Moving to Australia With a Dog or Cat

Ask one question before any other: which country will officially prepare and certify your pet for export, and which Australian group does it sit in? The answer shapes the tests, the timeline and even the length of quarantine. Your own citizenship is irrelevant; the pet's recent address is what counts.

DAFF's step-by-step guides say to allow at least six months, and its FAQ recommends starting at least seven months before export for a Group 3 route and six for Group 2. Budget eight to ten if your pet needs a fresh rabies course, a laboratory is slow, or quarantine space doesn't line up with your own arrival. Treat the pet's calendar as the master calendar for the whole move.

The permit does not guarantee a quarantine place, and a quarantine booking does not guarantee the airline will accept your pet. Each step has its own queue, which is why we line up their lead times from the start.

The microchip is the thread that ties every vaccination, blood result and certificate to your actual animal. Australia requires an ISO-compliant chip (numbers starting 999 are rejected), scanned by an approved vet at each relevant visit. If a laboratory report carries a digit that doesn't match the chip, the department will not amend it, and months of preparation can become worthless.

Identity verification also decides your quarantine length. A Group 3 pet formally verified by the origin country's government authority before the RNATT blood sample (at an earlier visit, not the same one) qualifies for the minimum 10-day Mickleham stay. Skip that step and the minimum becomes 30 days. It is a government procedure, not your local vet waving a scanner, and it cuts the minimum stay by 20 days.

The Rabies Neutralising Antibody Titre Test proves your pet's vaccination actually produced immunity. Australia wants at least 0.5 IU/mL, from a sample usually drawn three to four weeks after a primary vaccination course. If the result comes back low, you revaccinate, retest and your calendar moves.

The famous 180-day wait follows from biology, not bureaucracy: an infected animal can carry rabies for up to 180 days without showing signs, and there is no reliable way to tell during that time. It is counted from the date the RNATT sample reaches the laboratory, and DAFF's only exemption covers Australian pets returning within 12 months of a qualifying test taken before they left, so no agent, including us, can waive it. What we can do is start the clock on the earliest possible day and help you keep it from restarting.

Cats and dogs from Group 2 and Group 3 countries need a biosecurity import permit, applied for through the government's BICON system with the identity records (Group 2) or the RNATT report and endorsed declarations (Group 3) attached. From 1 July 2026 the application charge is AUD 135 plus an AUD 491 assessment fee for the first pet in a consignment (AUD 299 for each additional pet). These are minimum charges, non-refundable once you apply, and DAFF reviews them every year. Group 2 permits are valid for 12 months; Group 3 permits expire with the RNATT, 12 months after its blood-sample date.

The order that works: permit first, quarantine reservation second, flight third, final vet work last. Booking flights first can mean paying to change them when the pet's dates move.

For pets from Group 2 and Group 3 countries, the route is fixed however your family flies: manifest cargo into Melbourne International Airport, where biosecurity officers collect the crate on arrival and take it to the Mickleham quarantine facility. No cabin on commercial flights, no checked baggage and no arrival into Sydney, Brisbane or Perth. Changing aircraft on the way is allowed only on DAFF's conditions. From a Group 3 country your pet may tranship in any approved country; from a Group 2 country, only in a Group 1 or Group 2 country or in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Dubai or Hong Kong. Either way it must stay on the international side of the airport under that country's authority, and DAFF makes you responsible for checking that the authority allows it. A stop where the pet stays on the aircraft is allowed in any country. Mickleham accepts arrivals from 05:00 to 14:30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays and from 05:00 to 21:00 on Wednesdays to Fridays, and does not accept flights landing between 21:00 and 05:00, so check the landing time before you book. Group 1 pets (compliant pets from New Zealand and Norfolk Island, and cats from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands) still travel as cargo, but they are not tied to Melbourne: they are inspected and cleared at their first point of entry in mainland Australia instead.

Manifest cargo sounds industrial but is a tracking discipline, not rough handling: an air waybill, formal live-animal acceptance, and a designated hold compartment that is pressurised, ventilated and temperature-controlled on the aircraft types airlines approve for animals. You can usually be on the very same aircraft. If your new home is in another state, we handle the domestic leg after quarantine release, subject to state and territory entry rules.

Mickleham, north of Melbourne, is the government's quarantine facility for imported cats and dogs, and every pet from a Group 2 or Group 3 country passes through it: at least 10 days from Group 2, and at least 30 days from Group 3, cut to at least 10 if an official government vet verified the pet's identity before the RNATT blood sample. Many owners worry about this stage more than any other, so here is the honest picture of daily life inside.

Release happens on the eligible release date once compliance is confirmed. The importer named on the permit, or an agent you have named, collects the pet with photo ID between 10:00 and 12:00, and the pet cannot stay beyond that date. Treat the planned date as provisional until the facility confirms it, remember cats leave in their original travel crate, and think about whether a night's rest near Melbourne beats an immediate onward journey.

Rabies gets the headlines, but the rest of the veterinary file depends on the species, the origin country and your pet's history. Dogs carry the heavier testing load.

Product, dose and date are all recorded, and the microchip is scanned at every visit. A treatment given outside its window does not count, so the dates matter as much as the product. This is where a coordinator quietly earns their fee.

DAFF will not refuse an import permit because of an animal's age, but eligibility is not the same as wisdom. The final pre-export check must certify the animal healthy and fit to travel and to undergo quarantine, and the government itself advises against importing sick or very old animals. Tell Mickleham when you book if your pet is a cat over 12, a small dog over 10 or a large dog over 7, is pregnant or on medication, or has a medical or behavioural need.

The right question is not "can my pet survive the flight" but "is my pet fit for the entire journey, including ground handling, quarantine and the recovery weeks afterwards". Sometimes the kindest plan is a delayed flight, a redesigned route, or in hard cases a rehoming conversation. We will tell you honestly which one you are looking at.

By departure day the paperwork is finished and the day itself is logistics. Knowing the sequence takes most of the fear out of it.

Your pet must be able to stand with ears clear of the roof, sit erect, turn around and lie in a natural position, with a water container you can fill from outside, inside a container with a secure door the animal cannot force and a solid leak-proof floor. IATA does not certify or approve any particular crate, so "IATA approved" on a shop listing settles nothing; the airline judges the actual crate against the actual animal.

Buy the crate months out and make it furniture: feed beside it, then inside it, close the door for seconds, then minutes, and let your pet sleep there by choice. A crate-calm animal usually copes better with the journey, and the training costs nothing but consistency. Size it honestly, because freight reflects the crate's size as well as your pet's weight, snub-nosed breeds need a container at least 10% larger, and giant breeds can outgrow some aircraft doors entirely.

You state the breed on the permit application and sign a declaration that it is not an ineligible breed; an animal that appears to be a prohibited breed or a hybrid can be investigated after arrival. Airlines add their own restrictions on top, particularly for snub-nosed breeds in warm months.

The honest answer is a range, because origin, the animal's size, crate size and quarantine length all move the number. The fixed part is governmental: DAFF estimates AUD 3,114 for one cat or dog with the minimum 10-day quarantine and AUD 4,234 for one with the minimum 30-day quarantine. These estimates cover DAFF's permit and Mickleham charges only; vet preparation, tests, the crate, flights and agent fees are extra, and DAFF warns of further charges for treatments, vet care, longer stays and testing. DAFF's fee table (in force from 1 July 2026) lists the permit at AUD 626 for the first pet, the quarantine reservation at AUD 282, the importation charge at AUD 1,132, inspection and document assessment at AUD 84 each and accommodation at AUD 56 a day, plus the airline's terminal service fee (from AUD 170) and an out-of-hours collection fee (AUD 176 on weekdays, AUD 186 on weekends and public holidays) when they apply. Each extra pet adds AUD 299 for the permit plus its own quarantine charges.

On top sit the vet work, laboratory fees, the crate, air freight, origin handling and delivery from Mickleham to your new home. Air freight reflects the pet's weight and the size of its crate, so large dogs sit at the expensive end because their crates occupy aircraft space.

Compare quotes by their inclusions, not their headlines. A price that omits quarantine fees or the Melbourne-to-your-city leg is not a smaller quote; it is an incomplete one.