Changes to EU pet Passport Scheme

A snowHead

It looks like from 22 April 2026, it will not be possible for non-EU residents to travel using EU issued pet passports. Therefore, every GB resident will require an AHC regardless when travelling with pets.

Annoying, inconvenient and an extra cost to travelling. Oh well....

I hope the changes AHC templates will make them simpler.

https://www.improve-ov.com/instructions/instructions-file.php?unique_id=69e207d333a2b&file_type=Briefing+Note&action=view]

A snowHead

This does not accord of my current understanding. Transitional provisions mean that UK pets may travel with existing passports, but will not be issued with new passports from the date given.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I was in my French vets last week getting the worming tablets & while he was checking dogs passport he reminded us that he would need rabies jab before end of the year, he asked if we want it now.
As we are back in summer with dog we decided to just do it then, he never said anything about this.

I know it is a EU pet passport but our says France on the front, does that make any difference?

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I posted this before https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/21/pet-passport-dodge-travel-uk-eu-animal-health-certificate

The link above makes it clear that any EU pet passports issued to individuals whose main residence is not in an EU state (or Northern Ireland) are invalid, it is not simply a case of new documents not being valid

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. · I'm travelling 26/4/26 and am checking with Le Shuttle right now.

I'm travelling 26/4/26 and am checking with Le Shuttle right now.

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@Matt1959, Please report back

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Here's the web chat with Le Shuttle

15:47:07) Matthew T: I have a dog with an EU Pet Passport issued by a French Vet (we have a property in France) on 17/2/26. The rabies jab expires May 2027 and I have an earlier passport with details of when the rabies jab was administered. Will the 2026 passport be acceptable to travel UK to France on 26/4/26. I do not have an AHC.

(15:52:40) Harvey: I see. Do you have two pet passports? If so, have these been issued by an EU vet?

(15:54:41) Matthew T: The new passport was issued because the old one had run out of spaces to record the worming treatments. Both passports were issued by the same French vet.

(15:55:10) Matthew T: I will bring both the old and new passports with me.

(15:55:56) Harvey: Then yes, this will be fine. You need to bring both passports with you for our pet check-in to ensure that there were no gaps between what the old and new passport state in terms of rabies vaccination.

After all it is free

@Matt1959, It would be certainly useful to know how you get on. Eurotunnel have set themselves up as the authority on all things pet passport related. Seen many stressed people over the years being told they can't get on board with their dog due to some minor issue with the paperwork

Will report back after the 26th.

Le Shuttle know I have a dog on the booking, surely they will email if they intend the adopt the new rules within 5 days of the APHA notification.

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@Matt1959, Is that your whole conversation because you haven't told them you are not an EU resident.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I really hope it works out for you, Matt. The Pet Passport is nothing more than a document tying an animal to it's microchip and subsequent vaccination - all this poo-poo about residency is cowdoo bureaucracy!

This though... "An EU pet passport, issued to or held by a pet owner who is resident in GB," is the key phrase although I doubt (and hope) the stamp wielders at Pet Passport Control are willing and able to delve that deep ....fingers crossed they don't, but they'll surely have access to the booking address you used for the crossing.

snow reports

This is advice for vets not for border control. Le Shuttle have been contacted today by many people and have given the same response . That passports are still valid as long as they have room for future treatments.

@Snowbikers,You're right, I didn't. Tbh my motivation is to make sure that if I'm turned away on Sunday 26th that I've got some legitimacy to get a foc reschedule to another day.

They know I've got a UK passport and I book from a UK address.

You know it makes sense.

@Hells Bells, I hope you are right, I dont have a lot of confidence in Le Shuttle, past performance doesnt give confidence in their statements.

Assuming the document above is genuine it says

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Matt1959, I really hope Hells Bells is right for all of us with current EU passports.
Good luck. I'm travelling the other way a couple of days later

A snowHead

Eurotunnel probably carry more dogs (and cats and ferrets) to the EU then all the other routes out together.My feeling is that they probably know what they are doing.

A snowHead

You would think that they would have had posters up in the PRC if change was coming.
There wasn’t anything last week

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

This dictat to the vets seems to have caught everyone on the hop.
But UK vets aren't the target audience....they don't issue EU passports, why are they the channel when port operators seem to be dealing with it differently?

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This is the APHA interpretation of a change in the rules by the EU. The APHA sends these out to vets to advise them of changes. Pre-Brexit there were similar announcements by APHA that our dogs would have to have rabies vaccine titre tests in case of a 'no-deal Brexit'. We spent several hundred pounds to get the blood tests and repeat rabies vaccines done when one of the dogs did not have enough antibodies. Then three weeks later, it was all un-necessary. I'm taking it with a pinch of salt right now, although I might be more concerned if I was travelling in the next couple of weeks. There's no announcements for pet owners on gov.uk at the moment, but TBH, I wouldn't expect there to be until the date of implementation, as that is what has happened in the past.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We were same as HB ; frightened into following the rules so had the titre tests to be able to get the AHC to get to NI where we then obtained EU passports. Complete waste of time - no checks on the Stranraer ferry and we started from scratch with the NI vet.

Alluding to my earlier response to Matt..- in the dog passport control do they have access to your home address and tax records to be able to accurately assess where you live or will it be enough that the EU passport and dog match up as before.

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@Hells Bells, we went through the same thing with the titre tests, failing the first one and needing another rabies vaccine and a second test all costing hundreds of pounds. Ultimately all for nothing but as we were due out in France over the transition period, we couldn't risk not having it. Just one of those things but reassuring to know she was properly vaccinated for rabies I guess.

I'm trying to work out who would police any changes. I can't see the PRC having any authority to check residency and so they could check the pets but it would be up to border control to enforce which is unlikely to happen. Who knows? As far as Eurotunnel are concerned, surely passports are much easier to deal with than the lengthy AHC documents. I guess the APHA notification is update vets on the latest legal position to advise their clients regardless of what actually happens on the ground.

Fortunately we are not currently impacted yet as we lost our EU passport holding boxer in December and our new girl is only 10 weeks old, so too young to have the rabies vaccine yet. For the first couple of trips we were going to use AHCs whilst we arranged a passport so we have time to watch and see what happens. However, DEFRA say they are internally targeting to get UK back into the pet travel scheme by 2027 and so maybe we'll not bother. We shall see though. In any case, we'll probably still do the iCAD registration just so she is still identifiable on the French database.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Scamper, why would Eurotunnel staff at the Pet Passport office have access to tax records? They are not employed by any government organisation, either EU or UK. They may be able to see the address you use in your booking account, but that is not necessarily your UK one.

After all it is free

@Hells Bells, I don't expect them to, more wondering if the country taxes are paid in would be available to them, National Insurance number.. stuff like that which would identify your country of residence?
Would they go as far as demanding to see something with an address on - utility bill, bank statement etc?
Who knows at this stage?

Scamper, but it's easy to prove your country of residence.

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Not directly related to passports but worth mentioning here is that only a few of the UK pet databases are part of the two or three pan European databases of which Europetnet is the largest. Petlog (Kennel Club) is on at least two of these but the majority aren't on any. It cost us about £20 to transfer from the one our pup came with.
Worth doing if your dog is of the "adventurous" type; like ours!

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@Scamper, Le Shuttle wont have access to things like tax records etc. For example in Germany there is a huge issue around data protection, there would be a big uproar if these sort of details were shared with a non German (or any) commercial organisation. In most countries (UK & Ireland not) everyone has an ID document with their name and registered address, so proving you are, say, a German resident is simple and easy. Clearly few UK residents will have a document proving EU residency.

Did have one thought. I dont believe there has been any changes in the regulations, EU Pet Passports were always only supposed to be issued in the country of residence of the owner / pet. Once the UK left the EU UK residents were no longer able to use them. That has always been the case. The fact that many have found a way around this is neither here or there. Up to now this element has not been enforced. Who knows if it will be in the future.

snow reports

We have EU identity card with EU address, will that be enough for us the keep using EU pet passport? Thanks

@Mucek07, welcome to snowHeads. Why wouldn't it be enough?

You know it makes sense.

With all the changes, as we live in UK but have EU passports for our dogs. Thanks

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Mucek07, ah OK, I did wonder after I'd posted if you were UK residents now. I think for the time being at least you will be OK, and if you are getting your dog's passport re-issued at a regular vets, then perhaps it will continue to be so, but nothing is really certain yet.

Not all people have a clear cut country of residence, or even a permanent address these days. Our dogs are registered with the French Icad system, and have French-issued pet passports with an address in France. I think the first dog we got the passport for, we were asked to give proof of our french address, which we did, providing our 'justificatif de domicile' from our electricity contract. After that those details have been copied from one dog's passport into the other.

A snowHead

I hope so, this is just ridiculous. More ways to grab money. Don't even know where to ask for clarification

A snowHead

@Mucek07,it is also the ridiculous validity for only one trip, and the sheer inconvenience of getting the AHC, as many UK vets won't issue them, or will only issue them at great expense. When we first had to get one for ours, we ended up getting it issued in Folkestone as no-one locally would do them. We've since had a couple from local Vets 4 pets too , but last time it was almost £250 (it was less than half that on the previous occasion). In all cases they were replaced by French ones. I'll keep my 'justificatif de domicile', the ICad registrations and the Taxe Foncieres bills with me I think.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Mucek07, This is not about money. When the UK decided to leave the EU the politicians then in charge made various decisions (no this isnt wanting to restart endless dull arguments!) one of which was for the UK to leave the Pet Passport scheme. This was an entirely voluntary decision, the UK could have remained in the system if it had wanted to as demonstrated by the fact that the UK seems likely to rejoin in the near future. One of the basis of the scheme is that the passports are issued in the place of residence of the pet and their "owners". A number of people who are solely residents of the UK (having a holiday home doesnt necessarily make you resident say in France) found that they could get passports from vets in France, Belgium etc. This makes life a lot easier but it is not strictly in line with the regulations. Up to now this has all been ignored. The hope is that this will continue to be the case but it is clearly irritating those same UK bureaucrats who never wanted the scheme in the first place (civil servants made it as difficult to implement as possible hence no pets in cabin inbound to UK).

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@munich_irish, I agree entirely that it isn't directly about money, but it does cause an awful lot of extra expense and anxiety for pet owners who travel frequently.
On our first trip to France with our dogs post-Brexit using the AHC we were offered the passports by the vets in France and encouraged to do so by PPC staff at Le Shuttle.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

This link just popped up on my FaceBook

https://www.improve-ov.com/instructions/instructions-file.php?unique_id=69e207d333a2b&file_type=Briefing+Note&action=view&fbclid=IwY2xjawRQhcxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR5jarj61wfwC80gkhP9KArgsMJZKAJX3cQE024ZQIGLEBQxOMI7MLfVzJob1g_aem_PuCUwCRYEME-NWPUPX3THQa

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Why would it be about money? Seems to me it's the EU tightening up on rules and it will means less money getting spent with EU Vets. (But much more money spent with UK ones).

It might be to do with the EU tightening up on non-EU people (e.g. me) getting EU benefits and putting pressure on the UK Govt.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Weathercam, yep. UK APHA briefing to UK vets made yesterday. Mentions nothing of the transition arrangements that are included in the EU documents allowing current holders to continue to use their passports.

After all it is free

The AHC is subject to absolutely random pricing and level of service (willing/unwilling) by vets.

We have used EasyPet who are very close to Le Shuttle in the UK.

Very friendly, very prompt.
I think it is about £100 per pet the first time they see you and to set it up on their system.
All subsequent AHCs are £70.
Email them in advance with your arrival time ( I think they are 24/7/365).
Arrive with dog...scan...leave within 5 minutes and 10 mins to the Shuttle.

Really excellent service.

@rungsp, yep. whatever happens, we'll suck it up, and fork out the cost. Leaving the dogs at home in kennels is also very expensive, and they aren't used to it. We're not travelling out again until early July, so we still have time for things to be clarified.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Ironically our French Residency Carte Séjours ran out last week and we'd heard nothing about our new cards following on from our interview down at the Préfecture in Gap in February, I emailed them and received an automated unhelpful reply which said could be 90-220 days and then 12hrs later received another one saying to make a RV to get the new ones which we're doing next week.

And then it's the more complex Carte Vitale as now I have an S1 in no longer a beneficiary of the OH.

Oh the joys of Brexshite which just keeps on giving rolling eyes

Help!!

Changes to EU pet Passport Scheme

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