Dog Jaunt's new pet travel book is now out! Buy it, or learn more about it here. And please review it on Amazon!

Requirements for bringing a dog to France from the U.S.

You need to have four three things in hand to take your dog to France from the United States:

1. Proof, in the form of a “Rabies Vaccination Certificate,” that your dog’s rabies vaccination is current. According to the French Embassy, “every animal must have a valid rabies vaccination, even if less than 3 months old. If it is the first rabies vaccination for the pet, you must wait 21 days between the last shot of the vaccination protocol and departure.”

2. A state health certificate (officially called a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection), filled out and signed by your veterinarian. This is the document you typically acquire before flying with your dog to another state (in Washington state, they’re a half-page document, but it varies by state). They’re also a feature of international travel from the U.S., and most airlines require that they be completed within 10 days of travel. Since the same exam can support both this state health certificate and the health certificate you need to get into France (below), you might want to schedule just one appointment with your vet, within 10 days of departure[10/1/13 No doubt reflecting the movement away from this requirement for domestic U.S. flights (click on the link in the crossed-out text for more info about that), this document is no longer required. It never really made sense, because the international health certificate contained the same info as the state health certificate, so why get both?]

3. A health certificate (“Certificat Vétérinaire”) of the correct form (if you are traveling on the same plane as your dog, make sure you have the form saying “for non-commercial movements”), filled out and signed by a USDA-certified veterinarian and endorsed by the USDA. Let’s break that sentence down into parts:

a. I wrote yesterday about getting the correct, current form of health certificate for pet travel overseas. The best way is to go to the USDA’s website and download the form for the country you’re visiting; consider making a follow-up call to your local USDA office to learn about any very recent changes. The form is free.

b. My regular vet turned out to be USDA-certified — call yours, and see if you’re already in the right hands. Make sure your vet fills out and signs the form in BLUE ink, not black ink. Together, the exam and the two health certificates cost us just over $260.

c. You can either make an appointment and bring the completed form to your state’s USDA office for endorsement (that’s what I chose to do, since I’m anxious and the office is only a couple of hours away), or you can send the form to the office by overnight service, enclosing a return pre-addressed, pre-paid envelope. The endorsement process takes about fifteen minutes; in our case, the fee was $35 (payable by check, money order or credit card).

4. Your dog needs to be chipped with “a microchip (standard ISO 11784 or annex A ISO standard 11785).” The saga of microchipping is truly complicated, but I believe that your best choice is to chip your dog with a 15-digit ISO standard 11784 chip (Chloe has the ResQ chip, because our vet had them in stock; if your vet doesn’t have 15-digit chips in stock, you can order a Datamars chip from PetTravelStore.com). You can take your dog to France with a 9-digit chip, which are common in the U.S., but if so, you have to carry your own scanner with you (!).

That’s a lot of text, but I’ve given you a lot of details. Reduced to its essentials, your dog needs a microchip and a current rabies vaccination, and two health certificates. Pay attention, though, to several timing issues:

      • Your pet must first be microchipped, and then get the rabies vaccination France requires, and then 21 days have to pass before travel!
      • The veterinary exam your pet needs to get her health certificates needs to happen within 10 days of arriving in France. What if your flight is delayed? Schedule your appointment so it’s close enough to your departure that you have a possible-flight-delay “pad” built in (but not so close that you don’t also have a fix-stuff-if-the-vet-or-the-USDA-office-has-problems pad). I opted to take Chloe to the vet 3 days before departure, and I made my USDA appointment for the following day — giving me a day and a half before departure to fix something on the U.S. end. That gave me a generous pad on the departing end, in case we were delayed in Dulles, or re-routed somewhere else before landing in France.
      • The Certificat Vétérinaire is “valid for 4 months after signature,” according to the French embassy.
      • Please note that if you’re taking a very long vacation, keep an eye on the expiration date of your dog’s rabies vaccination. To reenter the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), your dog “must have a certificate showing they have been vaccinated against rabies at least 30 days prior to entry.” The rabies vaccination certificate that your vet attached to the back of the Certificat Vetérinaire will allow your dog back into the U.S., but only if it shows that your dog’s rabies vaccination is up to date. If your dog’s vaccination is due to expire while you’re out of the country, time her revaccination so that it occurs more than 30 days prior to reentry, and get a new vaccination certificate from a French veterinarian.

One last note: Hang on to your original Certificat Vetérinaire! Make several copies before you leave, in case someone wants to keep one.

63 comments

  • Hi, Claudia — Lucky you, for starters!!! How I wish I were in your shoes…. Ahem, okay, your question. The answer is that the clock starts ticking on your paperwork as soon as your U.S. vet signs it (per both the annotations on the EU import form, and my conversations with our local USDA office). You need to arrive in France (in your case) within 10 days of the paperwork being signed. I’d build a little pad in on the landing end, in case your flight is delayed by weather, so I’d get your paperwork signed say, within 7 days of your planned arrival in France. Given your wobbly schedule, you may, alas, have to go to your vet twice for paperwork — but perhaps you can persuade her that your pup doesn’t need a full second physical exam (and filling out the paperwork the second time should be easy for them — they’ll just have to copy the first set of papers).

  • Hello, John — Now that’s a question I don’t know the answer to. I suspect the answer is no, because freight airlines likely don’t have the manpower to handle and care for your pups, and they likely don’t have the insurance in place in case something goes wrong — but please let me know if you find a way to make it work. Otherwise, one Jack Russell, even an overweight one, would fit under your own seat, and if you can persuade a friend to come along with you, you could bring both in-cabin on your flight.

  • Cassie

    Hi,

    Thanks for the great article, there are hardly any out there that really describe the process and really assist with people trying to do it without the aid of a ‘pet relocation company’. I was wondering if there were any fees on the other end, when you got to France? Fee’s for customs or picking him up from the airport?

  • You’re welcome, Cassie! No, no fees on the arriving end. It’s really a non-event, arriving in Paris — you pretty much just walk out of the airport.

  • Jennifer Brown

    We live in upstate New York and are planning a trip to France with our dog. We prefer to drive to Toronto and take a direct flight from there. Is there a rule about entering France from Canada with a dog with US paperwork (entering from a country that is not the residence of the dog)? Please advise. Thank you.

  • Mike

    Hey there.. This article has been quite helpful already. I have a couple more questions though. What is the cost associated with actually entering France with the dog. Is there an “arrival fee?” Also would dogs originating in the USA have any trouble traveling to France and then the UK?

  • Hello, Mike — There is no arrival fee for France or anywhere in the E.U. If you have the paperwork to take your dog to one E.U. country, it will work for all the others. HOWEVER, the U.K. is a tricky business because in-cabin dogs cannot fly into the U.K. Poke around the blog some more and you will see that the workaround I chose was to fly into France with Chloe (traveling in-cabin), then driving into the U.K. There are other options, including ferries.

  • I don’t know the answer to that one, Jennifer. The fact is, there’s typically no one on the Paris end to check your dog’s papers (or even notice that she exists), but it’d be too risky to count on that. If I were you, I’d call your local USDA office and ask — I’ve found them very knowledgeable and helpful. Here’s a link that’ll point you to your local contact person: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/sa_contact_us/sa_area_offices/ct_area_offices_avic/!ut/p/a0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOK9_D2MDJ0MjDzdgy1dDTz9wtx8LXzMjf09TPQLsh0VAZdihIg!/

  • Tara

    I just want to make sure there there are no Quarantines when traveling into t France with my dog. Also, when you traveled back to the US was there a quarantine? My little guy goes everywhere with us and has never been in a cage. We make sure to avoid all quarantine locations.

  • No quarantine in either direction, Tara. Do, however, be sure to look up all the rules for entering the EU with a pet, and for returning to the US with a pet, so that you have dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s. There are posts on this blog that will get you well on your way, and you’ll want to consult with your vet.

  • Marion Deyo

    You are awesome. Article so clearly written. I have hope that traveling w/ my dog (Jolie) will be possible.

  • Theresa Costa

    I wish we would have drove to Austin to get the health cert endorsed. We sent it in with return envelope. We are anxiously awaiting it’s arrival. The USDA office emailed me a scanned copy. Do you think that’s sufficient? Or does the French require he original?

  • Hmmmm — I’d call the Austin USDA office and ask them, Theresa. They’ll know. I believe the answer is no, they need the original, but I could certainly be wrong. Fingers crossed for you!!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.