Once your pet arrives in the UK there are various arrival fees due to the both airline and animal reception centre which can only be arranged through a registered clearing agent in the UK. Furthermore, HMRC (the tax man!) also requires pets to be customs cleared, ensuring the correct VAT or Duty (if applicable) is paid before your pet is released. Therefore it is a requirement to have instructed a clearing agent to act on your behalf in arranging these services, it is not possible to do so without one in place.
If you’re bringing pets to the UK, you’ll need to meet the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) requirements and provide the correct documentation.
These will ensure your pet doesn’t have to quarantine when they enter the UK.
On arrival, your pet will be collected from the plane by the airport’s Animal Reception Centre (ARC). At Heathrow this will either be the HARC or AAC. At Gatwick, it will be the AAC. At Manchester, it will be Pets on Jets.
When they arrive at the ARC, your pet will be given a health check, their microchip will be scanned and their paperwork will be checked.
If everything is in order, they will then ask us to provide customs clearance. This is the final stage of the process and will reunite you with your pet.
From landing, the whole pet customs process takes around 4 to 8 hours, depending on how busy the airport is.
Each ARC has its own waiting area, where you’re welcome to wait for your pet.
We provide pet import services and customs clearance, which include:
• Liaising with your agent in the country you’re travelling from
• Notifying the relevant Animal Reception Centre
• Collating your pet’s travel documents
• Processing your airline arrival fees
• Clearing your pet through customs
• Delivering your pet, anywhere in the country, if required.
We currently cover pet imports into London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Manchester airports.
If your pet import is commercial, it will have to be at one of the London airports as pet imports are not permitted at Manchester.
If you’d like us to manage your pet’s arrival, it’s best to plan ahead and give us plenty of time — especially if you need us to board your pet or deliver them back to you.
Ideally, we need more than a week, but we know that’s not always possible and we always try to accommodate last-minute requests if we can.
For commercial arrivals, we’ll need at least 48 hours to arrange the necessary checks.
The cost of bringing pets to the UK will vary depending on which airline your pet travels with, which airport they arrive at and what time they arrive.
There are additional charges for arrivals after 16.30, so we’d recommend a morning arrival to avoid those.
The easiest way to find out the cost of importing your pet to the UK is to complete our quote form and we’ll get back to you shortly.
Current pet health certificate requirements are:
• ISO-compatible microchip
• Rabies vaccination, at least 21 days before arrival
• Internal parasite treatment (worming tablet) within 5 days, but not within 24 hours, of arrival (Dogs only)
• Rabies Neutralising Antibody Titre Test (RNATT) — depending on the country you’re travelling from — at least 3 months before you travel.
Your pet will need a rabies blood test if you’re travelling from an unlisted country.
It’s called a Rabies Neutralising Antibody Titre Test (RNATT) and you’ll need to make sure your pet has one at least three months before you travel.
The blood sample must be sent to an EU-approved lab, either inside or outside the EU.
Its results must show that your pet’s rabies vaccine was successful, giving a rabies antibody level of at least 0.5 IU/ml.
Before your pet arrives in the UK, the Animal Reception Centre (ARC) will do a pre-check to make sure they’re compliant with the entry conditions.
For the pre-check, we’ll need to receive your pet’s travel documents 72 hours before their flight to the UK departs. If your documents aren’t provided in time, there will be additional fees to pay.
The documents we’ll need are as follows:
The type of health certificate you need will depend on the country you’re travelling from. There are more details on this below.
This applies if you’re travelling from an unlisted country. There are further details below.
Wherever you’re travelling from, you’ll need a valid airline ticket that shows you’re arriving within 5 days of your pet.
If you, or your nominated person, will not be arriving within 5 days of your pet, this will be classified as a commercial movement and different rules will apply.
If you’re bringing pets to the UK, you’ll need one of three accepted health certificates, as detailed below.
A Pet Passport can be issued in an EU country or in certain other countries. It must be completed by a vet in Europe and will show all vaccinations and parasite treatments.
To enter the UK, you must ensure the passport is completed only by vets in Europe. If a UK vet enters vaccination information, your passport will be invalidated.
This certificate is issued in the UK and covers you for trips from the UK to Europe where you’ll be returning to the UK within 4 months.
This is a document that needs to be completed in the country you’re travelling from, within 10 days of your pet’s departure date.It will show your pet’s information, rabies vaccination, tapeworm treatment (dogs only) and Rabies Neutralising Antibody Test (RNATT), if applicable.
To be valid, the document must be signed, stamped and endorsed by an official government or state vet.
When bringing pets to the UK, the countries you’re travelling from are split into three categories: EU, listed and unlisted. These categories determine the health certificate you’ll need and the process you’ll need to follow.
If you’re travelling from an EU country, you’ll be able to enter the UK with any one of these documents:
• An EU Pet Passport, issued in an EU country or certain other countries
• An Animal Health Certificate (AHC) issued in Great Britain in the last 4 months
• A Great Britain Pet Health Certificate.
If you’re travelling from a listed country, you’ll need a completed GB Pet Health Certificate.
If you’re travelling from an unlisted country, you’ll need a completed GB Pet Health Certificate and you’ll need a Rabies Neutralising Antibody Test (RNATT) three months before you travel.
To be sure of which certificate you need, we recommend checking the UK government’s pet travel document advice.
The Animal Reception Centre (ARC) will pre-check your pet’s travel documents, which should identify any potential problems before they fly to the UK.
This pre-check means it’s rare for a pet not to meet the entry requirements when they arrive — but it still happens occasionally.
For example, let’s say your documents were to get lost during transit. For an additional fee, the ARC can hold your pet for up to 48 hours, giving us time to resolve the issues.
We might be able to contact the vet who issued your original certificate, or we might need to prepare new documents to replace the ones that went missing.
Whatever we need to do, we’ll work tirelessly to make sure you and your pet can be reunited as quickly as possible.