Pet Transport from Vietnam to the UK

Vietnam is not on the GB listed country schedule, which means the full non-listed process applies: an ISO microchip, a rabies vaccination given no earlier than 12 weeks of age, a rabies blood test …

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22-28

Weeks lead time needed

Start this early minimum

None

Quarantine on arrival

Very High

Route complexity

Airlines on this route

Lead time needed

22-28 weeks

Quarantine

None

Route complexity

Very High

Airlines

4 carriers on this route

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In short: Preparing to move a pet from Vietnam to United Kingdom typically takes around 22-28 weeks. There is no routine quarantine on arrival for compliant pets. A rabies titre test is required, which adds a fixed waiting period, so start early.

Regulations checked September 2026

Reviewed by Marcus Webb, Senior Pet Relocation Consultant on 2 September 2026

Step by step

The Vietnam to United Kingdom import process

Start of planning.

Confirm ISO microchip pre-dates rabies vaccination.

Responsible: Vet

At least 30 days before the blood draw.

Rabies vaccination, given no earlier than 12 weeks of age. The titre test blood draw must be at least 30 days after it.

Responsible: DAH-authorised vet

Blood draw date determines earliest GB entry.

Titre test blood draw, analysed at an APHA (EU) approved laboratory. The three calendar month GB waiting period starts from the draw date, not from the result date.

Responsible: Your vet, who sends the sample to a laboratory on the EU-approved list

4-8 weeks before travel.

Book manifested cargo with an approved transport company on an approved route. Confirm the carrier and the arrival airport are on the current GOV.UK approved list before paying.

Responsible: Owner or agent

Within 10 days of the certificate issue date.

DAH-authorised vet examines the pet and issues the Great Britain pet health certificate, then DAH endorses it. Your pet must enter Great Britain within 10 days of the issue date. Dogs: praziquantel tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before the pet lands in Great Britain, counted back from the landing time and not the departure time, and recorded on the certificate.

Responsible: DAH vet

Travel day.

Pet arrives at an approved airport, usually Heathrow, as manifested cargo. Documentation checked before release.

Responsible: Airline cargo

Requirements

United Kingdom entry requirements

Every item below must be in place before your pet can enter. We verify and track each one.

Microchip

ISO 11784/11785 microchip required. Must be implanted before the rabies vaccination.

Rabies vaccination

Current valid rabies vaccination given when the pet was at least 12 weeks old. A vaccination given earlier does not count for Great Britain and the whole sequence has to start again. At least 21 days must elapse after the first vaccination before travel. On this unlisted route the 30-day wait to the blood draw and the three calendar months after it stack on top, so a puppy or kitten from Vietnam is realistically around seven months old at arrival.

Rabies titre test

Required. Vietnam is not on the GB listed country schedule. Blood must be drawn at least 30 days after the rabies vaccination and tested at an APHA (EU) approved rabies serology laboratory, from inside or outside the EU. Result at least 0.5 IU/ml. Three calendar months must pass after the blood draw date before GB entry. A result from a laboratory that is not on the approved list does not count, and the mistake is usually discovered after the three-month wait has already been served. Confirm the laboratory is on the current approved list before the sample is drawn.

Quarantine

No routine quarantine with correct documentation. Penalty quarantine up to 4 months if documentation is wrong.

Import permit

Not required when the movement counts as a pet move rather than a commercial consignment. GOV.UK sets out the steps as microchip, rabies vaccination, the 21-day wait, a Great Britain pet health certificate and, for dogs, tapeworm treatment, with no import licence among them. There is a condition attached: if the pet arrives more than five days before or after you, or ownership is changing hands, the movement becomes a commercial import under the Balai rules, with a different certificate and a heavier documentary burden. Every routing from Vietnam is manifested cargo, so line the pet's arrival date up with your own. Source: GOV.UK, bring-pet-to-great-britain.

Health certificate

Great Britain pet health certificate from a DAH-authorised vet, endorsed by DAH. Your pet must enter Great Britain within 10 days of the date the certificate is issued.

Leaving Vietnam

Export requirements

Health certificate

Official health certificate from a Department of Animal Health (DAH) authorised vet, endorsed by DAH under MARD, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as Vietnam's competent authority. Must comply with the Great Britain pet health certificate format. Your pet must enter Great Britain within 10 days of the certificate being issued, so allow for the endorsement step between the vet examination and the issue date.

Costs

What this route typically costs

Rabies titre test at a laboratory on the EU-approved list, plus sample shipping, since the sample almost always leaves Vietnam

DAH health certificate and endorsement

IATA-compliant crate

Cargo fee: HAN/SGN to LHR

Tapeworm treatment for dogs, given in Vietnam 24 to 120 hours before landing in Great Britain

Agent fee

Critical points

Three calendar months must pass between the titre test blood draw and arrival in Great Britain. That is 89 to 92 days depending on the month, so count calendar months, not 90 days. Start planning at least 6 months before your target UK entry date.

Vietnam is not GB-listed. No waiver applies to the titre test or the three-month wait.

The Great Britain pet health certificate must be used within 10 days of the date it is issued, and DAH endorsement sits between the vet examination and issue, so work backwards from the landing date and leave room for the endorsement.

Great Britain admits pets only on an approved route, with an approved transport company, into an approved airport: Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Newcastle for scheduled services, Cardiff for charters. Check the current GOV.UK list against your exact carrier and routing before booking.

Your pet must arrive within five days of you. If the arrivals are further apart than that, or ownership changes hands, the move becomes a commercial import under the Balai rules with different paperwork.

Airlines

Approved carriers on this route

Airline	Notes	Type
Vietnam Airlines	Vietnam Airlines Cargo from Hanoi (HAN) or Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) to London Heathrow via connections. Flag carrier. Live animal cargo service. No cabin pets on international routes.	Cargo Only
British Airways	BA World Cargo via IAG Cargo and PetAir UK. Connecting routing from Vietnam to Heathrow. No cabin pets. UK documentation support via PetAir UK.	Cargo Only
Qatar Airways	Cargo via Doha (DOH). HAN or SGN to LHR with one transit. Live animal service from Hamad International. Good frequency from both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.	Cargo Only
Cathay Pacific	Via HKG. Vietnam to LHR via Hong Kong. Strong live animal handling at HKG. Good Vietnam-HKG frequency.	Cargo Only

At a glance: Vietnam to UK vs. Southeast Asia to UK

Requirement	Vietnam to UK	Singapore to UK	Thailand to UK	Malaysia to UK
On the GB listed register	No	Yes	No	Yes
Titre test required	Yes	No	Yes	No
Three-month wait from the blood draw	Yes	No	Yes	No
Export authority	DAH Vietnam	AVS Singapore	DLD Thailand	DVS Malaysia
Minimum timeline	22-28 weeks	4-8 weeks	22-28 weeks	4-8 weeks

Listed status is the key differentiator for Southeast Asian routes to Great Britain. Singapore and Malaysia are on the GB listed register, so a pet from either needs no rabies blood test and no three-month wait. Vietnam and Thailand are not listed, so both face the full non-listed process: a blood test at an approved laboratory and three calendar months from the draw date. One caution for Malaysian owners: the listed register carries both “Malaysia” and “Peninsular Malaysia” as separate entries, so confirm on GOV.UK that your own state is covered before relying on the listed-country route.

Airline comparison: Vietnam to UK

Airline	Route	Pet policy	Transit	Notes
Vietnam Airlines	HAN/SGN to LHR via connections	Cargo only	1-2 stops	Flag carrier. Via partner hubs. Confirm live animal availability
Qatar Airways	HAN/SGN to LHR via DOH	Cargo only	1 stop (DOH)	Via Doha. Good frequency from both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
Cathay Pacific	HAN/SGN to LHR via HKG	Cargo only	1 stop (HKG)	Via Hong Kong. Strong live animal handling at HKG
British Airways	Vietnam to LHR via connections	Cargo only	1+ stops	Via IAG Cargo and PetAir UK. Less direct routing from Vietnam

Qatar Airways via Doha and Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong are the most commonly used routings for Vietnam-UK pet moves. Both hubs have established live animal handling, and both routes involve only one transit stop. Vietnam Airlines operates via partner connections and is worth checking for frequency from your departure city.

Before you book any of them, check the approved route. Great Britain admits a pet only on an approved route, with an approved transport company, into an approved airport, and the approved commercial arrival airports are Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle, with Cardiff approved for charter operators only. This is a legal condition rather than a quality preference, and using an unapproved route is one of the things that triggers penalty quarantine. GOV.UK revises the list, so check it against your exact carrier and routing before you pay.

DAH export documentation: what the health certificate needs to cover

The Department of Animal Health (DAH), which sits under MARD, is responsible for pet export health certificates from Vietnam. The certificate must be issued by a DAH-authorised vet and endorsed by DAH as Vietnam’s official competent authority.

For GB entry from Vietnam, the certificate must record: the ISO microchip number and implantation date (confirming it pre-dates the rabies vaccination), the complete vaccination history, the titre test result (date, laboratory, and result value), and a statement that the pet was examined and found healthy. Your pet must then enter Great Britain within 10 days of the certificate being issued.

The 10-day window runs from the date the certificate is issued to the date the pet arrives in Great Britain. The examination and the issue date are not always the same day once the DAH endorsement sits between them, so plan the final vet visit with that gap in mind. For dogs, the tapeworm treatment (praziquantel, given 24 to 120 hours before the pet lands in Great Britain, counted back from the landing time rather than the departure time) must also be recorded in the certificate.

FAQ

Common questions about this route

Allow 22-28 weeks minimum. The three calendar months that must pass after the titre test blood draw is the key constraint, and a rabies vaccination given before your pet was 12 weeks old does not count for Great Britain, which sets a practical floor of around seven months of age at arrival.

Yes. Vietnam is not on the GB listed country schedule. A rabies titre test is mandatory. Blood must be drawn at least 30 days after a valid rabies vaccination and tested at an APHA (EU) approved rabies serology laboratory, the result must be at least 0.5 IU/ml, and three calendar months must pass from the blood draw date before your pet can enter Great Britain. A result from a laboratory that is not on the approved list does not count, so confirm the laboratory before the blood is drawn.

Qatar Airways via Doha and Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong are the most commonly used options for Vietnam-UK pet moves. Both involve one transit and have established live animal handling at their hubs. Vietnam Airlines also operates on this corridor via partner connections. Whichever you choose, the carrier and the routing must be on the current GOV.UK approved list and the pet must land at an approved airport: Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Newcastle for scheduled services. Check that before you book.

No. UK law requires all pets to enter Great Britain as manifested cargo. No airline offers cabin pet travel into the UK. Your pet travels in the temperature-controlled cargo hold.

No routine quarantine applies, provided the documentation is correct and complete and the pet arrives on an approved route into an approved airport. If the paperwork is wrong, the three calendar month wait is short, or the route is not approved, penalty quarantine of up to 4 months applies at the owner’s expense.

Airline guides

Vietnam Airlines
British Airways
Qatar Airways
Cathay Pacific

Breed guides

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Sources

Requirements on this page were checked against the authorities below. Rules change, so confirm current conditions with the relevant authority before you travel.

DEFRA · UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
IATA · International Air Transport Association, Live Animals Regulations