Bringing a pet into the Netherlands: the 90-day rule that ruins move dates

Three things decide how hard this is: whether you are coming from inside the EU, whether the country you are leaving is on the EU’s list of low-rabies countries, and whether you are moving a dog or a cat.

Get those three straight and the rest is a checklist.

Get them wrong and your animal is turned back at the border, which does happen.

Coming from another EU country

The simple case.

Your dog, cat or ferret needs a microchip, a valid rabies vaccination and an EU pet passport.

A tattoo counts instead of a chip only if it is clearly legible and you can prove it was applied before 3 July 2011.

The timing is the part people get wrong.

The first rabies vaccination cannot be given before the animal is 12 weeks old, and you must wait at least 21 full days after it before travelling.

That is why the effective minimum age for entry is 15 weeks, and why a puppy bought three weeks before your move cannot come with you.

You may bring up to five animals as a private traveller.

More than five moves you into commercial rules, unless they are going to a competition or show, in which case they must also be at least six months old.

The Netherlands does not require tapeworm treatment on entry.

That obligation applies to dogs going to Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Northern Ireland, where the treatment must be given between 24 and 120 hours before travel.

Plenty of vets outside the Netherlands will offer it anyway and it does no harm, but nobody here will ask for it.

Coming from outside the EU

Now it matters whether your country is on the EU’s list.

If it is not on the list, it counts as a high-rabies-risk country, and Turkey and Morocco are the examples the Dutch food safety authority names.

From a listed country, the rules are close to the EU ones: chip, rabies vaccination from 12 weeks of age, travel permitted from 21 days after that first vaccination, minimum age 15 weeks.

Instead of an EU pet passport you carry an EU animal health certificate.

You may only enter the EU through a designated travellers’ point of entry, and you sign a declaration that the animal is not changing owner.

From a high-risk country, add a blood test.

The chip goes in before the rabies vaccination, the vaccination is given, and then blood is taken to measure the rabies antibody titre.

Your animal may only travel to the EU from 90 days after that blood sample was taken, and it must be at least seven months old when it arrives in the Netherlands.

That 90-day wait is the single biggest planning problem in this whole article.

It is not waived for a job start date or a tenancy.

The one exception is that the wait does not apply if the blood test was carried out in the Netherlands or another EU country before the animal left, which is relevant if you are taking a pet out on a posting and bringing it back.

If you are coming from Great Britain

Read this twice, because a lot of outdated advice is still circulating.

If you live in England, Scotland or Wales you cannot use a pet passport to enter the EU, even one issued by an EU vet.

The UK government’s own guidance says so in those words.

What you need instead is an animal health certificate from your vet.

It is valid for 10 days for entry into the EU, then for 6 months of onward travel within the EU and 6 months for re-entry to Great Britain.

You need a new one for every separate trip, which is why people who move here permanently get a Dutch EU pet passport from a Dutch vet once they have arrived and stop dealing with certificates altogether.

The microchip and rabies rules are the same as everywhere: chip before or at the same time as the rabies vaccination, and at least 21 full days between the first vaccination and travel.

What you have to do after you arrive, and almost nobody tells you

Dogs must be registered.

The Netherlands has had a chip and registration duty since 1 April 2013, and a dog brought into the country has to be registered at one of the designated government portals within two weeks of arrival.

The only exemption is for foreign owners staying less than three months.

Not doing it risks a fine.

There is a second step that catches people and it is genuinely obscure.

Before a vet can register your imported dog, you need a UBN, a livestock location number, from RVO.

It applies even if you have imported exactly one dog, once, as a private person.

You apply online with your DigiD, the number is active immediately, and the Raad van Beheer’s own guidance puts the one-off fee at 23.02 euro for 2026.

So the order is: get a DigiD, which needs your address registration and your BSN, then the UBN, then the vet registration, all inside two weeks of arrival.

If your own paperwork is slow, tell your vet, because they deal with this constantly.

Cats are different: chipping and registration are not compulsory for cats, only recommended.

Do it anyway.

A registered chip is the only realistic way a lost cat comes home, and it costs a consultation.

The bits that are not about paperwork

Check your tenancy before you ship an animal.

Dutch landlords routinely write a no-pets clause into private rental contracts, and the position is a good deal less generous than tenants expect, as the tenant rights article explains.

Ask in writing before you sign, not after the cat arrives.

Register with a practice early rather than on the day something goes wrong.

Vets in The Hague will want the animal’s history and its passport, and the out-of-hours system described in the vets and emergency care article works far better if you are already someone’s patient.

And if the honest answer to all of this is that the 90-day blood test wait or the flight is too much for an elderly animal, the alternative is worth looking at properly rather than dismissing: adopting from a Hague shelter costs less than the import paperwork and the animal arrives vaccinated, chipped and registered.

Once the dog is here, the local rules take over, and The Hague’s are not the same as your last city’s.

Dog tax, registration and the park rules covers what you can and cannot do with it on the beach and in the parks.

Sources

• LICG, invoereisen per land Europa: “Verplichte chip (of een goed leesbare tatoeage mits deze bewijsbaar is gezet voor 3 juli 2011)”; “Inenting tegen hondsdolheid (rabies) is verplicht. De eerste keer minstens 21 dagen voor vertrek inenten”; “Verplicht EU dierenpaspoort”; “Pups, kittens en frettenpups moeten dus tenminste 15 weken oud zijn om Nederland binnen te mogen komen”; “Alle honden die vanaf 1 april 2013 Nederland binnengebracht worden en langer dan drie maanden blijven, moeten verplicht geregistreerd worden bij een van de daarvoor aangewezen portalen”
• LICG, invoereisen per land buiten Europa: mandatory chip placed before the rabies vaccination, mandatory health certificate, an owner’s declaration that the animal is not changing ownership, entry only through special points of entry, and “Honden, katten en fretten jonger dan 15 weken mogen niet worden ingevoerd”
• NVWA, ik neem mijn hond of kat mee uit een land buiten de EU: “Uw dier moet minstens 12 weken oud zijn als het de eerste rabiesvaccinatie krijgt”; “Reist uw hond of kat vanuit of via een land buiten EU met hoog risico op rabies, zoals Turkije of Marokko? Dan is een bloedtest verplicht”; “Uw dier kan pas vanaf 90 dagen na de bloedafname vanuit een land buiten de EU naar de EU reizen”; “Uw dier moet minimaal 7 maanden oud zijn als het naar Nederland komt”; for listed countries “Uw huisdier mag vanaf 21 dagen na de eerste rabiesvaccinatie naar de EU reizen. Het dier moet dan minimaal 15 weken oud zijn”; “U mag de EU alleen binnenkomen via de daarvoor aangewezen punten van binnenkomst”; the 90-day wait not required where the blood test was done in the Netherlands or another EU country before departure
• European Commission, Your Europe, travelling with pets: microchip in line with Annex IV or a tattoo applied before 3 July 2011; first vaccination no earlier than 12 weeks and at least 21 days before travel; the European pet passport mandatory for travel between EU countries and the EU animal health certificate for travel into the EU from outside it; up to five pets as a private traveller, more than five requiring proof of competition entry and a minimum age of six months; tapeworm treatment against Echinococcus multilocularis required only for dogs travelling to Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway or Northern Ireland, between 24 and 120 hours before travel
• GOV.UK, taking your pet abroad: “If you live in England, Scotland or Wales, you cannot use a pet passport to enter the EU – even if it was issued in the EU”; an animal health certificate valid “10 days, for entry into the EU”, “6 months, for onward travel within the EU after you enter the EU” and “6 months, for re-entry to Great Britain”; “You will need to get a new animal health certificate for each separate trip”; “You must get your pet microchipped before, or at the same time as, their rabies vaccination”
• LICG, chipjedier.nl, chip en registratie verplicht voor honden: all dogs arriving in the Netherlands since 1 April 2013 must be chipped; “Binnen 2 weken na aankomst in Nederland moet de hond worden geregistreerd”; the duty does not apply to dogs of foreign keepers staying less than three months; non-compliance risks a fine
• LICG, chippen en registreren: chip registration is not compulsory for cats but is recommended; importing a dog requires a UBN number from RVO
• RVO, UBN niet-bedrijfsmatige houder van honden, and Raad van Beheer, Houden van Honden: a UBN is required even for importing a single dog as a private keeper, applied for online with DigiD and active immediately, at a one-off fee quoted as 23.02 euro for 2026; the first registration of an imported dog is done by a vet within two weeks of arrival