Taking Your Dog From the US to Europe: The Certificate, the Flight and the Trip Home

Europe is a wonderful place to travel with a dog, and getting an American dog there is more straightforward than most people fear. There is no quarantine and no blood test. What there is, is a sequence: a microchip, a vaccination, a wait, a certificate with a government stamp, and a flight. The rules are the same for every country in the European Union, so this guide covers France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Greece and the rest. Britain is not in the EU and has stricter rules of its own, which we cover in our guide to taking a dog from the US to the UK. Everything here was checked against the American and European sources in the autumn of 2026.

The Trip in Brief

Your dog needs a microchip, then a rabies vaccination, then a wait of at least 21 days. Within ten days of arriving in the EU, a vet accredited by the Department of Agriculture completes an EU health certificate and the department endorses it. A dog small enough flies in the cabin and a larger one in the hold. To come home you need a CDC Dog Import Form. If your dog is already chipped and correctly vaccinated, a month is enough to get ready. If it is not, allow two, and if you want a simple life, start three to six months ahead for the reason explained below.

The Microchip Comes First

The EU requires a microchip of the international standard kind, which has a 15 digit number. Most chips fitted in recent years are of this kind, but some older American chips are not, so ask your vet to scan it and confirm. The chip must be implanted before the rabies vaccination, or on the same day, and this is the rule that ruins trips, because it cannot be put right afterwards.

According to the USDA's guidance, a rabies vaccination does not count if it was given before the microchip, or without the chip being scanned first. The reasoning is that without a chip there is nothing to prove that the vaccinated dog and the dog at the border are the same animal. A dog that was vaccinated as a puppy and chipped later therefore has to be vaccinated again, and the 21 day wait starts from the new injection. Ask your vet to scan the chip before every rabies vaccination from now on and to write the number on every certificate.

The Rabies Vaccination, and the Catch

Your dog must be at least 12 weeks old to be vaccinated for travel, and must then wait at least 21 days before entering the EU, which makes 15 weeks the youngest a puppy can go. The vaccination must be in date on the day you travel and for the whole of your stay. If it lapses, even by a day, the next one counts as a first vaccination and the wait begins again.

Here is the catch that surprises Americans. Many American dogs are on a three year rabies vaccine, and their owners assume that covers them. The EU treats a first vaccination given after the microchip as valid for one year only, even if the product is a three year vaccine. A dog whose paperwork looks perfectly in order at home may therefore not qualify. The department's own suggestion for keeping things simple is to have your vet scan the chip and give a fresh one year rabies vaccination between three and six months before you travel. Then the certificate needs only that one vaccination, and nobody has to reconstruct your dog's history from old records.

The Certificate

This is the document your dog travels on, and its timing is tight. It is completed by a vet who is accredited by the Department of Agriculture, so start by finding one, because not every vet is. The department then endorses the certificate, and that endorsement must happen within ten days of your dog's arrival in the EU. Your vet submits it online, and the endorsed original comes back to travel with the dog. Allow time for it to be returned, and do not leave the appointment to the last two days before you fly.

The department charges $101 to endorse a certificate that involves no laboratory tests, and your vet's fee for the examination and the paperwork is on top of that. You will also sign a declaration that the dog is your pet and is not being sold or given away, and you must travel with the dog or within five days of it. Our guide to dog passports, health certificates and microchips explains how this certificate differs from the European pet passport, which American dogs cannot get.

Two things are new in 2026. The EU introduced a new certificate form, and since 1 October the old one is no longer issued, so make sure your vet is using the current version and not a file saved from an earlier client. And once you have entered the EU, the same certificate now covers travel between EU countries for six months, up from four, as long as the rabies vaccination stays in date. A summer spent touring several countries needs just the one certificate.

A Few Countries Want More

Ireland, Finland, Malta and Norway also require a tapeworm treatment, given by a vet between one and five days before you arrive and recorded on the certificate. If one of them is your first stop, your American vet does it. If you are travelling on to one of them from elsewhere in Europe, you will need a local vet.

Several countries also restrict particular breeds, and the rules differ sharply from one to the next. France will not admit pit bull type dogs without pedigree papers, Germany bans the import of four breeds, and Denmark bans thirteen. If you have a bull breed, a mastiff type or a large guarding breed, check your destination and any country you will pass through before you do anything else. Our guide to banned and restricted breeds by country sets out each country's law.

Getting Across the Atlantic

For a small dog, this is easier than it sounds. The big European airlines take a dog in the cabin if dog and carrier together weigh no more than 8 kg, which is about 17 lb, and Air France, KLM and Lufthansa all work that way. Among American airlines, Delta carries pets in the cabin on international flights for $200 each way, though not to Britain, and American Airlines does not take cabin pets across the Atlantic at all. Our guides to Delta and United give the detail for each.

Notice the difference in how the limit is set. American airlines go by the size of the carrier, while European airlines go by weight. A dog of 20 lb that flies in the cabin at home will not qualify on most European carriers, so weigh your dog in its carrier before you choose an airline. Whichever you fly, book the dog at the same time as your own seat, because places are limited on every flight, and read our complete guide to flying with a dog for how to prepare.

For a larger dog, the hold is the only way. Air France and KLM carry dogs in the hold up to 75 kg including the crate. Choose a direct flight, avoid the heat of summer, and read our guide to flying a dog in the hold before you decide, because it is a serious undertaking for a holiday. Flat faced breeds are refused in the hold by most airlines, and for those dogs a transatlantic trip may simply not be possible.

Arriving

A dog from the United States must enter the EU through a designated travellers' point of entry, which each country lists and which includes its main international airports. On landing, collect your dog and declare it at customs. An official will scan the chip, look at the certificate and stamp it. Keep that stamped certificate safe for the rest of your trip. It is your dog's travel document within Europe, and you will be asked for it if you cross into another country or see a vet.

While You Are There

Europe rewards the effort. Trains take dogs almost everywhere, usually for a small fare, though on the continent a dog outside a carrier is expected to wear a muzzle, as our guide to dogs on trains explains. Restaurants and cafés in much of Europe welcome dogs at the owner's discretion, which is a pleasant change from patio only rules at home, and our guide to eating out with your dog describes how it works in each country.

In the south, your dog will meet parasites it does not meet at home, including the sandflies that carry leishmaniosis. Talk to your vet about protection at least a month before you go, and tell them exactly where you will be. Our guide to the illnesses dogs can pick up abroad explains what is found where and how each is prevented.

Coming Home

Plan the return before you leave. Every dog entering the United States needs a CDC Dog Import Form, completed online, and must be at least six months old with a microchip that can be scanned. Europe is low risk for rabies, so if your dog has been only in Europe, that form is all you need, and you can complete it before you set out.

The trap is a side trip. If your dog visits any country on the CDC's high risk list during the six months before you return, it needs a certification of its American rabies vaccination that can only be issued in the United States before you leave. Turkey, Morocco and Egypt are all on the list, and they are just the kind of places people add to a European trip without thinking. If there is any chance of it, have your accredited vet complete that form before you fly out.

A Closing Thought

Chip, vaccine, wait, certificate, flight. That is all there is to it, and a great many American dogs make the journey every year. Find an accredited vet early, check the vaccine dates against the chip date, time the certificate for the ten days before you land, and sort out the trip home before you leave. Then Europe is yours, with a dog under the café table.