Export Health Certificates (EHCs): The Complete Guide to International Pet Travel

Last updated: 6 September 2026

Planning to export a dog, cat or ferret from the UK? Here’s what an Export Health Certificate involves, how it differs from an AHC, and why costs vary.

If you’ve been told you need an Export Health Certificate (EHC) for your pet, the first thing worth knowing is this: there is no single EHC. Unlike the Animal Health Certificate used for non-commercial travel from Great Britain to the EU, an EHC is built around the requirements of your specific destination country. Two owners travelling on the same day, with the same type of pet, can end up with completely different paperwork depending on where they’re going.

That’s what makes EHCs harder to plan for than AHCs. The requirements vary, sometimes substantially, from one country to the next, so there is no generic process that applies to every export.

At The London Travel Vet, we prepare and certify EHCs for clients exporting pets to destinations around the world, including commercial movements, changes of ownership and journeys outside the EU. This guide covers what an EHC actually is, how it differs from an AHC, what the process usually involves, and why we can’t give you a single fixed price until we know your destination and circumstances.

If you’re travelling to the EU for a holiday or relocation with no change of ownership involved, you probably need an AHC rather than an EHC. Our Animal Health Certificate guide covers that process in full.

Export Health Certificate: the essentials

• What it is: an official veterinary certificate confirming that your pet meets the health requirements of the country you’re exporting to.

• Why it’s different from an AHC: an AHC is a single, standardised document for non-commercial EU travel. An EHC is destination-specific, so the certificate and everything needed to support it depends on where your pet is going.

• When you’re likely to need one: for many journeys outside the EU, for commercial movements, and for certain changes of ownership, sales or rehoming journeys. Whether you specifically need an EHC still depends on your destination’s requirements.

• Who issues it: an Official Veterinarian (OV).

• Where to find the right one: the government’s Find an export health certificate service, which lists the current EHCs and supporting documents by destination.

• What might be involved: depending on the certificate, this can include vaccinations, blood tests, parasite treatments, import permits and specific declarations, though not every EHC involves all of these.

• How many appointments: some EHCs are completed in a single visit. Others can’t be, for reasons explained below.

• The biggest mistake: treating an EHC like an AHC and leaving it until the final week or two before travel.

What is an Export Health Certificate?

An Export Health Certificate (EHC) is the official veterinary document confirming that an animal being exported from Great Britain meets the health requirements set by the destination country.

An EHC commonly covers things such as:

• your pet’s identification and microchip number

• details of the owner and exporter

• the origin and destination of the animal

• vaccination history

• laboratory results, where testing is required

• parasite treatments, where required

• clinical examination findings

• specific health or disease declarations

• compliance with the destination’s import conditions

None of this is standardised across every EHC. Your vet can’t pull an EHC from a general template and complete it on the day, because the correct certificate has to be identified first. It’s the destination country, not the UK, that sets the requirements the certificate has to prove.

EHC vs AHC — which one do I need?

This is the question to answer before you do anything else, because it determines everything that follows.

An AHC is generally used for the non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets from Great Britain to an EU country: a holiday, a relocation, a straightforward trip with no change of ownership. The requirements behind it are comparatively standardised, and most AHC journeys involve a single veterinary appointment close to departure.

An EHC applies where the destination or the nature of the movement calls for one. This typically includes many journeys outside the EU, a sale or transfer of ownership, certain rehoming movements, or any commercial export. Unlike an AHC, an EHC’s requirements are set by the destination country rather than by a single harmonised standard, so they can vary a great deal between certificates, and some journeys need more than one veterinary visit spread over weeks or months rather than a single appointment.

It’s worth being honest about where this gets confusing. Calling a trip a “holiday” doesn’t automatically make it non-commercial in the way the rules define it, and travelling outside the EU doesn’t mean every non-EU country uses the same certificate. Two seemingly similar journeys, say a pet moving abroad with its owner versus a pet being rehomed to a family already living abroad, can sit on different sides of this line even though the pet, route and paperwork look superficially alike.

If you’re not certain which applies to you, don’t guess and don’t book your final appointment yet. Tell us your full itinerary, including destination, purpose of travel, who owns the pet, who’s travelling with them, and whether ownership is changing, and we’ll confirm which certificate your journey needs.

Why EHCs are more complicated than AHCs

In practice, the veterinary work behind an EHC can range from very light to fairly involved. One destination might need little more than a clinical examination and certification close to departure. Another might require some combination of:

• a specific vaccination protocol

• a blood test, such as a rabies antibody titre test

• parasite treatment within a defined window

• a waiting period after a test or vaccination

• an import permit or other pre-arranged authorisation

• additional declarations or original laboratory paperwork

• a particular sequence or timing of veterinary visits

That’s also why we can’t quote an EHC from a destination alone. “I’m going to [country]” tells us where to start looking, not what your pet actually needs. We still have to establish the specific certificate and its requirements before we can tell you what’s involved.

How do I find the correct EHC?

Start with the government’s Find an export health certificate service. It lets you search the current certificates by destination, and the certificates themselves, along with the guidance notes explaining what each one requires, are published there by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

Finding the certificate is the first step, not the whole process. An EHC contains a series of declarations, and those declarations need to be supported by the evidence and documentation specified for that particular certificate: a vaccination record, a lab result, a treatment date, a permit. Some of that evidence comes from you, some from your vet, and occasionally from a laboratory or the destination country’s own authorities. GOV.UK’s guidance on getting an export health certificate sets out the general process, but for pet owners unfamiliar with export paperwork, working out exactly what applies to your certificate is usually where things start to feel overwhelming.

Can I apply for an EHC myself? Yes. Exporters in England, Scotland and Wales can apply through the government’s EHC Online service, which links your application to the certifier who’ll complete and sign it. For a simple export this can be reasonably straightforward. For pet travel with any real veterinary requirements attached, the online application is only the administrative layer. The underlying health requirements still have to be met before anyone can certify the certificate. We’ll tell you what information we need and handle the veterinary side once we know what your EHC requires.

What might my pet need before an EHC can be issued?

These are the areas that come up most often, though not every certificate involves all of them.

Microchip. Your pet’s microchip number needs to match across every document in the export. If the chip has ever changed, or your pet has more than one, tell us before the appointment; a mismatch is one of the more common causes of hold-ups.

Rabies vaccination. Many EHCs require a valid rabies vaccination, but the timing requirements aren’t universal. Some destinations specify a minimum number of days between vaccination and export; others build in further steps if a titre test is also required. Don’t assume the timing that applied to a previous trip, or to an AHC, applies here.

Blood tests. Some destinations require laboratory testing, a rabies neutralising antibody titre test (RNATT) being a common example. Where this applies, timing is critical. The sample is often taken a set period after vaccination, and there may be a further wait before your pet can travel once the result is in. This is one of the main reasons an EHC journey needs planning well ahead of the date you actually want to fly.

Parasite treatment. Some destinations require treatment against particular parasites within a defined window before export. The product, the timing and how it’s recorded can all vary by destination, so a treatment that satisfies one country’s requirements won’t automatically satisfy another’s.

Import permits and supporting documents. Some countries require an import permit or other authorisation in addition to the EHC. Where that applies, the permit’s conditions can affect what the certificate itself needs to say, so we need to know about it early rather than after the certificate is already underway.

How far in advance should I start?

As early as you reasonably can, ideally as soon as international travel becomes a possibility rather than once flights are booked.

The certificate itself is often only issued shortly before departure, but the requirements underneath it can take months to satisfy. A single EHC journey might realistically involve microchipping, vaccination, a waiting period, a blood test, a laboratory turnaround, a further waiting period, parasite treatment, a final examination, and only then the certificate itself. Compress that sequence into two weeks and something usually has to give.

This matters most for destinations known for detailed import requirements. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and the United States are common examples, though it isn’t limited to them. If you know you’re considering international travel, get in touch before you commit to travel dates. The earlier we establish what your destination actually needs, the more room there is to fix anything that isn’t quite right.

Why some EHCs need more than one veterinary visit

With an AHC, the veterinary work is usually concentrated into a single appointment shortly before you fly. With an EHC, that often isn’t possible.

If your certificate requires a blood test, for example, a vet needs to take the sample, the sample needs to go to a laboratory, and the result needs to come back, sometimes with a mandatory waiting period attached, before final certification can happen. A treatment that has to be given within a set window before departure might also need its own appointment, separate from both the sampling visit and the final sign-off.

In practice, this can mean a preliminary visit for examination or sampling, a second visit once a result is available or a treatment is due, and a final visit for certification itself. We’ll set out the likely pattern of appointments for your journey once we know what your EHC involves, rather than assuming every export follows the same shape.

How much does an Export Health Certificate cost?

There isn’t a single sensible price for an EHC, and we’d rather explain why than quote you a number that may not hold up once we know your actual journey.

Our EHC prices start from £300 (see our current pricing), but the amount of veterinary and administrative work behind that figure can vary a great deal. What drives the cost includes:

• the destination country and which certificate applies

• the species and number of animals travelling

• whether blood tests or specific treatments are required

• whether an import permit or additional supporting paperwork is needed

• how much documentation has to be reviewed and prepared

• whether the certificate can be completed in one visit or needs to be built up over several

• how much time the preparation and certification actually take

• how urgent the timeline is

The part that catches people out most is the multi-visit journey described above. A destination that requires a preliminary sample, a laboratory result and a separate final certification visit simply involves more veterinary time than a destination where a single home visit and examination is enough, and the price reflects that difference in work rather than an arbitrary mark-up.

If you’d like an accurate quote rather than a starting figure, tell us your destination, your pet’s details and your travel timeline and we’ll set out what’s involved and what it’s likely to cost before you commit to anything.

What happens during the EHC process?

The exact steps depend on your destination, but the overall shape is usually similar.

We establish the requirements. We need your destination, travel dates, route, ownership details and your pet’s information so we can identify the correct EHC and everything that supports it.

We work backwards from your departure date. Once we know what’s required, we map out when vaccinations, tests, treatments and examinations need to happen relative to when you want to travel.

We prepare what we can in advance. Where possible, we get the certificate and supporting documentation ready ahead of the final appointment, rather than starting from a blank form on the day.

We carry out the veterinary work. Depending on your certificate, this might include scanning the microchip, checking vaccination records, taking blood samples, administering treatments, or a clinical examination, sometimes across more than one visit, as above.

The certificate is completed and certified. Once every requirement has been satisfied, the Official Veterinarian completes and certifies the EHC.

We treat each EHC as its own export rather than trying to run every journey through an identical process.

Complex or multi-country itineraries

If your route involves more than one country, or your travel plans might change after the certificate is prepared, tell us as early as possible.

An EHC is generally issued for a specific export, destination and set of circumstances. A change to your departure date, route or destination, or a change of who’s travelling with your pet, can mean the certificate no longer matches the journey it was written for. In some cases a new certificate is needed. This isn’t something you want to discover at check-in.

If your journey involves multiple countries, an unusual routing, or a change of plan after your EHC has already been prepared, contact us and we’ll work through what it means for your paperwork.

Does an EHC guarantee my pet will be let into the destination country?

No, and this is worth understanding before you travel rather than after.

An EHC certifies that the requirements covered by that specific certificate have been met. Border and veterinary authorities in the destination country are still responsible for checking your pet and their documentation on arrival. A correctly completed EHC gives you the best possible position going into that check, but it doesn’t remove the destination country’s own authority to inspect and decide.

EHCs for commercial movements and changes of ownership

An EHC can be required even when a journey doesn’t look “commercial” in the everyday sense of the word. This can include a sale, a transfer of ownership, certain rehoming movements, or any circumstance that falls outside the definition of non-commercial pet travel.

The distinction matters because these movements are subject to different certification requirements from ordinary pet travel. A journey that looks, at first glance, like a normal trip abroad can require an EHC rather than an AHC once you factor in that the pet’s ownership is changing as part of it.

If you’re buying, selling, rehoming or transferring ownership of a dog, cat or ferret across a border, tell us that at the outset. Don’t plan around an AHC on the assumption that it will cover a movement it wasn’t designed for.

Common EHC mistakes

Leaving it too late. Some of the underlying requirements, such as vaccination timing and blood tests, need months rather than weeks.

Assuming an EHC works like an AHC. It doesn’t. See our AHC guide for how that process differs, particularly on timing and the number of appointments involved.

Working from an old certificate or an old trip. Requirements and certificate versions change. Always check the current listing on GOV.UK rather than relying on what a previous journey needed.

Booking the final vet appointment before checking the requirements. The order matters: establish what’s needed first, then work backwards from your departure date.

Overlooking supporting documents. An EHC is sometimes only one part of what your destination needs. An import permit is a common example of something that runs alongside it, not instead of it.

Assuming a single visit will cover everything. Some exports do need more than one appointment, for the reasons set out above.

Getting timing slightly wrong. A test or treatment carried out a few days too early or too late may not satisfy the certificate, even if everything else is correct.

Not flagging a change of plan. A different date, route or accompanying person after the EHC has been prepared can mean the paperwork no longer matches the journey.

How The London Travel Vet handles your EHC

International pet travel outside the standard EU route tends to feel more complicated because you’re often working with several requirements at once: vaccination, testing, permits, timing, all interacting with each other.

We start by establishing exactly where you’re going, when, who owns the pet, who’s travelling with them, and whether ownership is changing. From there, we work backwards from your departure date to identify what needs to happen and in what order, and we prepare as much of the documentation as possible ahead of your appointments rather than starting from scratch on the day.

Where your export needs more than one veterinary visit, we’ll explain why and how those visits fit together before you commit to a schedule. Because we carry out EHC appointments at clients’ homes across London, the veterinary side of a multi-visit export doesn’t mean repeated trips to a practice.

Our aim isn’t simply to get a signature on an EHC. It’s to make sure the veterinary work behind it has actually been completed correctly, in the right order, and within the timeframes your destination requires.

If you’re planning an international journey with your pet, get in touch before you book flights if you can. The earlier we know what your destination requires, the more options we have if testing, additional vaccination or other preparation turns out to be needed.

Talk to us about your pet’s EHC →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Export Health Certificate?

An EHC is an official veterinary certificate confirming that an animal meets the health requirements of the country it’s being exported to. The exact certificate and its requirements depend on the destination and the circumstances of the export.

Does my pet need an EHC or an AHC?

It depends on your journey. An AHC generally covers non-commercial pet travel from Great Britain to the EU; see our AHC guide for that process. An EHC applies where the destination or the nature of the movement requires it, which includes many journeys outside the EU and certain commercial movements or changes of ownership.

Does my pet need an EHC to travel outside the EU?

Often, yes, but not automatically. It depends on the specific destination’s requirements. Use the Find an export health certificate service, or ask us to confirm what your particular route needs.

Does my pet need an EHC if they’re being sold or rehomed?

Potentially. A change of ownership or certain rehoming movements can fall outside non-commercial travel rules, which can mean an EHC rather than an AHC is required. Tell us the circumstances before making travel arrangements.

How do I find the correct EHC?

Start with the government’s Find an export health certificate service and search by destination. This tells you the certificate and supporting documents currently required. If you’re stuck, contact us and we will be happy to assist you.

Can I apply for an EHC myself?

Yes. Exporters in England, Scotland and Wales can apply through EHC Online. Your certifier, an Official Veterinarian in most pet travel cases, then completes and certifies it once the underlying requirements are met.

How much does an EHC cost?

There’s no fixed price, because the veterinary work varies significantly by destination, certificate, testing and number of visits required. Our EHC prices start from £300; contact us with your destination and travel dates for an accurate quote.

Why do EHC prices vary so much?

Because the veterinary work behind them varies so much. A destination needing only an examination and certification requires far less time than one needing blood tests, treatments, an import permit and multiple appointments spread over weeks or months.

How far in advance should I arrange an EHC?

As early as possible, ideally as soon as you’re considering the trip rather than once it’s booked. Some requirements, particularly blood tests and vaccination timing, can take months to satisfy.

Will my pet need blood tests?

Some destinations require them, such as a rabies neutralising antibody titre test; others don’t. Where a blood test is required, the timing around vaccination and any subsequent waiting period is usually critical.

Will my pet need an import permit?

Some destinations require one in addition to the EHC. Where that applies, we need to know so the certificate and the permit’s conditions line up correctly.

Will I need more than one veterinary appointment?

Possibly. Some EHCs can be completed in a single visit; others need a preliminary visit for sampling or treatment, followed by a further visit once a result is available, and a final certification visit.

Can an EHC be completed at home?

In many cases, yes. We carry out EHC appointments at clients’ homes across London. Whether the full process can be done at home depends on what your particular certificate requires.

Can someone else travel with my pet?

This depends on the specific certificate and destination requirements rather than a single rule that applies to every EHC. Tell us who owns the pet and who’s travelling, and we’ll confirm what your certificate needs to reflect.

Does an EHC guarantee my pet will be allowed into the destination country?

No. It confirms the requirements covered by that certificate have been met. The destination country’s border authorities remain responsible for checking your pet and documentation on arrival.

Can an EHC be used for the return journey?

Not necessarily. An EHC is issued for a specific export and destination, so you shouldn’t assume that the certificate used for your outward journey will cover your return. Returning to Great Britain is governed by separate import requirements, which depend on the country you’re travelling from and the circumstances of the journey.

What happens if my travel plans change?

Tell us as soon as you know. A change of date, route, destination or accompanying person can mean the certificate no longer matches your journey, and in some cases a new certificate will be needed.

Can The London Travel Vet help with complicated or multi-country journeys?

Yes. Tell us your full itinerary and we’ll establish exactly what’s required, in what order, and how the veterinary appointments need to be scheduled around it.

Getting your pet abroad on an EHC is manageable, but only if the paperwork is approached in the right order and started early enough. If you’re travelling from London with your dog, cat or ferret and think you might need an EHC, the safest first step is to establish exactly what your destination requires before you book anything else.

Talk to The London Travel Vet about your EHC →

We’ll help you work out what your pet needs, when it needs to happen, and how the veterinary process fits around your travel plans.