What is pet passport?
Updated By PetymFacts checked against official sources on
Quick answer
India does not issue a pet passport; the EU pet passport is issued only by authorised vets to owners living in the EU. When people in India say pet passport, they usually mean the travel papers: microchip and vaccination records, a vet's health certificate, the AQCS export certificate, and the destination's own certificate or permit.
Also called pet passport india, EU pet passport, dog passport, pet travel documents.
Key facts
- An EU pet passport is issued by an authorised vet and only to pet owners who are resident in the EU. European Union (Your Europe)
- Pets coming into the EU from outside need an EU animal health certificate, issued by an official state vet no more than 10 days before arrival. European Union (Your Europe)
- Great Britain accepts pet passports issued in the EU and certain listed countries; India is not one of them, so a pet from India needs a Great Britain pet health certificate. GOV.UK
- To leave India, every pet needs AQCS's Certificate of Health for Export, valid for 10 days. AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
- To enter India, a pet dog or cat needs an Advance NOC from the ATITHI 2.0 portal before it can board. AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
Why does India not have a pet passport?
Because the pet passport is an EU document for movement between EU countries, not an international travel document that any country issues.
The EU pet passport records a pet's description, its microchip number, its rabies vaccination and other health records, and the owner's and vet's details. It stays valid for life as long as the rabies vaccination is kept up to date, and lets a pet move between EU countries. Only an authorised vet in the EU can issue one, and only to an owner who lives there.
No such booklet exists in India. Instead, each journey has its own set of papers, and the country you are going to decides most of them. That is why a search for "how to get a pet passport in India" leads, in practice, to AQCS, India's animal quarantine service, and to the destination country's rules.
What do people in India mean by a "pet passport"?
Usually one of these documents, or all of them together.
- Vaccination card
- The vet's record of your pet's vaccines, including rabies. Some owners call it the pet's passport or pet book; AQCS asks for the last year's vaccination record with an export application. AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
- Microchip certificate
- Proof of the pet's chip number. AQCS asks for it to export a pet, and most destinations tie the rabies vaccine to it. AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
- Vet's health or fitness certificate
- A registered vet's certificate that the pet is fit to travel, needed by AQCS and by airlines. AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
- AQCS export certificate
- The Certificate of Health for Export (Pet Animals), the document a pet needs to leave India. AQCS itself calls it "the NOC". AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
- Destination certificate
- The arriving country's own form, such as the Great Britain pet health certificate or the EU animal health certificate. GOV.UK
Which papers does your pet need instead of a passport?
It depends on the direction of travel and the destination. Each country page has the full list.
If your pet is leaving India for any country
An AQCS Certificate of Health for Export, collected in person with your pet, valid for 10 days, plus whatever the destination requires. Taking a pet abroad AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
If you are going to the UK
A Great Britain pet health certificate, a microchip, rabies vaccine and a rabies blood test; an Indian vaccination card is not a passport there. UK GOV.UK
If you are going to an EU country
An EU animal health certificate issued by an official state vet within 10 days of arrival, not a pet passport. European Union (Your Europe)
If you are bringing a pet into India
An Advance NOC on ATITHI 2.0 before the flight, with the vaccination, microchip and health certificates. Bringing a pet into India AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
If you are flying with your pet within India
No passport: the airline asks for a fit-to-fly certificate and the rabies vaccination record. By air: airlines compared Air India
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Questions owners ask
How do I get a pet passport in India?
- You cannot: India does not issue pet passports, and the EU pet passport is issued only to owners living in the EU. To take a pet abroad from India, you need the AQCS export health certificate plus the documents your destination country requires, such as a microchip, rabies vaccine and its own health certificate.
Can my pet travel to Europe from India with a pet passport?
- No. A pet coming from India needs an EU animal health certificate, issued by an official state vet no more than 10 days before arrival, along with a microchip and a valid rabies vaccination. Check the EU rules and the specific country's requirements before you book.
My pet already has an EU pet passport. Can it come to India?
- A passport does not replace India's own process. A pet dog or cat coming into India needs an Advance NOC from the ATITHI 2.0 portal, applied for at least 7 days before travel, with vaccination, microchip and health certificates. Carry the passport too, but upload the certificates AQCS asks for.
Keep reading
Related terms
More in travel and paperwork
- Advance NOCThe Advance NOC (No Objection Certificate) is the clearance a passenger must hold before a pet dog or cat can board a flight to India. You apply on CBIC's ATITHI 2.0 portal at least 7 days before travel, and AQCS issues it within 1 working day of checking your documents. Airlines will not board the pet without it.
- AQCSAQCS, Animal Quarantine and Certification Services, is the Government of India service under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying that examines pets and issues the health certificate a pet needs to leave India, and clears pets arriving. It has six stations: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Its fees are paid online through Bharatkosh.
- Dog boxA dog box is the compartment in a train's brake van, where a dog travels as luggage when its owner does not hold a whole First AC or First Class coupe or cabin. It is booked at the station's luggage office at least 3 hours before departure and charged at the Scale L rate on a fixed 30 kg.
- Export health certificateThe export health certificate, formally the Certificate of Health for Export (Pet Animals), is the document AQCS issues after examining a pet in person, without which a pet cannot leave India. AQCS calls it "the NOC". It costs Rs 500, paid online through Bharatkosh, is normally issued the same day and is valid for 10 days.
- Fit-to-fly certificateA fit-to-fly certificate is a registered vet's signed and stamped statement that a pet has been examined and is healthy enough to fly. Every Indian airline that carries pets asks for one, with the rabies vaccination record. How recent it must be differs: within 7 days on Air India, 15 days on Akasa Air, 48 hours on SpiceJet.
- Health certificateA pet health certificate is a vet's signed and stamped statement that your pet has been examined and is healthy, usually free of infectious disease and fit to travel. In India, Indian Railways, airlines and AQCS ask for one. The catch is timing: each wants a certificate issued within its own window, from 24 hours to 10 days.
- IATA pet crateAn IATA pet crate is a travel kennel built to the International Air Transport Association's Live Animals Regulations, Container Requirement 1, for pets flying in the hold. It must let the pet stand, turn and lie naturally, and be rigid, ventilated on all four sides, bolted together, with a water bowl filled from outside and the right labels.
- Scale LScale L is Indian Railways' luggage rate: its Scale P parcel rate plus 80%. A dog on a train is charged at Scale L on a fixed weight, whatever it weighs: 30 kg in the brake-van dog box, 60 kg if it rides with you in a First AC or First Class coupe or cabin. Distance does the rest.
- Transfer of residenceTransfer of residence is the customs category for a passenger moving to India after living abroad for two years or more. Under it, the passenger may bring up to two pet dogs or cats as baggage, with an Advance NOC from the ATITHI 2.0 portal. Anyone abroad for less than two years needs a different route, usually a DGFT licence.
Keep exploring
Sources
Each source was opened and read on the date shown. How Petym checks its sources
- European Union (Your Europe): EU rules on travelling with pets and other animals in the EU (last checked 01/09/2026) (opens in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Which pet travel document you need (opens in a new tab)
- AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying: Export of pets (dogs and cats) (opens in a new tab)
- AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying: Import of live pet dogs under the Livestock Importation Act, 1898: standard operating procedure (August 2026) (opens in a new tab)
- AQCS, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying: Application for import or export of pet animals, with the list of documents for export (opens in a new tab)
- Air India: Travelling with pets (opens in a new tab)
- DAHD (Trade), hosted by AQCS: OM 12 Mar 2026: facilitation in import of pet dogs and cats with stranded Indians in war-hit Middle East countries (identical to Wayback copy of dahd.gov.in PDF, 18 Mar 2026) (opens in a new tab)