Sending Your Dog Abroad: Export Health Certificates and What They Cost

This page is for a specific, narrower situation: sending a dog out of the UK without travelling with it yourself. That covers a family relocating and choosing to send the dog ahead rather than travel together, a dog being rehomed to relatives or a new owner overseas (our dog rescue shelter directory covers the domestic side of rehoming, if that’s where your search started), a breeder or rescue placing a dog with an approved adopter in another country, or a dog relocating ahead of an owner’s own move. If that’s you, this page covers the paperwork stack, two worked examples of how differently destination countries treat this, and why a specialist operator is genuinely worth using here.

Sending vs travelling vs receiving — check you’re in the right place

This directory has two adjacent pages, and it’s worth being precise about which one you actually need, since the paperwork genuinely differs.

If your pet is arriving into the UK — flying in from abroad, either with you or unaccompanied — our Animal Reception Centres guide covers what happens on that side of the journey, including the accompanied-versus-unaccompanied distinction on arrival.

If you’re taking your own dog with you, travelling together, out of the UK to Europe, our guide to travelling with your dog to Europe from the UK covers that accompanied journey in full.

This page covers the third case: sending a dog out of the UK without you travelling with it. The distinction matters for the paperwork specifically — we found a genuinely useful, sourced detail on this while researching: several UK vet practices note that when you collect a standard Animal Health Certificate for taking your own pet to the EU, you’re asked to confirm your pet isn’t changing ownership on arrival. If it is — a rehoming, an international adoption, a relocation ahead of an owner’s own move counts too, in practice — that’s what triggers the need for a full Export Health Certificate instead, which is the document this page is actually about.

The paperwork stack: UK requirements plus the destination country’s own rules

Here’s the part that catches people out: getting a UK export certificate sorted does not mean you’re done. The destination country’s own import requirements apply on top of the UK’s, and they vary enormously — sometimes dramatically, as the two examples below show.

We checked the current UK process directly on GOV.UK rather than from memory. To export a dog commercially or without travelling yourself, you need an Export Health Certificate (EHC). The process, as GOV.UK’s own guidance currently states it:

• Before applying, you must nominate an Official Veterinarian (OV) or inspector who will certify the EHC — not every vet can do this, so check first.
• You apply through the EHC Online service, naming your chosen OV in the application.
• Your OV receives the certificate 7 working days before your planned export date, or within 1 working day of your application if you’re exporting sooner than that.
• The certificate must physically travel with the dog — it can’t be split from the consignment during transit.

Applications and queries go through APHA’s Centre for International Trade in Carlisle (exports@apha.gov.uk, 03000 200 301). For fees: we couldn’t find a single official government fee schedule specific to pet EHCs the way there is for some food exports, but private UK veterinary practices offering this service typically quote somewhere in the region of £235–£350 for an Animal Health Certificate and around a similar figure for a full Export Health Certificate — treat these as indicative vet fees rather than a fixed government charge, and get a written quote directly, since the certificate itself, the OV’s time, and any required tests are usually billed together.

Two worked examples: the same UK starting point, wildly different outcomes

To show how much destination-country requirements can vary, here’s what the same UK-origin dog faces heading to two different countries — both sourced directly from each country’s own current official guidance, not a summary site.

Sending a dog to the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), not the USDA, is the primary authority for dogs entering the US, and since the UK is classified as dog-rabies-free, the requirement is genuinely light: a completed CDC Dog Import Form, submitted online and free of charge, which can be done as late as the day of travel and stays valid for six months. The dog must be at least six months old, appear healthy on arrival, and be microchipped. There’s no quarantine and no lengthy waiting period for a UK-origin dog under current CDC guidance.

Sending a dog to Australia. This is a completely different picture. Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) places the UK in its “Group 3” category — approved, but subject to the full biosecurity process because Australia has been rabies-free for over a century and intends to stay that way. That process includes an ISO-standard microchip, rabies vaccination, a rabies neutralising antibody titre blood test (RNATT) with a minimum result threshold, then a mandatory 180-day wait from the date the blood sample was taken before the dog can travel, a BICON import permit application, and — even after all of that — a minimum 10-day mandatory quarantine on arrival at Australia’s Mickleham facility near Melbourne (30 days if the dog’s identity wasn’t verified by an approved vet in advance, a requirement introduced in November 2024). Realistically, the whole process runs to six or seven months from a standing start.

Same starting country, same UK Export Health Certificate as a baseline — and one destination adds almost nothing beyond it, while the other adds the better part of a year and a mandatory quarantine stay. This is exactly why “get a UK certificate and you’re done” is the assumption most likely to catch someone out, and why the destination country’s own current guidance has to be checked directly for wherever you’re actually sending a dog, not assumed from either of these two examples.

Choosing a specialist pet export operator

Unlike a routine domestic pet taxi, where a genuinely capable local operator can handle things perfectly well without specialist international experience, unaccompanied export is one of the few places in this directory where we’d say professional help is genuinely worth the extra cost rather than a nice-to-have. Here’s specifically why: the paperwork has to be sequenced correctly across two countries’ requirements simultaneously, timing windows are unforgiving (an EHC issued too early or too late is simply invalid), and the consequences of a mistake fall on the dog — a rejected certificate at the destination border can mean quarantine, or in the worst case, the dog being refused entry and needing to be returned or rehomed at the port of arrival.

What to check when choosing one: genuine, verifiable experience with your specific destination country, not just “international” in general — the Australia example above shows why that matters. Membership of a recognised body such as IPATA (the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association) is a reasonable marker of a legitimate, established operator. Ask directly how many times they’ve handled your destination country in the past year, not just whether they’ve “done international before.” And apply the same basic checks as anywhere else in this directory — a genuine fixed business address, independent reviews, a written quote, and willingness to show their credentials without being asked twice.

Costs

This is one of the more expensive things covered anywhere in this directory, and it’s worth setting expectations honestly rather than understating it. Beyond the Export Health Certificate fees above, expect crate costs (IATA-compliant crates for larger dogs aren’t cheap), airline cargo or manifest fees, destination-country permit and quarantine costs where they apply (Australia’s mandatory quarantine, for instance, is charged directly and paid before the dog is released), and the specialist operator’s own fee for managing the whole process. Treat any total figure you’re quoted as specific to your dog, your destination, and the season — confirm directly with whoever you’re using rather than budgeting from a generic range, since the gap between a straightforward US export and a full Australian Group 3 process is genuinely enormous.

What goes wrong, and how to avoid it

The most common failure point is timing — an EHC issued outside its valid window, or a destination-country test (like Australia’s RNATT) not completed with enough lead time before the required waiting period even starts. The second most common is assuming the UK paperwork is sufficient on its own, without separately confirming the destination country’s current requirements directly with their own authority. Both are avoidable with enough lead time and a properly sequenced plan — which is, again, exactly what a genuinely experienced specialist operator is there to manage. For every other kind of pet transport booking — a puppy collection, a local trip, a house move, or a dog travelling with you rather than ahead of or without you — our pet transport hub covers the full range of options.

FAQ

Written by Georgiana & Figo. Have a question about pet transport? Have a look around Calmshops or drop us a line — we answer everything.