Taking Your Pets to France And What I Need To Do
The Rules For Taking Your Pets To France
Your pet must be over 12 weeks old, microchipped and have been vaccinated for Rabies at-least 21 days prior to travel. You will need to show an EU pet passport or a valid Animal Health Certificate coupled with with your pet’s vaccination record. When travelling from an unlisted country such as the UK, US, Australia etc, you will also need to do a rabies test to confirm that your dog has been successfully vaccinated.
EU Pet Passports
EU and Northern Ireland issued pet passports remain valid for travel. UK issued pet passports are no longer valid since Brexit, so you will need an animal health certificate instead.
Pets must now be registered with I-CAD- France’s national pet register, so veterinarians can issue a pet passport. For this to be possible you will need to stay in France for longer than three months. So for 2nd home owners this may be an option.
Animal Health Certificates
An Animal Health Certificate (AHC) will be required (unless you have an EU pet passport) when travelling from the UK and other non-EU countries into the EU. These can be issued by most vets, and need to be done so within 10 days of your departure date, and will be valid for 4 months. Vaccinations will need to be up to date including for Rabies and they will need to be microchipped.
Returning With My Pet From France To The UK
When returning to the UK your pets will need to be treated for tapeworm by the vet. This needs to be done within 24 hours to 5 days of travel.
The vet will provide you a certificate or stamp your EU pet passport.
If you are coming to the UK with your French pet then you will need your EU pet passport along with proof of the rabies vaccination and tapeworm. No need for the animal health certificate.
