Cost of holiday

[andyinluton]

It appears that as pets don't actually need to apply for residency & their tax affairs are none existent, the relatively simple thing to do is to get them an EU Pet passport.

You may need a friendly EU address to have the passport sent to, but it appears to be what a lot of 2nd home owners are doing in France & Spain.

Worth looking into if you intend going backwards & forwards a lot.

 

[sidepod]

The joke is, at no point during the process has my dog been examined other than to read his chip.

 

[The Tall Luthier]

@WelshGas “A UK citizen can procure a EU Pet passport for their pet dog and use it to gain entry into the UK or EU?”

This is not possible. We are not EU citizens so cannot apply for an EU Pet Passport. As a third country to the EU we are no more eligible for it than citizens of Senegal or Nepal

It’s also possible that these are not new rules, they are the same rules we helped to write that not apply to us.

New rules for pet travel from 1 January 2021

Pet owners will need to follow new requirements before taking their pet to the European Union or Northern Ireland at the end of the transition period.

www.gov.uk

 

[larrylamb]

There is an excellent Facebook group (not for everyone obvs) called "Animal Health Certificate". Lots of advice from travellers about vets in EU, Pet Passport, ferries etc.
Some owners are travelling to Northern Ireland (no AHC required) then on to ROI vets for an EU Pet Passport.

 

[dazcleveland]

We own a holiday home in France and regularly used to travel backwards & forwards with our GSD via Eurotunnel - he was actually on his second pet passport having filled all the space up on his first one! It was a big gripe of mine that Eurotunnel charge for both legs of the journey even though they did nothing on the outward crossing, except ask if your dog was with you on the automatic check-in screens! I appreciate there was some admin to do and staff to employ in the Calais pet check-in centre so a charge for the return crossing was understandable. Anyway, I digress from the current situation… we lost our old boy in 2020 and so have no experience of the new post-Brexit pet travel rules but admit it is a concern for if / when we get another furry friend. We have some neighbours over in France (they also live in the U.K.) and I was recently discussing with them the high costs I’d heard about for obtaining animal travel certificates. They said that they’d obtained EU Pet Passports for their 2 dogs from our local vet in France so the dogs’ home address is the second property in France and they’re classed as being “on holiday” whilst living in the U.K. This means the costs for travelling backwards & forwards to France for holidays with the Pet Passport Scheme is significantly lower. I realise this is a bit of a fiddle and will only be possible for owners who either have a second home or family / friends living in Europe but thought this information might be helpful for some.

 

[Amarillo]

So, the UK accepts the EU Pet Passport for bringing a dog into the UK?
A UK citizen can procure a EU Pet passport for their pet dog and use it to gain entry into the UK or EU?
If you don't have an EU pet Passport for your dog then the EU insist on an Animal Health Certificate for which UK vets charge in excess of £150?

Do you require ANY certification to take a pet dog out of the UK? As far as I am aware NO, but you do require certification to take the animal into a Non-UK country, ie the EU in this case.

If that is the case then the EU is insisting on this certificate, which as far as I am aware contains all the same information as the EU Pet Passport, possibly more but certainly not less than the EU Pet Passport.

I presume the Animal Health Certificate is detailed by the EU, otherwise they wouldn't accept it, and judging by other EU documentation I have come across it is extremely verbose with detailed instructions on how it is filled out and with what colour ink is used etc: etc:. I can understand why a Vet might charge £150+ for filling out such a form.

My understanding is that the AHC is a UN thing, accepted by all members of the UN.

The pet passport is an EU thing accepted by all nations who will accept ECJ rulings on the scheme. Norway, for example will, but apparently not the UK.

It’s convenient to blame the EU for being bloody minded, but usually wrong.

 

[sidepod]

Last year a vet in Germany offered to write out an EU passport there and then saying a Euro address was not necessary!

I didn’t take here up on the offer but I will investigate further. It only needs one trip with the new passport and AHC as backup to prove it works.

 

[dazcleveland]

Last year a vet in Germany offered to write out an EU passport there and then saying a Euro address was not necessary!

I didn’t take here up on the offer but I will investigate further. It only needs one trip with the new passport and AHC as backup to prove it works.

Happy Days! I know our vet in France always thought the Pet Passport scheme was a bit of a joke. Although he admitted it gave him a lot of business from U.K. holidaymakers, he believed it was totally unnecessary for the majority of responsible dog owners who would ensure their pets were correctly vaccinated and regularly wormed anyway. He actually said there was more risk from other animal diseases found in Europe than from rabies itself!

 

[Amarillo]

Last year a vet in Germany offered to write out an EU passport there and then saying a Euro address was not necessary!

I didn’t take here up on the offer but I will investigate further. It only needs one trip with the new passport and AHC as backup to prove it works.

An interesting thought. We are just over an hour’s drive from Dover, and as a foot passenger can cross to France cheaply. So could we register Meg with a vet in Calais, have her annual jabs and tri-annual rabies jabs in Calais, could we get an EU pet passport for 25% cheaper holidays in the EU?

 

[sidepod]

An interesting thought. We are just over an hour’s drive from Dover, and as a foot passenger can cross to France cheaply. So could we register Meg with a vet in Calais, have her annual jabs and tri-annual rabies jabs in Calais, could we get an EU pet passport for 25% cheaper holidays in the EU?

I may be wrong but I believe Euro regs require an annual rabies jab?

 

[Amarillo]

I may be wrong but I believe Euro regs require an annual rabies jab?

It could still be worthwhile.

 

[Calimili]

I may be wrong but I believe Euro regs require an annual rabies jab?

A dog can travel 3 weeks after the first rab vaccination, after one year it needs a second vaccination (but no 3 weeks wait necessary), thereafter every 3 years (again no more 3 weeks wait necessary)