Dog Passports, Health Certificates and Microchips: What Each One Is and Which You Need

People ask how to get their dog a passport, and it is a fair question, because everybody has heard of a pet passport. But the word covers four or five different documents, issued by different people, and most dogs do not travel on a passport at all. Which paper your dog needs depends on two things only: where your dog lives, and where it is going. This guide takes each document in turn, says plainly what it is and who can have one, and then tells you which applies to you. If you want the steps in the order you have to do them, we cover that in our guide to taking your dog abroad. This one is about the paperwork itself.

The Microchip Comes First

Every one of these documents hangs on a microchip, because the chip is the only thing that proves the dog in front of the official is the dog on the paper. The number on the chip is written on every vaccination record and every certificate, and at the border the first thing that happens is that somebody scans your dog. The chip must be of the international standard kind, which has a fifteen digit number. Most chips fitted in the last twenty years are, but have your vet scan it and confirm, and check that it still reads, because chips occasionally fail or move under the skin.

The chip must also go in before the rabies vaccination, or on the same day. The British government puts it simply: you must get your pet microchipped before, or at the same time as, their rabies vaccination. A vaccination given before the chip does not count, and the dog has to be vaccinated again. While you are at it, make sure the chip is registered to you, at your current address and phone number. That has nothing to do with the border, but it is what gets a lost dog home, and a holiday is when dogs are most likely to go missing.

The European Pet Passport

This is the document most people mean, and it is the one most people cannot have. The European Union describes it as an identification document which follows an EU standard model and is mandatory for travel between EU countries. It is a small blue booklet that records the dog's description and chip number, its rabies vaccinations and other health records, and the details of the owner and the vet who issued it. It is valid for life, as long as the rabies vaccination in it is kept up to date.

The important line is who can get one. It is issued by authorised vets in the EU, and only to owners who live in the EU. If you live in France, Germany, Ireland or Spain, your dog travels on its passport, and a trip to another EU country needs nothing more than a valid rabies entry and, for a few countries, a tapeworm treatment. It is a simple and inexpensive system, and it is the reason travelling with a dog within Europe is so easy for Europeans.

If you live in Britain or America, you cannot simply ask for one. And for British owners there is a further rule. Pet passports issued in Great Britain stopped being valid for travel to the EU when Britain left, and the government's guidance to owners living in England, Scotland or Wales is to travel on an animal health certificate instead. A British dog that happens to hold an EU passport from before, or from a spell living abroad, still cannot use it to enter the EU if its owner lives in Great Britain.

The Animal Health Certificate

This is what a British dog travels to the EU on. An animal health certificate is a long form, completed and signed by an official vet, that confirms your dog's identity, its chip and its rabies vaccination. You need a new one for every trip, which is the main expense of taking a British dog abroad today. Our guides to France, Spain and Ireland show how it fits into each journey.

The government's rules on timing are the part to learn. After the date it is issued, the certificate is valid for 10 days for entry into the EU. Once you have entered, it is valid for 6 months for onward travel within the EU and for 6 months for coming back into Great Britain. That six month figure is new in 2026, and it used to be four. It means one certificate now covers even a long winter abroad.

Your dog must have been vaccinated against rabies at least 21 full days before travel, and must have been at least 12 weeks old when it was vaccinated. Take your dog's vaccination record and proof of the date it was chipped to the appointment. Not every practice has an official vet who can sign the certificate, so ask when you ring, and book well ahead in summer. Prices are set by each practice and vary a good deal, so it is worth ringing more than one.

The Northern Ireland Pet Travel Document

Travel between Great Britain and Northern Ireland used to need the same certificate, which was a real burden for families making a short journey within their own country. It no longer does. A dog going from England, Scotland or Wales to Northern Ireland now travels on a Northern Ireland pet travel document, which you apply for online. It is free, it lasts for as long as you own the pet, and the dog needs a microchip but no rabies vaccination or tapeworm treatment.

The document covers Northern Ireland only. If you are driving on into the Republic of Ireland, you are entering the EU and your dog needs the animal health certificate, with a rabies vaccination and a tapeworm treatment. There is no border post on the road, but the requirement is real, so prepare for the stricter of the two if your trip includes both.

The American Health Certificate

There is no such thing as an American pet passport. A dog leaving the United States travels on an international health certificate for the country it is going to, and each country has its own form. The process has two parts. First, the certificate is completed by a vet who is accredited by the United States Department of Agriculture. Not every vet is, so the department's advice is to contact a USDA accredited veterinarian as soon as you decide to travel, and it publishes a search tool for finding one.

Second, for most countries the certificate must then be endorsed by the department itself, which means an official signs and stamps it. Your vet submits it for you, usually online, and the endorsed original comes back to travel with your dog. For the EU, the endorsement has to happen within ten days of your dog's arrival, and the department charges $101 for a certificate that involves no laboratory tests. Your vet's own fee for the examination and the paperwork is on top of that.

Once an American dog is in the EU, that same certificate serves as its travel document between EU countries for six months, so a tour of several countries needs only the one. Britain is different and has its own certificate, as we explain in our guides to taking a dog from the US to Europe and to the UK. Canada asks for far less, and a rabies certificate is enough.

The CDC Dog Import Form

This is the newest document and the one Americans most often miss, because it is about coming home. Every dog entering the United States, including an American dog returning from holiday, needs a CDC Dog Import Form. You fill it in online before you travel, and you show the receipt to the airline and at the border. The dog must be at least six months old and have a microchip that can be read.

If your dog has only been in countries that are free of dog rabies or low risk, which includes Canada, Mexico, Britain and all of Europe, the form is all you need. If it has been in any country on the CDC's high risk list in the past six months, more paperwork is required, and for an American vaccinated dog that paperwork has to be done by your vet before you leave the United States. It cannot be obtained abroad, which is why it pays to check the list before any trip beyond Europe and North America.

Travelling Within the United States

For a trip from one state to another, there is no federal document. The Department of Agriculture does not regulate pets travelling between states with their owners, and the rules are set by the state you are going to. Some ask for a health certificate or proof of rabies vaccination. In practice a road trip rarely involves anyone asking to see anything, but it is sensible to carry your dog's rabies certificate, and airlines sometimes want a recent health certificate.

Hawaii is the great exception. It is free of rabies and has strict rules of its own, including a blood test and a waiting period, and a dog that arrives without them is quarantined. Our guide to taking your dog to Hawaii explains how to avoid that.

Other Countries' Paperwork

Beyond Europe and North America, most countries follow the same pattern as the American one: a health certificate on that country's own form, signed by an authorised vet and endorsed by your government. The rabies free countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan, add an import permit or advance notice, a blood test and a long wait, which we describe in our guide to the quarantine countries. The principle is always the same. It is the destination that decides what paper it wants to see, so the destination government's own website is the place to start.

Which One Do You Need?

If you live in the EU and are travelling within it, your dog needs a European pet passport from your vet. If you live in Great Britain and are going to the EU, your dog needs an animal health certificate for each trip, and if you are going to Northern Ireland only, it needs the free pet travel document. If you live in the United States and are going abroad, your dog needs the health certificate for that country, completed by an accredited vet and endorsed by the Department of Agriculture, and a CDC Dog Import Form to come home.

If you live in the EU and are visiting Britain, your dog comes in on its passport, with a tapeworm treatment given by a vet one to five days before arrival unless you are coming from Ireland, Finland, Malta or Norway. Whatever your situation, your vet is the person who issues or completes the document, so start there, and our guide to the vet visit before you travel explains what to ask.

Looking After the Papers

Carry the originals with you, not in the hold luggage and not in the car on a ferry deck that you cannot get back to. Photograph every page and keep the pictures on your phone. Check that the chip number on each document matches, digit for digit, because a single wrong number is enough to cause trouble at a border. And keep your dog's rabies boosters up to date without a gap. A lapse of even a day means the next vaccination counts as a first one, and the waiting period starts again.

A Closing Thought

The paperwork looks worse than it is, because so many different things share the name passport. Once you know that the chip comes first, that your dog's document depends on where you live, and that the country you are going to makes the rules, the rest is a matter of finding the right vet and booking the appointment in time. The dog, for its part, needs only to stand still and be scanned.