EU Pet Passport Explained: How to Get One and How It Works

The EU pet passport is one of those things that sounds more complicated than it actually is. When I first heard “pet passport,” I imagined weeks of bureaucracy, expensive vet visits, and mountains of paperwork. In reality, it took about 10 minutes and cost €15.

If you live in Europe and you’re planning to fly with your dog — whether that’s a weekend trip to Spain or a summer holiday in Greece — the pet passport is the one document you absolutely need. Here’s everything I know about it, from getting Sami’s to using it on over 20 flights.

What Is the EU Pet Passport?

The EU pet passport is a small booklet — it looks like a tiny version of a human passport — that contains all your dog’s essential information for travel. It’s the official travel document for pets moving between EU countries (and Northern Ireland).

Inside, you’ll find your dog’s name and description, your contact details as the owner, the microchip number, a record of all vaccinations (most importantly rabies), and space for any additional treatments like tapeworm medication.

It’s the only document you need when traveling between EU countries with your dog. One booklet. That’s it. No health certificates, no government endorsements, no separate vaccine records. The passport has it all.

How to Get One

This is the easy part. Your vet does everything.

Go to your veterinarian — any vet in an EU country can issue one — and tell them you need a pet passport. They’ll need your dog to have a microchip (which is mandatory in most EU countries anyway) and a valid rabies vaccination. If your dog already has both, the vet can issue the passport on the spot.

If your dog doesn’t have a microchip yet, the vet will implant one first. Then the rabies vaccine. The order matters: microchip first, then vaccine. If the vaccine was given before the microchip, some authorities won’t accept it as valid. This is especially important if you ever plan to fly to the US, where the CDC is strict about this.

After the rabies vaccine, there’s a 21-day waiting period before you can travel. So if your dog is getting their first rabies shot, plan for this. However, if your dog already has a valid rabies vaccine and is getting a booster, there’s no waiting period — you can travel immediately.

We got Sami’s passport from our vet in Portugal. It cost about €15, took 10 minutes, and we walked out with a document that’s valid for life. The best €15 I’ve ever spent.

How Long Does It Last?

The passport itself doesn’t expire. It’s valid as long as your dog is alive. What can expire is the rabies vaccination recorded in it.

The rabies vaccine is valid for 1-3 years, depending on which vaccine your vet uses. Sami gets his every 3 years. When it’s time for a new shot, we go to the vet, they administer it, and they record the new vaccination date in the passport. It’s like getting a new stamp in your human passport — the document continues, you just add to it.

Eventually, you might run out of pages for vaccine updates. When that happens, your vet can issue a new passport. It’s the same simple process.

The key thing is to always make sure the rabies vaccine is current before you fly. An expired vaccine in the passport means the passport is effectively invalid for travel. Check the date before every trip. I check ours about a month before any flight, just to be safe.

Using the Passport at the Airport

At check-in, the agent will ask for your dog’s documents. You hand them the passport. They’ll check three things:

First, that the microchip number in the passport matches your dog’s actual microchip. Some airports have a scanner right at the counter and will scan your dog on the spot. Others just check the number visually against the pet reservation in their system. Either way, make sure the number is correct and legible.

Second, that the rabies vaccine is current. They’ll look at the date of the last vaccination and confirm it hasn’t expired.

Third, that the carrier bag meets requirements. They might glance at it, they might ask to see your dog inside it. This varies wildly by agent — I’ve talked about the agent lottery at check-in before.

The whole document check takes about 2 minutes. Then they move on to weighing your dog (in Europe — the US is different) and processing the pet fee.

Does the Passport Work Outside Europe?

Yes and no.

Within the EU (and Northern Ireland), the passport is the only document you need. It’s fully recognized across all member states.

For travel outside the EU, the passport can serve as a supporting document — it proves your dog’s vaccination history and microchip — but most non-EU countries require their own specific documents. For the US, you’ll need the CDC Dog Import Form and possibly a health certificate, regardless of whether you have an EU pet passport. We have a full guide on US entry requirements.

That said, I always carry the passport even on non-EU flights. It’s a comprehensive record of Sami’s medical and vaccination history, and it’s come in handy as a backup document more than once.

If You’re Not in the EU

If you’re traveling from a non-EU country to Europe, you can’t get an EU pet passport in advance — it has to be issued by a vet within the EU. Instead, you’ll need an EU animal health certificate issued by an accredited vet in your country.

However, once you arrive in Europe with the health certificate, you can then get a pet passport from any EU vet. This is exactly what I’d recommend if you plan to travel within Europe after arriving. The passport will make every subsequent European trip much simpler.

For a broader overview of all the documents you might need depending on your route, check our complete paperwork checklist for flying with your dog.

The EU pet passport is one of those things that, once you have it, you wonder why you were ever stressed about it. Get it early, keep the rabies vaccine current, and bring it on every trip. That’s really all there is to it.