The gap between countries is enormous. Great Britain will take a pet from the UAE about four weeks after its rabies shot; Australia will not look at one for at least six months. Here is what each destination actually asks for, so you start the clock on the right date rather than the day you book the flight.
Four things every destination needs, whichever one it is
Wherever the pet is going, the UAE end of the job is the same. Get these four right and all that is left is the destination’s own list below.
01
An ISO microchip, read before anything else
Fifteen digits, ISO 11784/11785, fitted before the rabies vaccination — almost every country here treats a vaccination given to an unchipped animal as if it never happened. One transposed digit at the border is a rejected pet, so we scan and check it every visit.
02
A rabies vaccination that is in date on the day of travel
Twelve weeks or older, recorded with vaccine name, batch number and date. Several countries count a waiting period from this date, so it is usually first on the calendar — and if a booster lapses, the clock restarts.
03
A MOCCAE export permit
The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment issues the permit that lets the animal leave. We file it — no MOCCAE account, no trip to the ministry.
04
A government-endorsed health certificate, signed close to the flight
Written by our vet after an examination, then government-endorsed. Nearly every country sets a short window for it — often the last few days — so it cannot be done early.
Steps one and two are a normal consultation. Three and four are ours to run, which is why there is no third party in the middle of your move.
CHOOSE A DESTINATION
The six we are asked for most
Pick a country to narrow the page, or read them all.
Philippines4–6 weeksNoOnly if papers failAny, with clearance
United States3–4 monthsYesNone with a titreEight airports
Canada4–6 weeksNoNoneAny
Australia7 months+Yes10 or 30 daysMelbourne only
“Start planning” is the gap between your first appointment and the earliest the pet could fly, assuming nothing goes wrong. Leave more.
United Kingdom
Start planningAbout 4–6 weeks · Blood testNot required · QuarantineNone, if the rules are met
Easier than most people expect. The UAE is a listed country for Great Britain, which is the single fact that matters: listed countries are exempt from the rabies blood test and the three-month wait that follows it. A pet vaccinated today can fly in three weeks.
What is required
Microchip first. ISO chip fitted before, or at the same time as, the rabies vaccination. Fitted afterwards, the pet has to be vaccinated again.
Rabies vaccination, then 21 full days. From twelve weeks old. Count 21 full days from the day after the vaccination. A few vaccines carry longer waits, so the product matters.
No rabies blood test. Because the UAE is listed — the difference between a one-month move and a four-month one. Unlisted countries add a titre test and a three-month wait.
Tapeworm treatment for dogs. Praziquantel or a licensed equivalent proven against Echinococcus multilocularis, given 24 to 120 hours before arrival. Product, manufacturer, date and time go on the certificate, stamped. Cats are exempt.
Great Britain pet health certificate. Signed, stamped and dated by an official veterinarian. The pet must enter within ten days of issue, which pins the whole schedule to the flight.
An approved route. Approved route, approved transport company. A carrier question rather than a paperwork one, and where bookings go wrong.
Start planningAbout 2–3 months · Blood testNot required · QuarantinePossible at the port
The rules are less about the animal and more about you. India treats pets as baggage on a transfer of residence, so the test is whether you qualify — and if you do not, the move needs a DGFT import authorisation that takes months.
What is required
Two pets, and a two-year residence abroad. Up to two cats or dogs come in as baggage without a DGFT authorisation, provided you have lived outside India continuously for two years and are transferring residence back.
More than two pets, or no two-year residence. A DGFT import authorisation: Form ANF-2M online, ITC(HS) 01061900, filed at least two months out. It goes to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying for a no-objection certificate, then to the Exim Facilitation Committee — which meets monthly, and that is what makes it slow.
AQCS advance NOC at the arrival airport. An advance no-objection certificate from the Animal Quarantine and Certification Service officer at the arrival airport, at least seven days before travel — relaxable to three.
Rabies vaccination: more than a month, less than a year. Over three months old, the rabies vaccination must be more than one month and within twelve months before departure, with vaccine, batch number and date on the certificate.
Health certificate naming the diseases. From the official veterinary authority here, certifying freedom from clinical signs. Dogs: rabies, distemper, parvovirus, leptospirosis. Cats: rabies, distemper, feline enteritis, panleukopenia, leptospirosis. Your name must match the ticket.
A declaration that the pet is yours. A signed declaration that the animal is a bona fide pet — not for sale, gift or breeding. Commercial imports are not permitted at all.
Start planningAbout 4–6 weeks · Blood testNot required · QuarantineOnly if papers are wrong
Straightforward, and quick, as long as two things are in place before the pet leaves: a microchip and an approved import clearance. Without the chip the animal is turned around at the airport and flown back at your expense.
What is required
Microchip — no exceptions. ISO-compliant chip or RFID tag. Since 1 June 2018 an animal arriving without one is refused entry and flown back at the importer’s cost. The hardest line on this page.
SPS import clearance, applied for before travel. Issued online by the Bureau of Animal Industry, usually in a day or two, valid for two months. Print it — it is presented on paper at the quarantine desk.
Health certificate within 30 days of arrival. From the veterinary authority here, in English, carrying: breed, species, colour, sex, age in months, number of animals and chip number; origin, purpose and expected arrival; owner and exporter details; vaccination and antiparasitic type and brand; and the vet’s printed name and signature.
A full vaccination record, not just rabies. Dogs: rabies, distemper, leptospirosis, parvovirus, adenovirus type 2. Cats: rabies, herpes, calicivirus, panleukopenia, feline leukaemia. More of the core schedule than most countries here ask for.
Documents in hand at the desk. Hand-carried or checked in: printed clearance plus the original health certificate. From cargo: those two plus the airway bill with the airline’s arrival stamp.
Start planningAbout 3–4 months · Blood testRequired · QuarantineNone with a valid titre
The UAE is on the CDC’s high-risk list for dog rabies, so a dog leaving here faces the strictest version of the American rules. Cats do not. Start at least three months out, and book the airport facility before you book the flight.
What is required
Six months old, and chipped before vaccination. At least six months old on arrival. The chip must read on a universal scanner and go in before the rabies vaccine, or that vaccination is not accepted. Its number appears on every form.
Rabies vaccination at 12 weeks or older, 28 days before entry. The first vaccination at or after 84 days of age, and at least 28 days before arrival. Anything given earlier than twelve weeks is not accepted on this route.
A rabies titre from a CDC-approved laboratory. Blood drawn at least 30 days after the first valid vaccination and 28 days before entry, tested by a laboratory on the CDC’s approved list. A pass then lasts the dog’s lifetime, provided vaccination never lapses.
Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip. Completed by the vet, endorsed by an official government veterinarian here, no more than 30 days before travel. Valid 30 days, one entry only, and it travels with the dog on paper.
CDC Dog Import Form, filed online. One per dog, before travel, resubmitted if the date or arrival airport changes. The emailed receipt is shown on arrival.
A booked place at a CDC-registered animal care facility. Reserved in advance at the arrival airport, where the dog is examined and revaccinated with a US-licensed rabies vaccine before going anywhere. You pay the facility.
For a pet travelling with its owner, Canada is one of the simpler destinations on this page — a rabies vaccination certificate and an inspection. For a dog being sent ahead to be rehomed, adopted or sold, it is closed. The UAE is on Canada’s high-risk list for dog rabies, and commercial dogs from high-risk countries are prohibited.
What is required
Decide first whether the dog is personal or commercial. Commercial dogs from high-risk countries have been barred since 28 September 2022 — resale, adoption, fostering, breeding, show, exhibition and research, at any age. Personal pets and assistance dogs were not included.
A rabies vaccination certificate that identifies both animal and vaccine. English or French, from a licensed veterinarian, identifying the animal and giving the vaccine name, serial number, and the vaccination and expiry dates.
Age matters to the paperwork. Canada asks a different set of questions for a dog under three months, three to eight months, and eight months or older — and again depending on whether you travel with it.
Inspection on arrival. The animal is inspected on landing and a fee is payable. No import permit for a personal pet.
Start planningAt least 7 months · Blood testRequired · QuarantineMinimum 10 or 30 days
The hardest move there is, and the only one where the calendar, not the paperwork, is the obstacle. The UAE is a Group 3 country, which means a rabies titre test followed by a 180-day wait before the pet can even board. Allow at least six months, and realistically seven.
What is required
Microchip at least 180 days before export. ISO-compliant, ten or fifteen digits; numbers beginning 999 are rejected outright. Scanned at every visit and before every blood draw — an animal that cannot be identified cannot be imported.
Rabies vaccination that never lapses. At 84 days of age or older, and valid continuously from the titre blood sample through to export. Lapse it even briefly and the dog is revaccinated, retested, and the 180 days restart at zero.
RNAT test, then 180 days of waiting. Blood drawn three to four weeks after vaccination, tested by FAVN or RFFIT, at least 0.5 IU/ml. Sampled between 180 days and twelve months before export, then 180 days of waiting from the day the laboratory receives it — at home, not in quarantine, and with no exceptions.
An import permit through BICON. Applied for with the laboratory report and endorsed RNAT declaration. Most take 20 to 40 business days, some far longer. Valid until the titre expires, and it must still be valid on the day the pet lands.
Extra tests for dogs, each within 45 days of export. Leptospira canicola (vaccination course or negative MAT), Brucella canis (if not desexed) and Leishmania infantum (negative IFAT or ELISA).
Two rounds of parasite treatment. External: a product that kills ticks and fleas on contact, from 30 days before export, repeated as directed. Internal: two treatments at least 14 days apart, both within 45 days of export, the second within five.
Examination and certificate in the last five days. A clinical examination, then the health certificate on the government’s own form, endorsed by an official vet after that examination and the second parasite treatment. Wet-ink originals; copies are refused.
Not edge cases — these are the ordinary ways a move fails, and almost all of them are decided weeks before the flight.
United Kingdom
Selling or rehoming the pet, arriving more than five days apart from it, or bringing more than five, makes it a commercial move under the Balai rules — same microchip, rabies and tapeworm rules, different certificate.
Get it wrong and the pet can be quarantined for up to four months at your cost; by sea it may simply be refused.
The 24-to-120-hour tapeworm window is the tightest timing on this page, and the vet must record the time as well as the date.
India
Entry only through Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata — so the pet’s flight and yours may not match.
Sending the pet separately is allowed but changes the paperwork: a passport copy with the immigration stamp, normally within a month of your arrival. Outside that, advance customs permission — the same if the pet travels first.
Short visits with a pet are generally not permitted; exceptions are rare and decided case by case.
The animal can be held at a government quarantine station where the officer decides it is warranted.
Philippines
Clearance is same-day when the file is complete; when it is not, the pet is quarantined until it is.
The clearance’s two months run from approval, not arrival. A delayed flight can outrun it.
Government fees are payable at the quarantine office on arrival, including a per-animal inspection charge.
United States
Direct to one of eight airports with a registered facility — Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington Dulles — and it must match the import form receipt. JFK means JFK, not Newark or LaGuardia.
No domestic connection until the facility has finished. An inland destination is a second journey to plan.
Without a valid titre the dog serves 28 days of quarantine at the facility, at your cost.
Cats are not covered by the CDC dog rules; the destination state’s own requirements apply, and they vary.
Qualifying service dogs travelling with the person they assist have their own route and need no facility reservation. Emotional support animals do not qualify.
Canada
This is the one country here whose full requirement wording we could not reproduce — Canada publishes it through a questionnaire, not a fixed page. We confirm each case with the CFIA rather than print a list we cannot stand behind.
If the dog is going to a new owner rather than to you, assume it cannot go until the CFIA says otherwise in writing.
A pet that fails at the border can be ordered removed, and there can be fines.
Australia
Manifested cargo, IATA crate, direct into Melbourne. Not the cabin, not another Australian city, no domestic transfer afterwards.
Mickleham quarantine is a minimum of 30 days — but only 10 if an official veterinarian verified the animal’s identity before the titre sample was taken. That one signature is worth twenty days, and it cannot be added afterwards.
The titre expires twelve months after sampling. If a slow permit threatens it, retest and vary the permit — letting it lapse restarts the 180 days.
Staying on the aircraft in transit is fine anywhere; changing planes needs approval from the authority at the transfer point.
Questions we get asked before the first appointment
When should I come in?
As soon as the move is real, even if the date is not. The rabies vaccination starts most of the clocks here, and for Australia and the United States it is the one thing standing between you and a six-month delay. Nothing is wasted by starting early.
Can my pet fly in the cabin with me?
Out of the UAE, rarely. Emirates carries pets as checked baggage or cargo but not in the cabin, flydubai only as cargo, and Turkish allows cabin carriage on some routes. Australia requires manifested cargo with no exceptions. The airline table on our relocation page sets out who does what.
Do you do all of it, or just the veterinary part?
All of it — the examination, vaccinations and titre test, the MOCCAE export permit, the health certificate and its endorsement, the crate, the airline booking and the collection from your home. One person to ask when something changes.
What if the rules change while we are mid-move?
They do, more often than people expect. We re-check the destination’s published requirements before the health certificate is written, not just at the start.
My pet is old, or nervous, or has a condition. Is flying safe?
A clinical question, not a logistics one, and it deserves a proper examination before you commit. Some pets should not fly, and we would rather say so at the first appointment than at the airport.
Tell us where you are going
Send us the destination and a rough date. We will come back with the real timeline for that country, what has to happen first, and what the move involves — before you book anything.
These six are the ones we are asked for most, not the only ones we do — the Gulf, Europe, South Africa and south-east Asia as well. Name any destination and we will read that country’s rules and come back with the real timeline.
