Why You Should Get an EU Pet Passport
If you plan on living in or traveling to European Union countries with a pet, it makes sense to get the proper documentation. An EU Pet Passport ensures that your pet meets all the requirements for travel country to country within the European Union. It can also help save time when you travel to other countries and are bringing your pet.
In addition, an EU Pet Passport stores all your relevant pet history and documentation in a single location, including vet, vaccinations, microchip number, parasite treatment, etc.
Follow the easy steps below to get a certificate issued EU Pet Passport for your pet from a licensed veterinarian.
Step 1: Find an EU Veterinarian
Many travelers are confused and think that an EU Pet Passport is something they need before traveling to Europe. This is not the case. You get the passport after your arrival in Europe. Specifically, in your destination country. As soon as you can, find an EU veterinarian. Don’t delay because some paperwork expires.
Finding a veterinarian on the road isn’t as tough or scary as it might sound. We’ve been to dozens all over the world and have had pleasant experiences. We have a few tactics we use while locating a quality veterinarian abroad.
Google is the best place to start. Look for a vet that has high ratings and speaks English. Not all veterinarians list the languages they speak, so be sure to look through the reviews to find someone who may have commented on this. We’ve actually found that many veterinarians do speak English.
Another good resource are Facebook expat groups for the city in which you will be staying. They have more experience with the city and can tell you whether the veterinarian speaks your language.
Step 2: Veterinarian Visit
It’s simple to obtain the EU Pet Passport if you’ve got all your documentation. Most of the paperwork will be the same as what you used to import your pet. You’ll need to have the following paperwork ready to be provided to the vet:
- Pets rabies vaccination or rabies booster certificate
- Any tapeworm treatment
- Country Official Veterinary Certificate. This what you would have used to enter the EU with your pet. If you’re coming from the United States (this is your country of origin), this would be the health certificate from your local veterinarian
- Any blood tests or other paperwork you want documented in the Passport
- Your local address
- Your passport
These are the documents required to fly internationally with your pet, so you should already have them in order. Generally, your documents should not be older than 21 days. Note that most veterinarians will not “certify” records that were performed by another veterinarian.
In the three times we’ve gone to get EU Pet Passports, they’ve all cost less than 50€ and took fewer than 30 minutes. We just show up without an appointment and the vet tech at reception completes the paperwork for us.
Advantages of an EU Pet Passport
When pets are traveling through EU countries, they’re supposed to be documented and have official papers like their human companions. For travel outside the EU, it’s important to remember that having a pet passport gives you the ability to reenter the EU without issue. That means you don’t have to obtain new export papers, shots, and go through the painstaking process all over again. Essentially, you’re free to travel and now you’ve got one place to store all of your pet’s records.
What does an EU Pet Passport Contain?
There is a ton of information inside the little blue book including:
- Details of ownership (name, address, passport number, telephone, etc.)
- Description of the animal (name, species, breed, date of birth, etc.)
- Microchip number and details
- Veterinarian details issuing the passport
- Vaccination against rabies
- Rabies antibody titer test approval
- Anti-echinococcus treatment records
- Other parasite treatment records
- Other vaccinations and treatment records
All records are signed and marked by your veterinarian with official stamps of the medication that was used.
Things to Consider – How to Get a Pet Passport
Your EU Pet Passport does not require a photo of your pet, and you’re completely free to add one if you like.
When traveling outside of Europe, do not have unofficial, non-EU veterinarians write or document records in the passport. We made this mistake with Sora’s and while nothing happened, the USDA official informed us that this invalidates the whole passport. Alternatively, staple in the official signed paper copy of any vaccinations or other treatments performed by a non-EU vet.
We’ve used the EU pet passport for traveling in South America and back to the US. Though issued in Europe, it still simplified border crossings because all of the necessary documentation was in one place.
Related Articles:
- How Fly Internationally with a Dog
- Moving to Europe with a Dog
- Best Dog Kennels for Flying
- Flying with a Dog: Is it safe?
- Travel with a Dog Gear Guide
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Hey there, thanks for this helpful blog post! We are preparing to slow travel through eastern europe with our two pups, including some EU and non EU countries. We will get serology tests done >3 mo beforehand and pet passport upon arrival in EU.
My question for you is, in your experience, did you require health certificates for each non-EU country or was pet passport widely accepted instead? From my research it sounds like Bosnia and Serbia will be ok with just the passport, but I haven’t found clear info about Montenegro and Turkey. Just hoping you might know if we need to see a vet for certificate <10 days before arriving those countries. We will be traveling over land.
Cheers,
Gillian
Hi Gillian,
For the most part, once you have your EU Pet Passport, you will not hit any import/export issues. What you need to think about is if you’re planning to re-enter the Schengen zone from a high risk rabies country. For example, Bulgaria > Turkey > Greece. Turkey will let you enter no problem, but going back into the Schengen zone (Greece) will require a titer test (serology test as you mentioned in your comment). Honestly, I think you’ll have very few issues with an EU Pet Passport. Just make sure you buffer the time it takes to the titer test certificare in the mail. We wrote more about this here: https://longhaultrekkers.com/titer-test-for-dogs-and-cats/
-dave
Dave, thanks your reply.
I’ve checked out your post and yes we will definitely get the titer test done well ahead of time to ensure safe transit back into Schengen. Good to know that the EU pet passport should do the trick all across Europe – will be great to save the hassle of extra trips to the vet for certificates during our travels.
Cheers,
Gillian
Hi! I live in Spain with my cat and want to bring my cat to the Unites States and then obviously back to Spain. I have not yet bought my plane ticket. How far in advance can I get the pet passport? Does it expire? If I get it in March, could I still use it for my cat in, say, June?
Thank you!
Yes, you can get the passport as early or late as you want. In my opinion, it’s better to get the passport sooner than later as your cats may need some recommended vaccinations and you won’t have any surprises like ISO microchips vs US microchips.
To undernstand – do you mean that I can staple any other document issued by American doctor in my pet EU passport? Like rabbis vaccinations etc? I live in US but because I’m EU citizen I got EU passport for my dog when I travel to visit my familie in Europa. Do I need to vaccinate my pet in EU or I actually can do it in US and just as you mention staple the document with the passport ? “Alternatively, staple in the official signed paper copy of any vaccinations or other treatments performed by a non-EU vet.”
You can use your US vaccinations assuming they have not expired. No need to staple them in, as long as you have them present when showing the pet passport.
HI Dave. If I arrive from Cape Town to Amsterdam with my 2 dogs as excess baggage ( not allowed this way into UK , only EU, into UK must travel as Cargo and 20 times more expensive) and want to cross to UK by ferry , how can I do this ? Any advice. I will land in Amsterdam and have NO Address, thats my worry ? How can I get EU passport to catch ferry to UK please ?
Hi Suzana,
I believe you’ll be able to cross the ferry without issue, but I have not done it. Have you contacted the ferry lines directly? As for getting an EU Pet Passport, you can use any address like an airbnb, hostel, or campground. They just need something. Any private vet will be able to get the documents produced for you.
Absolutely wonderful news! Thank you. A day ago I had no way to get to the UK ( unless I paid 3000 pounds. With help from people like yourself Im leaving CT with both pups for a total cost of 283 pounds as excess baggage on klm to Amsterdam, where I will consult a local vet, stay for a few days and cross to UK ! Much Love !!!!
Glad we could help. Have you figured out how to cross from mainland Europe to the UK? People do it all the time so I think it will be a non-issue.
Thanks for this post! I have a pet passport for my cat but accidentally made the mistake of letting a US vet write in one of the vaccine slots. Did they still let you back into Europe when you did this for Sora? I will get a new one when I’m back in France but I don’t want to go through the money and hassle of getting another USDA health certificate.
Don’t sweat it and we’ve had mistakes like this made in the past and no customs agent is going to care or even know about it.
In this post it mentions that my paperwork should not be older than 21 days. If my paperwork is older than 21 days, what would you advise me to do? I am currently living in Spain, and I am from the United States originally. All of the paperwork I got it’s from the United States.
Hi Erik,
What are you planning or trying to do? Obtain an EU Pet Passport? Tell me more and I can help out.
-Dave