Pet passports and UK travel: what changed

It does not work for this any more, and it cannot be renewed or converted. Keep it: the vaccination history recorded inside it is still useful, and is exactly what a vet needs to see when issuing your certificate. It simply is not the travel document any longer.

This is not about your passport expiring or being filled in wrongly. The document type stopped being accepted for GB residents.

An Animal Health Certificate, usually shortened to AHC. A vet checks your pet’s microchip and rabies vaccination and issues an official certificate confirming it meets the requirements for entry to the EU.

The practical differences from a passport are the ones that catch people out:

• One per trip. A passport lasted for years. A certificate covers a single journey out.
• Issued within 10 days of travel. You cannot get it organised months ahead the way you could with a passport — but you can book the appointment as soon as you know your dates.
• It is a vet appointment, not a form. Your pet has to be seen for the microchip to be scanned.

The underlying requirements have not changed, and if your pet travelled on a passport before, it very likely already meets them:

• A microchip that can be read.
• A valid rabies vaccination, given at least 21 days before travel. If it has lapsed, the 21-day wait starts again.
• For dogs coming back to the UK, tapeworm treatment from a vet 1–5 days before re-entry.

EU pet passports were designed for EU residents. After Brexit, Great Britain became a non-EU country, and GB residents were never really eligible to hold them under the EU’s animal health rules — an inconsistency that was tolerated until it was not. From 22 April 2026, it was not.

If your pet lives in Northern Ireland or the EU, different rules apply and a passport may still be the right document. This page is about Great Britain.

Work out your travel date, then book a certificate appointment inside the 10 days before it. Check your rabies vaccination is in date first, because that is the one thing that cannot be fixed quickly.

We issue certificates at home across South West London, evenings and weekends. If you are elsewhere, any Official Veterinarian can do it — ask your usual practice whether they are able to.