Import permits and quarantine: what each destination asks of a dog or cat coming from France

Each destination’s requirements in one table

The table repeats what each France ⇄ country guide says about a dog or cat leaving France. “See the guide” marks a point the guide does not sum up in a few words. The rules for coming into France are covered further down: they are the same whatever the destination.

A permit is the rule across Asia-Pacific and the Gulf and the exception in North America and Europe. A long quarantine is almost always the penalty for an incomplete file: only Australia and New Zealand quarantine every pet, and Taiwan every pet prepared in under six months.

Permit, notice or licence: three different mechanisms

Countries do not control arrivals the same way, and the word they use already tells you something about the timeline.

• An import permit is an approval issued before departure, on a file, with a validity period and written conditions. Australia issues it in BICON after the titre declaration, New Zealand once quarantine is booked, Taiwan at least 20 days before arrival, Hong Kong as a “special permit” valid 6 months, the UAE for 90 days. A permit that has expired or was applied for too late stops the pet at departure, not at arrival.
• A notice works differently. For Japan you declare the arrival to the Animal Quarantine Service at least 40 days ahead through NACCS, and AQS sends back an approval for the import inspection. Once the notice is in, the arrival date cannot be brought forward and no animal can be added or swapped. South Korea asks for no prior approval at all, and notice only from 10 animals.
• A licence is Singapore’s vocabulary: first a dog or cat licence on PALS, then an import licence valid 90 days, an inspection slot booked in advance and a Customs permit for GST. Each step unlocks the next.

In every case the approval is a document of the destination country. The health certificate endorsed by the DDPP is a document of the departure country: it comes last, inside the window the destination sets. The French side is described on our page about leaving France with a dog or cat.

The destinations that quarantine every pet

Australia. Every dog or cat from France goes through the Mickleham post-entry quarantine facility in Victoria after a manifested-cargo flight direct to Melbourne. How long depends on one calendar detail: if an official vet did the identity check at a separate visit before the titre blood sample, quarantine is at least 10 days; otherwise at least 30. The titre test then opens a 180-day wait counted from the sample’s arrival at the laboratory, and the permit application in BICON follows. DAFF advises allowing at least six months. Details and official fees are in our France ⇄ Australia guide.

New Zealand. The same logic, in an order that surprises people: you book the quarantine place first, at an MPI-approved facility, because the permit cannot be issued without it. Then you apply for the permit, at least 30 working days ahead. The pet lands as manifested cargo in Auckland or Christchurch and spends at least 10 days in quarantine, with an MPI vet inspection on arrival and at the end of the stay. The titre blood sample must be 3 to 12 months old at shipment. See France ⇄ New Zealand.

Taiwan sits in between: 7 days of quarantine, unless the blood draw is 180 days to 1 year old on arrival and the permit was filed 120 days ahead, or 20 days ahead with the lab reporting the result directly. A move prepared six to seven months out avoids quarantine; a move wrapped up in four months accepts it. See France ⇄ Taiwan.

Where quarantine only hits an incomplete file

• Hong Kong. France is in AFCD’s Group II: no titre test, and a pet that meets every condition of the special permit is exempt from quarantine. Miss one and it is at least four months of quarantine at your expense, or the pet is sent back. The conditions are formal: manifested cargo only, the AFCD airport office notified at least 24 hours ahead, the original permit and certificate with the cargo paperwork. See France ⇄ Hong Kong.
• Japan. With two vaccinations, a titre test at a designated lab, 180 days elapsed and 40 days’ notice, the arrival inspection takes 12 hours at most. Without them, the pet can be detained for up to 180 days or sent back. See France ⇄ Japan.
• Singapore. For a personal import from France, AVS sets no quarantine when the pet arrives within 5 days after its owner and has lived at the owner’s address for more than 6 months. Otherwise, or if ownership changes, expect at least 10 days of home quarantine, to be applied for and approved before the import licence. The 30-day station quarantine applies to Schedule III countries, not to France. See France ⇄ Singapore.
• China. A pet that is microchipped, vaccinated twice and titre-tested at ANSES Nancy or Inovalys less than a year before arrival, with a DDPP-endorsed certificate issued within 14 days, enters without quarantine through any point of entry. Without a valid titre test, 30 days at a customs-designated facility, and only through one of the ten equipped points of entry. One pet per person: two pets mean two travellers. See France ⇄ China.
• United Kingdom. No permit, but an approved route and carrier, and for dogs a tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before arrival. A pet that is not compliant risks up to four months of quarantine or being sent back, at your expense. See France ⇄ UK.
• United States. No permit; a dog from France needs the CDC Dog Import Form receipt and must be 6 months old on arrival. The 28-day quarantine only concerns a dog under the high-risk rules without a titre test, and Hawaii has rules of its own. See France ⇄ USA.

The order: titre test, permit, certificate, booking

For a destination that requires both a titre test and a permit, the sequence is almost always the same, and it is read backwards from the arrival date you want.

1. Microchip, then rabies vaccination, at 12 weeks at the earliest. Japan and China want two vaccinations before the blood sample.
2. Blood sample for the titre test, inside the country’s window: at least 180 days before arrival for Japan and Australia (counted, for Australia, from the sample’s arrival at the lab), 3 to 12 months before shipment for New Zealand, 90 days to 12 months for Singapore, 90 days to 1 year for Taiwan, less than a year for China. A sample that is too recent or too old means starting again. The laboratory matters too: Taiwan, Japan and China only accept certain labs. See our article on the rabies vaccine and titre test.
3. The destination’s approval: permit, licences or notice, each with its processing time and validity. For New Zealand, the quarantine booking comes first. For the UAE, a permit requested too early expires before the flight.
4. Clinical exam and health certificate endorsed by the DDPP (or DDETSPP), inside the window the destination sets, usually in the last days before departure. Parasite treatments some countries require are timed around this visit.
5. Transport booking, as cargo through a forwarder where the country insists on it (Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Dubai), or in the hold of your own flight elsewhere. How a cargo shipment works: pet air cargo.

Added together, these windows give the lead times our guides quote: at least six months for Australia, six to seven months for Taiwan without quarantine, about ten months in all for a puppy heading to Japan. For these destinations, the first vet appointment is the most urgent date to fix. Our month-by-month plan: moving abroad with your dog.

And to enter France?

France requires no import permit for an ordinary pet dog or cat on a non-commercial move. The conditions (microchip, rabies vaccination, EU passport or health certificate, a titre test depending on the country of departure) are checked on arrival, by customs at a travellers’ point of entry. Only two exceptions: a hybrid cat or dog without a recognised pedigree (Bengal, Savannah, wolfdog), which needs a permit issued in advance by the DREAL, and category 2 dogs, which need a keeping permit from the town hall once in France.

Nor is there any quarantine for a compliant pet. If the pet is not compliant, customs and the veterinary services can send it back, isolate it or, as a last resort, have it put down, at your expense. A pet staying three months or more must then be registered with I-CAD within 7 days. The full rules, country of departure by country of departure, are on our page about bringing a dog or cat into France.

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