommends travel insurance for emergency medical travel until coverage starts. The NWT Health Care Plan page has the details.
- Arriving from outside Canada. The same page lists documents for you but doesn't publish a start date, so confirm yours with the Health Services Administration Office. Citizens of other countries add a copy of a valid immigration document issued by Immigration Canada; work and study permit holders are told to contact that office.
- Show two proofs of address: copies of two valid documents with your name and NWT home address, such as a signed lease, a rent receipt or a utility bill.
- Wait for the card. Your health care card takes about six weeks from application to reach you. The plan treats you as ordinarily present if you're physically in the NWT at least 153 days each calendar year. It doesn't pay for drugstore medicine, eyeglasses, dental services or medical supplies.
- Mind the licence deadline. Driver and Vehicle Services gives new residents 30 days after moving to the NWT to transfer a licence it accepts, in person only, so ask early whether yours qualifies.
- Know the tax picture. No territorial sales tax applies: the Canada Revenue Agency lists the NWT with the 5% GST alone. Territorial income tax for 2026 runs from 5.9% on the first CAN$53,003 of taxable income to 14.05% above CAN$172,346, added to federal tax and set by where you live on December 31, 2026.
What to know before moving to Northwest Territories
The NWT by the numbers
0,904
Population, July 1, 2026 (preliminary)
0,858
Yellowknife population, July 1, 2025 (estimate)
May 0 - November 1
Liard River ferry on Highway 1, average season
November 0, 2012
Deh Cho Bridge, open all year since
CAN$0,109
Average two-bedroom rent, Yellowknife, October 2025
-0.5 °C
Yellowknife January daily average, 1991-2020
Statistics Canada's preliminary estimate puts the Northwest Territories at 45,904 people on July 1, 2026, and the NWT Bureau of Statistics estimated Yellowknife's population at 22,858 on July 1, 2025. Since November 30, 2012, the Deh Cho Bridge has given Highway 3 a Mackenzie River crossing that stays open all year.
Is the NWT a good place to live?
Living in Yellowknife, or anywhere else in the NWT, means a long and cold winter, eleven official languages and a territorial economy that contracted in 2025; the tight rental market is Yellowknife's. Each of those is set out below with its official source, and the call is yours to make.
Which languages are official in the NWT?
Eleven. Section 4 of the territory's Official Languages Act names them: Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tlicho. Section 5 gives them equality of status in government institutions of the Northwest Territories to the extent the Act provides.
What is winter like in Yellowknife?
Cold, and long. In Yellowknife, January's daily average is -25.5 °C and July's is 17.1 °C, according to the 1991-2020 climate normals of Environment and Climate Change Canada. Average annual snowfall is 155.0 cm, and total precipitation comes to 293.9 mm.
What does a Yellowknife apartment cost?
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) figures for October 2025 put the average two-bedroom rent in Yellowknife at CAN$2,109 a month. The vacancy rate across all units was 1.3%. That's a tight market.
How did the NWT economy fare in 2025?
For mining and energy, 2025 was a hard year. The NWT Bureau of Statistics reported that the territory's economy fell 2.0% in 2025, the only jurisdiction in Canada to decline that year. Diamond mining output dropped 9.5% and oil and gas extraction 8.9%.
Is Nutrition North active in the NWT?
Yes. Nutrition North Canada, a federal retail subsidy, reaches 124 isolated northern communities in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and several provinces. Eligibility isn't limited to fly-in places: it notes that some eligible NWT communities rely on air transportation for 8 months a year or less.
Picked a community and a time to go? Call (855) 822-2722, tell us where you're headed, and the survey and written estimate follow. USDOT #4176875 and MC #1607491 are the licences on the American road leg. The federal rules every province and territory shares are collected in our Canada moving guide, and anyone bound for another country can start at the international moving page.
FAQ
Questions? Look here
Can’t find an answer? Call us
(855) 822-2722 or email
Not a direct one: the NWT has no land border with the US. From the south, you come through Alberta to Highway 1, the Mackenzie Highway, or through British Columbia to Highway 7, the Liard Trail; each starts at the territory's border. Highway 3 then branches off Highway 1 just south of the Deh Cho Bridge and leads to Yellowknife.
On the Department of Infrastructure's averages, the Liard River ferry on Highway 1 runs from May 14 to November 1, and the Mackenzie River ferry at N'Dulee from May 25 to October 30. Ice crossings follow, opening on 5-year averages of December 2 at Fort Simpson and December 13 at N'Dulee. Neither kind runs during freeze-up and break-up, while the Deh Cho Bridge on Highway 3 stays open all year.
Yes, from anywhere in the US. Star Van Lines serves all 13 provinces and territories, and a community without a road gets its goods by sea. Each job is sized in cubic feet at a survey and priced in a written estimate, with USDOT #4176875 and MC #1607491 covering the US road leg. Book the survey at (855) 822-2722.
That turns on CBSA. Household goods enter free of duty and taxes if you're a settler and they were owned, possessed and used before you arrived; leased items don't qualify. Work of 36 months or less, or study, rules out settler status. The exemption also lapses for any item that changes hands within 12 months of import.
From elsewhere in Canada, coverage starts on the first day of the third month after the month you became a resident: arrive July 4, eligible October 1. For arrivals from outside Canada, the Department of Health and Social Services publishes no start date, so confirm yours with the Health Services Administration Office. Every permanent NWT resident must apply.
For a foreign national living in the territory, the NWT says a valid licence from another country plus an International Driving Permit lets you drive; the permit is valid for 12 months and equal to an NWT Class 5 licence. Whether a US licence can be transferred isn't published: the page lists no eligible countries and doesn't name the United States, so Driver and Vehicle Services decides. Without a transfer, you'd take a knowledge test and a road test.
Up to 90 consecutive days, if it's a non-commercial vehicle validly registered elsewhere. The Motor Vehicles Act then wants an NWT certificate of registration by its 91st consecutive day in the territory, with proof of insurance showing an NWT address.
Yes, usually with a valid rabies vaccination certificate, since the CFIA doesn't list the United States as rabies-free. Cats from 3 months and dogs over 3 months need one. A dog younger than 8 months crossing without its owner also needs a Veterinary Certificate of Health, and a microchip isn't required.
The September 8, 2026 surtax under Customs Notice 26-23, at 15%, 25% or 50% of the value for duty, leaves out Chapter 98 and 99 goods except items named in Schedule 4. The settlers' effects item, 9807.00.00, isn't named there, but CBSA decides how your goods are classified.
It depends on the volume in cubic feet, how far your US home is from the border, whether you want packing and whether the community at the end has a road. The written estimate follows the survey and is worked out the way our other moves are. Call (855) 822-2722 to book it.
Ready to Start Your NWT Move?
Get a free moving estimate today. No obligation, no pressure.
Call us or fill out the form - we'll get back to you fast.
USDOT #4176875 | MC #1607491