Pet moves fail on paperwork far more often than on logistics. Not because the list is long, but because each item has a window and the windows have to overlap. A blood test that's fine in March is useless by November. A health certificate issued too early runs out before the plane leaves.
The standard export file
This is what every destination starts from.
- A copy of your passport
- A copy of the PIN, address and telephone number at origin
- The full address and telephone number at destination
- Microchip details and the doctor's certificate
- The vaccination booklet
- The Rabies Antibody Test, a titration test in accordance with Annex IV to Regulation (EU) No 576/2013
- A fit-to-fly veterinary health certificate from a local registered veterinarian
- The AQCS export certificate. The animal and the full document set go to the quarantine office seven days before embarkation, by appointment, and the certificate is valid for 10 days from the day it is issued
- Any additional permit, test, treatment or certificate required by the importing country
What goes into the health certificate
- The vaccination booklet, with the rabies vaccination at the minimum age the destination requires at the time of export
- The rabies antibody test and destination-specific waiting period. Great Britain, Singapore and the United States dog pathway use different clocks; the live destination rule is checked before travel is fixed
- A fit-to-fly certificate from a local registered veterinarian
- The AQCS export certificate. The animal and the full document set go to the quarantine office seven days before embarkation, by appointment, and the certificate is valid for 10 days from the day it is issued
- Europe and Great Britain: the EU animal health certificate for entry from a non-EU country and the Great Britain pet health certificate respectively
- USA, dogs from India: CDC Dog Import Form, endorsed foreign rabies vaccination and microchip form, a CDC-registered animal care facility reservation, and a valid titre sampled at least 28 days before entry or facility quarantine. CDC recommends starting 60 days or more before travel. Cats follow separate applicable rules.
- Advance quarantine place for Singapore's Schedule III route and the current Malaysia route from India; Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa follow their live permit and pathway
The rabies blood test
Where it's needed, we take the blood sample with your own vet or a government approved one, send it to a lab the destination accepts, and build the whole route around that country's wait. The wait isn't one rule: Great Britain counts three months from the sample, Singapore wants the sample at least 90 days before export, and the United States dog route needs it at least 28 days before entry.
The last week: the AQCS export check
After a local vet's fit to fly certificate, he and the whole file go to the AQCS quarantine office about a week before the flight, by appointment. The export certificate is good for 10 days from the day it's issued, and any stricter rule from the destination or the airline still applies.
The file is IKAN Lola's published document list. AQCS timing read on aqcsindia.gov.in on 1 September 2026. Destination waits read on GOV.UK, NParks AVS and the US CDC the same week.