How to Export a Dog From Australia

When travelling overseas with your dog, you need to find out the rules to import your dog into your destination country. What vaccinations, tests or health certificates are required? However, sometimes there are also export rules for the country your dog is leaving, ranging from export permits to health checks.

Given the tough rules to import dogs into Australia (that I covered when I wrote about the process to return to Australia with my dog), it’s not a surprise that Australia also has rules for exporting dogs out of the country.

While I wasn’t fully aware of these rules when I initially departed Australia with my dog (as I used a pet transport company who took care of these steps), I’ve put together a guide to exporting a dog from Australia, both for my next trip overseas and to share with yourself.

Rodeo Drive with Dog

Why Does Australia Have Export Rules for Dogs?

The official government webpage on exporting pets from Australia previously stated that it’s an Australian law that “the exporter is responsible for ensuring that the animal(s) will comply with the importing country’s requirements at the time of export”.

Rather than leave this up to the exporter to ensure that they comply, the export process from Australia has government oversight to ensure that you have complied (with a law requiring an export permit and health certificate for the export of companion animals).

Kangaroos in Australia
Australia has tough bio-security rules to protect its unique wildlife, with rules also for exporting animals

Your dog is only allowed to be exported (and be issued this export permit and health certificate) if you can show you have fulfilled all import requirements.

I guess when you take into account how hard it is to return a dog to Australia (even if it is originally from Australia), it’s just as well, as they can’t just be sent back on the next flight.

Australia’s Export Rules for Dogs

There is a two-step process mandated by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for exporting your pet dog or cat from Australia: completing a Notice of Intention to Export, then scheduling an appointment where an export permit and health certificate is issued, shortly before departure.

Lodging a Notice of Intention to Export

Prior to exporting your dog from Australia, you need to lodge a Notice of Intention to Export Live Animals. This is required to be received at least ten business days before your dog’s scheduled date of departure. (Although I recommend lodging earlier, in case there are any hiccups.)

The form to lodge is available here. Once completed, this should be emailed to the Live Animal office in the state or territory from which your animal will be exported, as listed on this page.

This form needs to be accompanied by the import permit for your destination country (with a certified translation if not in English), if one exists, or else the country’s import requirements (as per the official government website of the responsible government authority).

(Any information I publish here isn’t sufficient for this purpose, but I always link to the official government websites if possible, which should be used.)

You also need to provide details of your pet’s transport, the veterinarian assisting with export and attach your pet’s testing and treatment schedule. There is also a space to nominate a date and time for your pre-export appointment.

Once you have submitted the Notice of Intention, the department will assess the application to check all information has been provided and that your plans are sufficient to meet the requirements of your destination country. A charge applies for the assessment.

If the Notice of Intention to Export is approved, the department will then confirm the appointment time for the issuing of your dog’s export permit and health certificate.

Appointment to Issue Export Permit and Health Certificate

The second part of this process is an appointment to issue your pet’s export permit and health certificate. This appointment can occur only after all preparations for your dog’s export are complete, including the final vet inspection with your registered veterinarian.

The final vet inspection has to occur within 72 hours of your pet’s scheduled departure time, or within the time period set by the importing country. Ideally schedule both the final vet inspection and the pre-export appointment at the same time, for the same day.

Export dog from Australia
Schnitzel in his Jetpets crate, ready for his final vet inspection and pre-export appointment

There are multiple Live Animal offices where these appointments can be scheduled scattered around Australia, generally part of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. There is at least one located in each state except for Tasmania, plus two additional offices in Cairns and Townsville.

Note that the offices are only open Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays – take this into account when selecting your pet’s export date.

DAWE Office Building
The Live Animal office in Sydney, near the Domestic Airport

Bring along to this appointment all the documentation completed by your veterinarian and anything else required for the import of your dog to the destination country (e.g. import permits, vaccination certificates). If everything required for the import of your dog to the destination country is in order, the department will issue the relevant export documentation.

Note that generally your dog doesn’t usually need to attend this appointment. This depends on the requirements of your destination country; double check with the office if you are in doubt, but they will usually inform you of this when you make the appointment.

There is a time-based fee for the assessment and preparation of the health certificate, plus a set fee for the export permit. Double check the expected total when scheduling the appointment, as while the fees are listed online, they are difficult to locate and increase each year.

Other Steps When Exporting a Dog From Australia

While the above steps are required by the government for your dog to be exported from Australia, there are further steps that you will need to organise to take your dog overseas. (Or organise with a pet transport company.) These included following the import steps required by your destination country, booking flights, and taking into account steps required for your dog to return to Australia, if this is a possibility.

Preparing Your Pet for Import to Your Destination Country

Even before taking care of the above steps to export your dog from Australia, you need to find out about the steps to import your dog to your destination country. Either work this out in conjunction with your vet or with a pet transport company.

A manual maintained by the Australia government (MICoR, short for Manual of Importing Country Requirements) is found here, although information published by your destination country’s government takes precedence.

While there’s a long list of steps required to import dogs to Australia, the requirements for most other countries are shorter. However, at the least a rabies vaccination is usually required, except for if you are heading to another rabies-free country or region.

Export dog from Australia to EU
The requirements to export a dog from Australia to the EU are quite simple

As Australia is rabies free, the rabies vaccine is not generally available, except for animals being exported. For this reason, the rabies vaccine is also a lot more expensive in Australia than other countries where this is a routine vaccination.

Your veterinarian will issue a rabies vaccination certificate that will later be endorsed as part of the export permit appointment. It’s important to always keep the original copy.

Note that all preparations, including rabies vaccinations and the final veterinarian inspection before the export permit appointment, need to be done by a fully registered veterinarian. Before starting preparations, find out if your vet is fully registered and if they are not, ask for their recommendation for another vet. The following information pack exists for vets.

Booking Flights For Your Pet

The other big step preparation step required for your pet is to select and book their flight(s). Not all airlines transport animals, plus most (if not all) airlines require you to book through a pet transport company, especially leaving Australia.

When my dog flew out of Australia in 2017, we organised his flight with Jetpets, a pet transport company. Read more about my experience here.

When we flew back to Australia in 2018, we were able to book directly with Qantas for our dog’s flight from Los Angeles back to Sydney. Previously, Qantas allowed direct booking for pets on international flights without a transit, but this is no longer possible according to their website. Plus, organising everything yourself is a lot of extra responsibility!

Qantas international flights pets
Our dog has often flown with Qantas, including his flight back to Australia when we booked directly

If you do book directly without using a pet transport company, the airline would likely require you to fill in additional paperwork, plus deliver the final paperwork including the export permit and health certificate when you pet is checked in, usually 3 hours before the flight. Pre-flight checks the day before the flight are sometimes required.

Note that unfortunately pet animals on flights in and out of Australia usually need to fly in the hold, not in the cabin. For your pet’s transport, you will need to purchase a pet crate, appropriate for your pet’s size and compliant with IATA airline standards. This is possible through most pet transport companies, some airlines and some large pet stores.

Planning for Your Return to Australia

If you aren’t planning on permanently relocating from Australia, for example you are only temporarily travelling overseas with your pet or you are just relocating for a shorter period, such as a year, it is recommended that you start preparations for your pet’s return to Australia before departing. If you will be gone for 6 months or less, this is essential. Read more here.

Export dog from Australia
Make sure your dog is able to easily return to Australia with you, if you plan to return

The big requirement is the rabies titre test. If you have this done overseas, you need to wait at least 180 days before your pet can return to Australia. However, if you have it done in Australia before departing, there is no waiting period. The test result is valid for your pet returning to Australia for a year. If you plan to return in under 6 months, also apply for an import permit before departing.

Note however that pets cannot be directly imported into Australia from many countries, they can only be imported from approved countries. These are grouped into category 1, 2 and 3 countries based on import requirements, with the full list of countries for each category listed here (scroll down to the definitions for “Group 1 Country”, “Group 2 Country” and “Group 3 Country”).

If you are travelling to an unapproved country, your pet will need firstly spend an extended period in an approved country, before flying to Australia. Alternatively, reconsider taking your pet overseas.

You May Also Like

About the Author

Photo of Shandos & Schnitzel

Shandos Cleaver is the founder of Travelnuity: Dog-Friendly Travel. She has travelled extensively with her Miniature Dachshund, Schnitzel, including to 33 countries across Europe, every state and territory of Australia except Tasmania, and 10 of the United States. She’s passionate about providing inspiration and information to others wanting to travel with their dogs, whether close to home or internationally.

Inspired? Pin this to your Pinterest board!

Exporting a Dog From Australia pin

16 thoughts on “How to Export a Dog From Australia”

    • Norway isn’t in the EU, but for the purposes of pet travel it’s as if it was, with the same rules for travelling to Norway (and back from Norway) as other EU countries. Norway has their own pet passport that is basically the same as EU pet passports.

      Yes, you should get your dog an EU pet passport in Spain, with your dog’s microchip recorded and latest rabies vaccination. The rabies vaccine needs to be at least 21 days before travelling outside of Spain. For travel to Norway, your vet will also need to do the echinococcus (worming) treatment between 1 and 5 days before you arrive in Norway, like if you were travelling to the UK.

      When you arrive in Norway (I assume you are flying), you will need to go through the red channel to show your pet’s passport. For more information, see this government website https://www.toll.no/en/goods/animals/travelling-with-pets-to-and-from-norway/.

      Reply
  1. Hi there, thank you for all this information. It’s incredibly helpful. However, we are trying to book it ourselves to transport our lab to Washington DC and having huge troubles finding anyone who’ll do it without a pet agency. have you got any recommendations of airlines which are more open to the idea of people willing to do it themselves?
    Many thanks,
    Kathryn

    Reply
    • Kathryn – I have previously booked directly with Qantas, when flying from LA to Sydney, just last year. I recommend contacting Qantas Freight in Australia, although I have heard that on at least some routes, they are no longer allowing this. Additionally, when booking with Qantas directly this is only possible with flights on a single code, no transfers. I would firstly book with them directly for the flight to LA or similar, then book a separate flight with an American airline on to DC. We flew from DC to LA with our dog on Alaskan Airlines, one of the more recommended options.

      Reply
  2. HALPPP, I am trying to navigate exporting my dogs from Townsville QLD, Australia to import them to Anchorage Alaska USA (July 2021). The vets in rural QLD are completely useless in regards to guidance in this department (at least where I live). I have been trying for months to get onto someone to help me. I cant get any of the pet import services to email me back. I can not leave this country without my dogs. It just is not an option. Please help me.

    Reply
    • Gracie – Let me know if you have any specific questions. I’ve covered the export certificate here and also have an article on importing pets to the USA. Although Alaska has extra requirements, at least an extra form – I’m sure I’ve linked to the Alaska government info.

      It’s really tricky to import/export pets from Australia at the moment due to the limited flights. Keep trying to get into contact with the Australia pet transport companies (Jetpets, Dogtainers, etc), as you’ll need to use one for at least booking the flight at the moment. However, everything should only take 1-2 months to organise.

      Reply
  3. Thanks for the info. We are trying to export our dog as we are relocating to Belgium permanently. We’d love to do this ourselves rather than use a pet transport company. I am a bit unclear as to whether an import permit from Belgium is needed to present to the Australian authorities. Could you clarify? Also, do you think it is possible to manage to arrange this ourselves and get on the same flights as our dog?
    Would you contact the cargo department of the airline and/or get assistance from a travel agent?

    Reply
    • The good news is there is no import permit required for Belgian – just the EU pet health certificate, another form stating the movement of the pet is not commercial, plus completing a rabies vaccine. However, at the moment it is difficult to export a pet from Australia without a pet transport company. Prior to Covid, Qantas allowed direct bookings in limited cases, but they are currently requiring the use of a pet transport company. I’m not aware of any other airline flying out of Australia that allows direct bookings (done through the cargo department).

      Reply
      • Hey just wanted to let you know we just booked flights and have requested with Japan Airlines to have our dog in cargo on our flights. It’s Australia to Germany, I haven’t received a confirmation yet but they took my request for it on the phone and are now checking availability for us.
        Fingers crossed this all goes well, our flight isn’t until March 2022.

        Reply
  4. Thank you so much for writing this! My wife and I are moving to Vancouver Canada with our dog and this was exactly what we needed. We are extremely grateful! 🙂

    Reply
    • Hi Caleb, can I ask how you went with moving yourselves and your dog to Vancouver? My husband and I are looking at doing this next year from Brisbane to Vancouver with our 10 year old Labrador and would love to hear a recent experience.

      Reply
    • Have you seen confirmation of this other than on the website? I have tried contacting Etihad without a response and haven’t heard yet of anyone successfully doing this.

      Reply

Leave a Comment