Importing a dog into the Netherlands is a relatively easy process as long as you prepare in advance. The Government website has plenty of useful information on the process and documents required. There is also the NVWA website which has further information on it. You can message them to ask any questions you may have if you are uncertain about any part. Their e-mail address is info@nvwa.nl
The exact requirements depend on where you are coming from. If you are coming from another EU country then it’s very straight forward. As we were coming from Thailand, a high risk country, we had to go through the most stringent measures.
Importing a dog to Netherlands can be useful if your final destination is the UK. The UK only allows you to fly your dog into the UK via cargo. This means they can’t even fly in the hold as excess baggage. So many people will choose to come through Amsterdam and then take the ferry across to Newcastle. This is a much more cost effective way of getting them to the UK and will allow your dog to travel with you. However, the ferry is a 16 hour journey so adds a lot of travel time to the trip.
Microchip
The dog must have a readable microchip. This is pretty standard when you first get your dog vaccinated as a puppy so you should already have this.
Rabies Vaccine
The dog must have a valid rabies vaccine at least 21 days prior to arrival.
EU Health Certificate
The dog must have an EU health certificate issued by an official veteranarian in the departure country. Not every vet is classed as an official vet, so you need to check who is approved to do this in your country of departure. In Thailand, this is done at Animal Quarantine at Suvarnabhumi airport. If you are coming from the EU and have an EU passport, this is accepted instead of the health certificate.
Rabies Titer Test
For dogs coming from high risk countries, a rabies titer test must be done at least 30 days after the rabies vaccine. This blood sample must be sent to an approved EU laboratory. This can be quite costly, we paid US$365 for this test as it has to be sent overseas.
The result of the titer test must come back >0.5. If the result is fine, then you will need to wait at least 3 months before entering Netherlands. Fortunately, we already had this and it was still valid so there was no waiting time for us.
The titer test remains valid as long as you keep up to date with the rabies vaccines before they run out. So it’s important to set a reminder each year to keep them up to date. This would avoid having to redo the titer test or the waiting period again.
Arriving in Netherlands
You don’t need to get any import permit or advise any authorities of your intention to bring your pet with you in advance. Upon arrival at the airport (or ferry terminal) you simply need to take your pet with you to the customs section. Here you will complete a customs declaration as goods to declare. This is located after you have collected your luggage just before you leave the terminal. The staff kept trying to wave us through at first. So we had to explain a couple of times we had a dog for them to check. It seemed like it would have been possible without the papers being checked but of course we made sure we did everything correctly. They checked everything and stamped the EU Health certificate and gave it back to us to keep hold of along with all of the other original documents.
If for any reason, your pet does not have all of the required documentation, it must be assessed by the NVWA licensed vet who will make a decision on what to do with the dog. So it’s vital you have everything correct as it could be very costly as well as meaning you are separated from your dog.
Owners Declaration Statement
You must also print off and keep with you at all times an owner’s declaration which can be found here. It is basically a declaration to confirm that the dog is for personal use rather than commercial purposes. However, we were not asked to show this form at any point during our trip.
Overall it was a very simle process and there was plenty of information available online to help. I don’t feel there is any need to engage an agent as it’s all very easy to do.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if you wish to share your experiences of importing a dog to Netherlands or the EU. You can also check out my blog to see how my journey to Netherlands went or check out my Youtube page to see my videos of the trip.
Woof woof, Wylie x
Don’t forget to check out my Amazon store (affiliate link) which has all the details all of my recommended products I use then travelling. You can check it out here. If any of my travel tips help, you can also leave a small donation which would be greatly appreciated 😊
If any of my travel tips help, please feel free to leave a small donation which would be greatly appreciated 😊
