Shipping the furniture is the easy part of an international move with a pet. The paperwork for the animal itself depends on exactly where it is travelling to, and Great Britain now uses two different documents depending on whether the destination is the EU or Northern Ireland.
The Animal Health Certificate for EU travel
A dog, cat or ferret travelling from Great Britain to an EU country needs an animal health certificate (AHC), which replaced the old EU pet passport for GB-issued travel. Official government guidance is explicit that the pet must be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies, and hold the correct travel document, and that residents of England, Scotland or Wales cannot use a pet passport to enter the EU even if it was originally issued in the EU. Before the AHC can be issued, the pet needs a microchip, and the rabies vaccination has to be at least 21 full days old by the time of travel, counted from the date of the primary vaccination. A vet issues the AHC, and it is valid for entry into the EU for 10 days from the date it is issued; once in the EU, the same certificate can then be used for onward travel within the EU, and for the return trip to Great Britain, for up to six months, provided the underlying rabies vaccination has not expired in the meantime. A new AHC is needed for every separate trip.
Great Britain to Northern Ireland uses a different document
Moving a pet from Great Britain into Northern Ireland does not use the AHC process at all. Since 4 June 2025, residents of Great Britain need a free Northern Ireland Pet Travel Document (PTD) to bring a dog, cat, ferret or assistance dog into Northern Ireland. Unlike the AHC, the PTD does not require a vet visit: it can be applied for entirely online, the pet still needs to be microchipped, and both the document and the microchip are checked at the port or airport. The key practical difference is that the PTD only needs to be obtained once and then lasts for the pet’s lifetime, rather than needing to be reissued before every trip the way an AHC does. Residents of Northern Ireland travelling the other way, into Great Britain, are exempt from needing a PTD and can travel with only a microchipped pet.
Combining both documents on one move
Anyone relocating via Northern Ireland but ultimately continuing on to the Republic of Ireland or another EU country needs both documents for the same trip: the PTD covers entry into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, but an AHC is still required for onward travel from Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland or elsewhere in the EU, since the PTD on its own does not satisfy EU entry requirements.
What this means for planning the move
Because the AHC has to be signed off by a vet within a short pre-travel window, and the rabies vaccination itself needs a minimum run-in period before that certificate can even be requested, pet paperwork for an EU move needs to be scheduled around the vaccination timeline rather than left until the final week before departure. The PTD route into Northern Ireland is comparatively low-friction, but it is a distinct legal requirement introduced only recently, and a mover who has previously taken a pet into Northern Ireland without one should not assume the old, document-free arrangement still applies.
Common questions
Can I get the Animal Health Certificate before I have a confirmed travel date? Not usefully. Because the AHC is only valid for 10 days from issue for entry into the EU, it has to be timed to the actual departure date rather than obtained well in advance the way a passport would be.
Does the Northern Ireland Pet Travel Document expire? No, official guidance describes it as lasting the pet’s lifetime once issued, which is a deliberate difference from the trip-by-trip AHC.
What if my pet’s rabies vaccination lapses while I am abroad in the EU? The guidance is clear that an AHC cannot be used for onward travel or re-entry to Great Britain if the underlying rabies vaccination has expired, so the renewal date needs to be tracked for the whole trip, not just the outbound leg.
The bottom line
A pet moving from Great Britain to an EU country needs a vet-issued animal health certificate, valid for 10 days for entry and up to six months for onward and return travel, built on a microchip and a rabies vaccination that must be at least 21 days old. A pet moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland instead needs a free, one-off, lifetime Northern Ireland Pet Travel Document introduced from 4 June 2025, which requires no vet visit. A move that continues from Northern Ireland into the EU needs both documents, since neither one substitutes for the other.