Now that more and more people are seeking to obtain an EU Pet Passport instead of being tied to Animal Health Certificates (AHCs), I thought I would put together this guide to hopefully clarify the process and avoid potential problems. It has turned out to be a lengthy post, so a mug of coffee and chocolate biscuits are recommended if you intend to read it all at one sitting. 
Once in the EU, you can obtain a Pet Passport that can subsequently be used to travel between EU and GB (and vice versa). The Pet Passport remains valid for the lifetime of the dog (or cat, or ferret, but for simplicity I will continue to just refer to dogs here), provided that the rabies vaccinations are kept up to date. It is very important to realise that all future rabies boosters must be done in the EU. GB vets cannot enter a rabies vaccination in an EU Pet Passport. If you let the rabies vaccination expire while you are in GB you will need an AHC to get back into the EU, where you can then get your Pet Passport revalidated with a rabies booster.
Some EU countries are easier to obtain Pet Passports in than others. Generally Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland (regarded as EU for purposes of the Pet Travel Scheme), Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium are easy; France and Netherlands are difficult (mainly because most vets try to apply rules for resident dogs to non-resident ones); and Italy (much as I love the country) is just a bureaucratic nightmare.
There is no legal requirement for residency in the regulation that covers the use of Pet Passports - EU Regulation 576/2013. The address of the owner is of no interest to Border Control, as has been proven many times over by the sheer number of British residents that now use EU Pet Passports.
This is not a thread in which to debate other possible interpretations of EU 576/2013. This has been done to death over the past few years in many threads on here, and the conclusion for the majority of us is that the above interpretation is correct and how it works in the real world. This is a thread for those who have decided they would like an EU Pet Passport and want to know how to get and use one.
While a GB address will be acceptable to many EU vets, you may well come across one that asks for a local address instead. Some vets will settle for any local address (such as a campsite), others will want a 'proper' residential address, a few will even want proof of residency (such as a utility bill). Do not be put off by a first refusal if you cannot comply with a particular vet's requirements - just try another vet.
One thing I would suggest is to get your Pet Passport early on in your trip to the EU. While combining the issue of a Pet Passport with the worming treatment will save the cost of a second consultation, it may also result in failure to secure your prize at the eleventh hour. Unless you are 100% confident that your chosen vet will actually issue you with a Pet Passport, do not leave it to the last minute.
There are now many recommendations available for vets in several different EU countries who will issue Pet Passports to British residents - on here, on Facebook, on other forums. So if you want to make things as easy as possible for yourself, look for one of them. France is a particularly challenging country in which to obtain a Pet Passport as a non-resident but it is still possible.
The main stumbling block in France is I-cad registration - the French national pet database. I-cad registration is only a legal requirement if your dog will stay in France for more than 3 months. However, until fairly recently there was a badly-worded 'Br*x*t statement' on the I-cad website which implied that you could only obtain a French Pet Passport if your dog was on the I-cad register, and that you could only register with I-cad if your dog had been in the country for more than 3 months. While this never actually made sense, in the absence of anything more sensible, it was frequently claimed to be 'law' when it was no such thing.
So a French vet may well require you to register with I-cad in order to be issued with a Pet Passport. If the vet will accept a campsite address and fill in the I-cad registration form at the same time as they issue the Pet Passport, this is not too much of an obstacle. I-cad registration is not required to cross borders and, as soon as you have obtained the Pet Passport, you can forget about I-cad. If the vet wants you to register with I-cad before they will issue the Pet Passport, you will need a French address where you can receive mail and be prepared to hang around for 2-3 weeks waiting for your I-cad card to arrive. For most people this is not a practical option, so you would be better off trying a different vet.
If France is the only EU country that you are able to visit, I do keep a list of French vets that are known to have issued Pet Passports to Brits relatively recently, either using a GB address or any old French address (eg campsite). I will send this list to any subscribing Funster that requests it.
With regards to Italy, Pet Passports are only issued through the ASL (local health authority) and an Italian address is required to which your dog can be registered together with a tax code (although you do not need to be resident in Italy).
So, you are now at the stage where you have found a vet who will issue you a Pet Passport. There are two different ways in which the rabies vaccination section can be completed. The first (and simplest) is to have another rabies booster administered at the same time that the Pet Passport is issued. This pretty much eliminates any chance of what I will call 'conflicting date syndrome'. A key point of the Pet Passport is that the date of application or reading of the microchip (Section III) must not be later than that of the recorded rabies vaccination (Section V). By getting a rabies booster done at the same time as the Pet Passport is issued, these dates will be exactly the same which is fine.
Rabies boosters can be of 1-year or 3-year duration. Most vets in the more northern EU countries (such as France, Belgium, Germany) administer 3-year boosters. Spain (especially the south) tends to favour 1-year boosters; 3-year boosters are also available but mainly in northern Spain. Obviously 3-year boosters are preferable, especially from a traveller's point of view, so check with the vet before making an appointment as to which duration booster they will administer. Also be aware that in some instances vets will only administer a 1-year booster as the first entry in a Pet Passport.
As the new rabies vaccination is obviously a booster, the date entered as the 'valid from' date in Section V should be the same as the date it was administered, in which case your Pet Passport will be available for use immediately. You can use your AHC as proof of continuity of vaccination. However, many vets will enter the 'valid from' date as 3 weeks from the date of administration. This is only correct where the rabies vaccination is the first one that a dog has ever received, which is obviously not the case when you have arrived in the EU with an already vaccinated dog. Many vets, though, interpret this 3-week delay as applying to the first rabies vaccination that is entered into the Pet Passport. Usually this 3-week waiting period is not a problem as you can still travel using the AHC. Only if you wanted to shortly leave the EU and then return again is it likely to disrupt your travel plans.
Two rabies vaccinations given possibly in close succession is not ideal, but most dogs seem to have no problems with it. When my dog was a puppy (13 years ago) it was normal for them to receive two rabies vaccinations 3 weeks apart as the initial course. Dogs that fail a titre test are also routinely given a second, third, maybe even fourth rabies vaccination until they do produce sufficient antibodies to pass the test. I am not going to cover the intricacies of titre tests here because this post is already lengthy and, as I have never had to obtain one, I do not feel qualified to advise on them.
The second way in which the rabies vaccination section can be completed is to have vaccination details transferred into the Pet Passport from the AHC that you used to enter the EU. Not all vets will agree to use this method, as some will refuse to stamp and sign a vaccination that they have not administered themselves. It is certainly a preferable method from the point of view that your dog is not being given a clinically unnecessary rabies booster, and it is cheaper. However it is also a prime candidate for 'conflicting date syndrome'. It is fine provided that the vet transfers the information properly. This means that they stamp and sign the transferred rabies vaccination details (as opposed to writing something like 'see AHC'). The vet must also complete the date of application or reading in Section III with either the date that the microchip was actually implanted (date of application) or the date of reading stated on the AHC (date of reading). If you wish the 'date of application' to be used, it can be useful to show the vet the Registration Certificate from whichever database your dog is registered on, as this will prove the date the microchip was actually implanted. Unfortunately vets quite often get it wrong and enter the date that they read the microchip themselves, ie the same date as they issue the Pet Passport. This means that the date of reading is after the date of the rabies vaccination, and the Pet Passport is therefore invalid.
Now the above is all kind of complicated and boring but it is very important. It is also important to check that all other aspects of the Pet Passport have been completed correctly too. A very useful guide is the 'How to Complete Pet Passports' booklet that was issued by the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) when we were still members of the EU and could issue our own Pet Passports. There is a link to it here: How to Complete Pet Passports . Read through it before you go to your appointment, then take it with you to the vet to compare it with the Pet Passport they have issued before you leave their clinic.
Congratulations! You have obtained a correctly-completed EU Pet Passport and travelling with your dog has just become much cheaper and easier.
I won't go through the exact requirements for worming treatments here because they are the same whether you use a Pet Passport or an AHC. I will point out, however, that the number of worming spaces in a Pet Passport is usually the limiting factor on its life before you need to get a replacement. As worming is a requirement for entering GB, British residents in particular will tend to fill up those worming spaces quite quickly. Your Pet Passport will need replacing even earlier if the vet that does the worming treatment also completes a clinical examination space at the same time. There are generally about half the number of clinical examination spaces as worming spaces in a Pet Passport. A clinical examination is not necessary unless you are flying, presumably due to the stress caused to a dog by having to travel in the hold of an aircraft, or if your dog is being transported by a pet courier without you in attendance. If a vet wants to perform a clinical examination before worming that is fine, but they do not need to enter it into your Pet Passport! Cats and ferrets do not need worming so their Pet Passports will probably last forever!
Save a worming space in your new Pet Passport by travelling back on the AHC you used to enter the EU. If you had planned to 'test' the Pet Passport on your return journey to GB, just ask Pet Reception to check it for you instead. If you have followed all the guidance in this post you should be confident in the validity of your Pet Passport anyway.
I recommend keeping the AHC that you used to obtain your EU Pet Passport, even after you have returned to GB. Although it will not be valid for travel again, it can be a handy document to resolve any queries at a later date.
Although GB vets cannot enter rabies boosters into an EU Pet Passport, they can enter worming treatments and clinical examinations. This can be useful if you are planning a short trip into Europe (less than 5 days) because you can get the worming treatment needed to return to GB done before you leave.
Rabies boosters can be done in any EU country. You are not obliged to return to the country in which the Pet Passport was issued to get them administered.
Routine vaccinations such as DHP (distemper/hepatitis/parvo), Lepto, kennel cough, etc do not need to be entered into the Pet Passport - just keep them on a separate vaccination record card. Border Control are only interested in rabies vaccinations.
Hopefully this post will enable people to obtain and use an EU Pet Passport without undue difficulty, drama or stress. Happy travels!
Once in the EU, you can obtain a Pet Passport that can subsequently be used to travel between EU and GB (and vice versa). The Pet Passport remains valid for the lifetime of the dog (or cat, or ferret, but for simplicity I will continue to just refer to dogs here), provided that the rabies vaccinations are kept up to date. It is very important to realise that all future rabies boosters must be done in the EU. GB vets cannot enter a rabies vaccination in an EU Pet Passport. If you let the rabies vaccination expire while you are in GB you will need an AHC to get back into the EU, where you can then get your Pet Passport revalidated with a rabies booster.
Some EU countries are easier to obtain Pet Passports in than others. Generally Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland (regarded as EU for purposes of the Pet Travel Scheme), Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium are easy; France and Netherlands are difficult (mainly because most vets try to apply rules for resident dogs to non-resident ones); and Italy (much as I love the country) is just a bureaucratic nightmare.
There is no legal requirement for residency in the regulation that covers the use of Pet Passports - EU Regulation 576/2013. The address of the owner is of no interest to Border Control, as has been proven many times over by the sheer number of British residents that now use EU Pet Passports.
This is not a thread in which to debate other possible interpretations of EU 576/2013. This has been done to death over the past few years in many threads on here, and the conclusion for the majority of us is that the above interpretation is correct and how it works in the real world. This is a thread for those who have decided they would like an EU Pet Passport and want to know how to get and use one.
While a GB address will be acceptable to many EU vets, you may well come across one that asks for a local address instead. Some vets will settle for any local address (such as a campsite), others will want a 'proper' residential address, a few will even want proof of residency (such as a utility bill). Do not be put off by a first refusal if you cannot comply with a particular vet's requirements - just try another vet.
One thing I would suggest is to get your Pet Passport early on in your trip to the EU. While combining the issue of a Pet Passport with the worming treatment will save the cost of a second consultation, it may also result in failure to secure your prize at the eleventh hour. Unless you are 100% confident that your chosen vet will actually issue you with a Pet Passport, do not leave it to the last minute.
There are now many recommendations available for vets in several different EU countries who will issue Pet Passports to British residents - on here, on Facebook, on other forums. So if you want to make things as easy as possible for yourself, look for one of them. France is a particularly challenging country in which to obtain a Pet Passport as a non-resident but it is still possible.
The main stumbling block in France is I-cad registration - the French national pet database. I-cad registration is only a legal requirement if your dog will stay in France for more than 3 months. However, until fairly recently there was a badly-worded 'Br*x*t statement' on the I-cad website which implied that you could only obtain a French Pet Passport if your dog was on the I-cad register, and that you could only register with I-cad if your dog had been in the country for more than 3 months. While this never actually made sense, in the absence of anything more sensible, it was frequently claimed to be 'law' when it was no such thing.
So a French vet may well require you to register with I-cad in order to be issued with a Pet Passport. If the vet will accept a campsite address and fill in the I-cad registration form at the same time as they issue the Pet Passport, this is not too much of an obstacle. I-cad registration is not required to cross borders and, as soon as you have obtained the Pet Passport, you can forget about I-cad. If the vet wants you to register with I-cad before they will issue the Pet Passport, you will need a French address where you can receive mail and be prepared to hang around for 2-3 weeks waiting for your I-cad card to arrive. For most people this is not a practical option, so you would be better off trying a different vet.
If France is the only EU country that you are able to visit, I do keep a list of French vets that are known to have issued Pet Passports to Brits relatively recently, either using a GB address or any old French address (eg campsite). I will send this list to any subscribing Funster that requests it.
With regards to Italy, Pet Passports are only issued through the ASL (local health authority) and an Italian address is required to which your dog can be registered together with a tax code (although you do not need to be resident in Italy).
So, you are now at the stage where you have found a vet who will issue you a Pet Passport. There are two different ways in which the rabies vaccination section can be completed. The first (and simplest) is to have another rabies booster administered at the same time that the Pet Passport is issued. This pretty much eliminates any chance of what I will call 'conflicting date syndrome'. A key point of the Pet Passport is that the date of application or reading of the microchip (Section III) must not be later than that of the recorded rabies vaccination (Section V). By getting a rabies booster done at the same time as the Pet Passport is issued, these dates will be exactly the same which is fine.
Rabies boosters can be of 1-year or 3-year duration. Most vets in the more northern EU countries (such as France, Belgium, Germany) administer 3-year boosters. Spain (especially the south) tends to favour 1-year boosters; 3-year boosters are also available but mainly in northern Spain. Obviously 3-year boosters are preferable, especially from a traveller's point of view, so check with the vet before making an appointment as to which duration booster they will administer. Also be aware that in some instances vets will only administer a 1-year booster as the first entry in a Pet Passport.
As the new rabies vaccination is obviously a booster, the date entered as the 'valid from' date in Section V should be the same as the date it was administered, in which case your Pet Passport will be available for use immediately. You can use your AHC as proof of continuity of vaccination. However, many vets will enter the 'valid from' date as 3 weeks from the date of administration. This is only correct where the rabies vaccination is the first one that a dog has ever received, which is obviously not the case when you have arrived in the EU with an already vaccinated dog. Many vets, though, interpret this 3-week delay as applying to the first rabies vaccination that is entered into the Pet Passport. Usually this 3-week waiting period is not a problem as you can still travel using the AHC. Only if you wanted to shortly leave the EU and then return again is it likely to disrupt your travel plans.
Two rabies vaccinations given possibly in close succession is not ideal, but most dogs seem to have no problems with it. When my dog was a puppy (13 years ago) it was normal for them to receive two rabies vaccinations 3 weeks apart as the initial course. Dogs that fail a titre test are also routinely given a second, third, maybe even fourth rabies vaccination until they do produce sufficient antibodies to pass the test. I am not going to cover the intricacies of titre tests here because this post is already lengthy and, as I have never had to obtain one, I do not feel qualified to advise on them.
The second way in which the rabies vaccination section can be completed is to have vaccination details transferred into the Pet Passport from the AHC that you used to enter the EU. Not all vets will agree to use this method, as some will refuse to stamp and sign a vaccination that they have not administered themselves. It is certainly a preferable method from the point of view that your dog is not being given a clinically unnecessary rabies booster, and it is cheaper. However it is also a prime candidate for 'conflicting date syndrome'. It is fine provided that the vet transfers the information properly. This means that they stamp and sign the transferred rabies vaccination details (as opposed to writing something like 'see AHC'). The vet must also complete the date of application or reading in Section III with either the date that the microchip was actually implanted (date of application) or the date of reading stated on the AHC (date of reading). If you wish the 'date of application' to be used, it can be useful to show the vet the Registration Certificate from whichever database your dog is registered on, as this will prove the date the microchip was actually implanted. Unfortunately vets quite often get it wrong and enter the date that they read the microchip themselves, ie the same date as they issue the Pet Passport. This means that the date of reading is after the date of the rabies vaccination, and the Pet Passport is therefore invalid.
Now the above is all kind of complicated and boring but it is very important. It is also important to check that all other aspects of the Pet Passport have been completed correctly too. A very useful guide is the 'How to Complete Pet Passports' booklet that was issued by the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) when we were still members of the EU and could issue our own Pet Passports. There is a link to it here: How to Complete Pet Passports . Read through it before you go to your appointment, then take it with you to the vet to compare it with the Pet Passport they have issued before you leave their clinic.
Congratulations! You have obtained a correctly-completed EU Pet Passport and travelling with your dog has just become much cheaper and easier.
I won't go through the exact requirements for worming treatments here because they are the same whether you use a Pet Passport or an AHC. I will point out, however, that the number of worming spaces in a Pet Passport is usually the limiting factor on its life before you need to get a replacement. As worming is a requirement for entering GB, British residents in particular will tend to fill up those worming spaces quite quickly. Your Pet Passport will need replacing even earlier if the vet that does the worming treatment also completes a clinical examination space at the same time. There are generally about half the number of clinical examination spaces as worming spaces in a Pet Passport. A clinical examination is not necessary unless you are flying, presumably due to the stress caused to a dog by having to travel in the hold of an aircraft, or if your dog is being transported by a pet courier without you in attendance. If a vet wants to perform a clinical examination before worming that is fine, but they do not need to enter it into your Pet Passport! Cats and ferrets do not need worming so their Pet Passports will probably last forever!
Save a worming space in your new Pet Passport by travelling back on the AHC you used to enter the EU. If you had planned to 'test' the Pet Passport on your return journey to GB, just ask Pet Reception to check it for you instead. If you have followed all the guidance in this post you should be confident in the validity of your Pet Passport anyway.
I recommend keeping the AHC that you used to obtain your EU Pet Passport, even after you have returned to GB. Although it will not be valid for travel again, it can be a handy document to resolve any queries at a later date.
Although GB vets cannot enter rabies boosters into an EU Pet Passport, they can enter worming treatments and clinical examinations. This can be useful if you are planning a short trip into Europe (less than 5 days) because you can get the worming treatment needed to return to GB done before you leave.
Rabies boosters can be done in any EU country. You are not obliged to return to the country in which the Pet Passport was issued to get them administered.
Routine vaccinations such as DHP (distemper/hepatitis/parvo), Lepto, kennel cough, etc do not need to be entered into the Pet Passport - just keep them on a separate vaccination record card. Border Control are only interested in rabies vaccinations.
Hopefully this post will enable people to obtain and use an EU Pet Passport without undue difficulty, drama or stress. Happy travels!
