The EU pet passport explained

At a glance

Who issues the passport in France

Under EU law, only official vets and vets authorised by the competent authority may issue pet passports, and only they receive blank ones. In practice your own vet fills it in during an appointment; when you book, simply ask whether they issue passports.

Things happen in a set order:

1. Identification. The pet needs an ISO-standard microchip, or a clearly readable tattoo applied before 3 July 2011. The vet reads the chip and records its number in the passport.
2. Passport. The vet completes the pet and owner details, and you sign the owner section.
3. Rabies vaccination, if the pet is going to travel. It always comes after the chip (or on the same day once the chip has been read), from 12 weeks of age. Our article on the rabies vaccine and titre test has the detail.

A pet that is already chipped and vaccinated can get its passport later: the vet then enters the existing chip and vaccination.

Who qualifies: residence, not nationality

Since 22 April 2026, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131 spells it out: the passport must be issued in the Member State where the owner habitually resides. The European Commission puts it in one line: residence is what matters, not nationality or owning property.

• You live in France, whatever your passport: your vet can issue one for your pet.
• You are an EU citizen living outside the EU (Dubai, Montreal, Singapore…): the passport is not meant for you. Your pet enters the EU on an animal health certificate issued in your country of residence, even for a holiday in France.
• You are settling in France with a pet that arrived on a health certificate: once your main residence is in the EU, shown for example by a residence permit, your pet can be issued an EU passport.
• You live in Great Britain: an EU passport, even one issued in the EU, can no longer be used to enter the EU from Great Britain. A health certificate is needed for every trip.

The countries in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636 (Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Iceland, San Marino, Vatican City, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland) issue their own passports, on a model set out in EU law, and these are accepted for entry into the EU. See our France ⇄ Switzerland guide.

What the passport records

The passport is a 100 × 152 mm booklet, printed in the official language of the issuing country and in English. Its number starts with the country's ISO code (FR for France) followed by a unique code, and the key entries are covered with laminated seals. It records in particular:

• The owner, with their signature.
• A description of the pet and its identification: chip (or tattoo) number and the date it was applied or read.
• Rabies vaccinations, with their dates and validity, entered by an authorised vet in a Member State.
• The rabies antibody titre test, if one was done: sampling date and result.
• Tapeworm (Echinococcus) treatment for dogs travelling to Ireland, Finland, Malta, Northern Ireland or Norway. This entry may be made by a vet other than the one who issued the passport.
• The issuing vet and their contact details.

Validity and the 2026 model

Whether a pet can travel depends not on how old the passport is but on the rabies vaccination recorded in it. A booster given before the previous vaccine expires carries on without a break; a late booster counts as a new primary vaccination, with a fresh 21-day wait before travel.

A new passport model is set out in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/705, which has applied since 22 April 2026. It does not make older passports obsolete:

• passports issued on the previous EU model (before 22 April 2026), and even those on the very first model issued before 29 December 2014, are deemed compliant;
• vets may keep issuing old-model passports until 31 December 2027;
• so there is nothing to do about a passport you are already using.

When the passport is not enough

The passport is built for movements between Member States and for coming back to the EU after a short stay abroad. It falls short in these situations:

• The owner lives outside the EU. The pet arrives on an EU animal health certificate, issued or endorsed by an official vet in the country of departure, not on a passport, however old.
• A rabies booster was given in a non-EU country. A vet outside the EU cannot validate that booster in an EU passport. The French Ministry of Agriculture is blunt: in that case the passport alone is no longer valid, and a health certificate signed by the non-EU country's official authorities is required.
• The titre test was done in a non-EU country. Same rule: an official health certificate from the country where the pet is.
• The required titre test was not done before leaving the EU for a stay in an unlisted country: it will have to be done there, followed by a three-month wait before the health certificate can be issued.
• The destination has its own rules. Outside the EU, each country decides which documents it accepts. Great Britain, for instance, accepts the EU passport of a pet coming from France; many other countries require their own certificate. See leaving France with a pet.
• The movement is commercial: more than five animals outside the event exception, a sale or change of owner, or a pet travelling with no link to its owner's own journey.

Coming back to France on the passport after a trip outside the EU

A pet that lives in France can come home on its EU passport after a stay in a non-EU country, provided the passport shows that it met the conditions before it left the EU: a rabies vaccination valid on departure and still valid on return and, if the country visited is unlisted, a favourable titre test done before departure.

If the titre test was not done before travelling to an unlisted country, the return becomes an import: titre test there, three-month wait, health certificate. The French ministry therefore advises leaving the EU only with a pet that has already been tested, and starting with your vet at least three months before departure.

If you have settled outside the EU for a long period, for example several years for work, the Commission treats your pet as travelling from that country: it needs a health certificate, not its old passport. No official length of stay marks the switch from visit to residence; when in doubt, we advise planning for the certificate. The full entry rules are on bringing a pet into France.

Frequently asked questions

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