One stop shop for expats in Spain

You have decided you are relocating to Spain, but part of your family is also your pet. The European Pet Passport allows for qualifying domestic animals (dogs, cats and ferrets) to freely cross borders in Europe. It contains obligatory information concerning an individual animal: identification number, and proof of valid vaccination against the rabies virus. It may contain other non-obligatory information and is valid for the lifetime of the pet. Each passport is numbered for identification purposes. Animals travelling within any European Union country need to be accompanied by a Pet Passport.

Also, if on the contrary you are leaving Spain and want to return with your pet, for Ireland, Finland, Malta, Norway and the United Kingdom, further rules apply. When crossing the border to these countries dogs must, in addition to the passport, also have proof of tapeworm (echinococcosis) treatment. This treatment must be administered between 24 and 120 hours before entering the country. All vets should have the relevant information and be able to prepare a pet for travel.

For travelling with pet rabbits, rodents, fish, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates within the EU there are no restrictions and no pet passport is needed for these animals. Rabbits and rodents from outside the EU may need to spend up to four months in quarantine.  

 The PETS scheme allows qualifying domestic pets to travel to and from the UK without undergoing quarantine.

A pet is eligible for a pet passport even if the owner is not an EU citizen.

To reduce the number of pets being unethically bred and sold in the EU, rules on pet transport within the union changed as of 29 December 2014. The key changes are:

• In general dogs, cats and ferrets cannot receive a rabies vaccine before the age of 12 weeks. As a kitten or puppy cannot be transported without a confirmatory blood test 21 days after the primary vaccination, this effectively increases the minimum age at which a pet may be transported to 106 days (approximately 3.5 months). The day after vaccination is counted as Day One. Note: Some countries make provisions for transporting dogs, cats and ferrets younger than 12 weeks old.  
• The introduction of a new style of pet passport. The new pet passport has laminated pages detailing micro-chipping, vaccination information and other details about the pet. Laminate is used to avoid this information being fraudulently changed later. If an animal already has an older style of pet passport it is not necessary to apply for a new one
• Owners must travel with their pets or within five days of their pets being transported. An animal that travels more than five days before or after the owner must fulfil the requirements that apply to animals transported for trade, and fulfil those animal health conditions.

The passport may only be issued by a licenced vet and both the passport and a record of administered vaccines should be kept current by the vet. Before issuing it, the vet will confirm that the animal: is identified by a microchip has valid vaccines against rabies has had a blood test to confirm the vaccine is in the system Following these steps the vet can issue a certificate of health - the Pet Passport.

www.tpci.es