Importing Pets into Taiwan (Paperwork, Quarantine, etc.)

I brought my dog over in late november 2010, it was quiet a process but overall went very smoothly and I’m very glad I brought my dog, my life would not be the same without her. I can answer any questions you might have about the process, it seems I did things a little differently than Maceck.

Regarding microchip certificate, I never got one, or have seen any requirement for one. I had my dog microchipped at the vet in the US, and vaccinated. I had the same vet draw her blood and send it to get titre tested by kansas state (from the list of approved places on the TW quarantine website). The important thing is that the microchip number is on every piece of paperwork you have with your dog. So Vaccination Certificate, Titre blood test results, Import Permit Application etc.

My dog was quarantined at NTU, so I think I took your dog’s spot Maceck, sorry. It was indeed really full, the regular 3 visits a week were cut to twice a week.

It looks like this is the case. I’m not sure why I was so insistent on needing the microchip verification? The Animal Import Permit Application does not ask for it.

problem solved!

I’m bringing my cat into Taiwan from Korea. I’m having some difficulty finding up-to date information.

I saw at the beginning of the thread that animals coming in through Kaohsiung will have more room, and so I’ve arranged to arrive there. Does anyone know if that is true?

Also, what paperwork do I need? I keep seeing different lists with different requirements.

[quote=“kbaileyoakes”]I’m bringing my cat into Taiwan from Korea. I’m having some difficulty finding up-to date information.

I saw at the beginning of the thread that animals coming in through Kaohsiung will have more room, and so I’ve arranged to arrive there. Does anyone know if that is true?

Also, what paperwork do I need? I keep seeing different lists with different requirements.[/quote]

Did you get an answer to your question about Kaohsiung? My wife and I plan to bring our cat from the US later this year. We’ll be living in the south (Gangshan, Tainan, Pingtung) so south is more convenient. However, flying in to KHH (US --> NRT --> KHH) isn’t so convenient. Any tips?

[quote=“ncaraway”][quote=“kbaileyoakes”]I’m bringing my cat into Taiwan from Korea. I’m having some difficulty finding up-to date information.

I saw at the beginning of the thread that animals coming in through Kaohsiung will have more room, and so I’ve arranged to arrive there. Does anyone know if that is true?

Also, what paperwork do I need? I keep seeing different lists with different requirements.[/quote]

Did you get an answer to your question about Kaohsiung? My wife and I plan to bring our cat from the US later this year. We’ll be living in the south (Gangshan, Tainan, Pingdong) so south is more convenient. However, flying in to KHH (US --> NRT --> KHH) isn’t so convenient. Any tips?[/quote]

We ended up deciding it was better for him not to be quarantined for three weeks. We give the little guy to a friend tomorrow :frowning: Sorry I couldn’t help you out.

It seems to me that Taiwan has just copied the procedures from Japan, and the Japanese website is really clear as to the procedures, and has awesome cartoons as well: http://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/english/animal/dog/import-other.html

For example, why the #$%&@ do our pets have to wait 180 days after the blood test before being allowed into the country?

A:Antibody levels are measured in order to confirm whether or not the animal has developed immunity to rabies. The reason for the wait is to make sure that the animal has not contracted rabies prior to developing immunity to it as a result of immunization. 180 days corresponds to the incubation period for the disease.


Locally, in Vancouver, there is also this company which does the entire process for your pet: animaltravel.com/

From what I remember, if you arrive in Taipei, your pet must be quarantined there. If you arrive in Kaohsiung, your pet must be quarantined in Pingdong. When I brought my cat over from Canada in 2003, she stayed in quarantine in Pingdong, near the University. The room was huge and it was airconditioned. She was well cared for as far as I could see. She looked ok and was in good spirits when I picked her up 21 days after her arrival.

I hired this company to help me get my cat here in 2003 and they were fabulous! I couldn’t have done it without them.

And I recently heard about this company that will help you import your pets to Taiwan or export them from Taiwan:
porschintl.com/
A friend has hired them to get his dog from Kaohsiung to the UK and they are going to take care of EVERYTHING, down to taking the dog to the vet for the health certificates. They do door to door service and even supply the crate so you don’t have to buy one.

Does anybody know about the strictness on “inactive vaccine”?

Reading this info: baphiq.gov.tw/public/Attachm … 014571.pdf

It keeps mentioning inactive vaccine: i.e. “date of vaccination against rabies with inactive vaccine.”

My vet said that only dogs get killed vaccines, whereas cats get a modified-live vaccines. I am trying to import my cat, so are the Taiwanese authorities going to deny me, if my vet certificate says “modified live,” rather than “killed vaccine”? Or, are they both considered inactive vaccines?

The way things look now, we’ll be arriving at Kaohsiung airport around 10pm on a weeknight. Assuming the flight arrives on time, that means we won’t even be able to collect our cat until almost 11pm. What happens then? Will they demand to keep her (and us) in the airport until morning?

We considered flying in to Taipei but since we’ll be living in the south and have family near Kaohsiung, it seemed the most reasonable for dealing with quarantine.

Another question, which hopefully someone will be able to chime in on: there are no direct flights from our current home near Washington, DC. We’re probably going to have to fly United to JFK in New York, then fly out from there (probably on JAL). (JAL’s partner, American Airlines, wont accept our breed, which is why we have to do the work-around.) If we allow for enough time to collect her between flights we should be OK, right?

Yes, your cat will have to stay at the airport for the night. Make sure you are not landing on a Friday night or your cat will have to spend the entire weekend at the airport.

You can probably take the cat in the cabin with you on a United flight so don’t worry about that.
Don’t forget: If you have a stop in Japan or anywhere else along the way, you may need to apply for a transit permit for your cat.

Hi,
My wife and I have just moved here from Nepal with 2 cats. The move went well and we have received excellent service right from the first email we sent to enquire until now. The cats are in excellent quarantine facilities and we can visit twice a week for 1 1/2 hours each visit. It is clean and not at all smelly, and the care of the staff has been fantastic - they quickly learnt the very different characters of our 2 “children”, one a Siamese and the other a grey tabby. We collect them in another 5 days - during our last visit a couple of days ago one of the staff met us and discussed “home day” with us, timings, advice etc. They have offered to show us what food they have been feeding the cats - really good service. So, OUR experience has been excellent. the key thing is to make sure that every single required document is correct, innoculations properly recorded etc. In our case we emailed scanned copies of all the documentation and asked them to advise us with anything they weren’t happy with - coming from Nepal (ie, very much a “developing” country) we were concerned about any irregularities. As it happened they did ask us to get clarification over one item, which we did, and they were very happy with that. they have always responded very quickly and clearly.
I really cannot repeat more strongly that OUR experience, coming from quite an unusual country (Nepal) has been wonderful.
Mark

We’ve got just about everything worked out so far. We leave from the US next month. We’ve been exchanging emails with the quarantine office for a few days now, providing them documentation and answering their questions (primary vs booster rabies shots?, etc). They still haven’t given us a reservation. My wife is going to phone them - again. Seems like a lot of worthless bureaucratic hullabaloo for a domestic urban house pet. Oh, well. :ponder:

We need some help with bringing our cat to Taipei from San Francisco, CA. Can anyone who has done (cat or dog) within the last year please post here? The last time I did this was in 2004, and I brought over two cats from Vancouver, BC and don’t remember exactly what I needed to do.

Specifically, I need to know who the “animal quarantine authority” in SF is. In Vancouver, I believe (almost 90% sure) I had to bring the cats’ vet documents to YVR to have the animal quarantine authority stamp them. I can’t seem to locate the same bureau at SFO. Also, what’s this about the USDA?

My husband’s 20 year old cat has been in a cat hotel since September and he has a window of 3-4 days in January to fly back and bring her over. So, that brings us to our second q: does she need to fly with someone or can she go as cargo and we meet her here? Alternatively, my in-laws will be coming to Taipei around that time from NY, could they pick her up in SF and fly her over with them even though they are not her owners?

(The reason our cat is in SF and we moved here in Sept is because she didn’t get her rabies titre test until June, and regulations deem her eligible to fly after 180 days.)

I remember the last time I did this in Vancouver it was quite a lot of running around and getting duplicates of everything, etc. Hoping to avoid that this time…um…oh yeah, we contacted a nice pet relocation company and they want to charge US$4500 NOT including air fare for the cat, just the paperwork. Crazy.

So if anyone has anything to add, please post here or PM me. We’re getting tight on time since I need to reserve a space for her 30 days in advance at the Keelung Road Quarantine.

Thank you! :bow:

914, our cat is now in quarantine here in Taiwan. The paperwork was a nightmare, so I understand your concern. If you’ve got the rabies vaccines and titre, that’s a big step. I’m pretty sure you can find all the steps in this thread. Sounds like what you need now is: a) your cat’s vet to complete the USDA paperwork, b) your cat’s vet to give you a copy of his/her vaccination history (quarantine office seems to be concerned whether shots were primary or boosters), c) USDA to sign off on the vet’s paperwork (expect to pay them just over $100US for this and the forms for Taiwan). We made arrangements with the Taiwan quarantine office beforehand and emailed them as much documentation as we could in advance so there would be no surprises.

We chose not to take our cat in the cabin because our cat is large and we flew from the US East Coast and didn’t want to annoy other passengers with whining or meowing. Your decision may differ from ours based on your location and knowledge of your cat’s temperament. It cost us $300 to send her as “cargo” on ANA. We chose ANA to minimize transfers for fear of our cat becoming “lost luggage”.

If you want to have someone else (e.g., relatives) accompany your cat that’s probably OK. That person will need to deal with the airline and with the quarantine staff on arrival.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM if you have other questions.

We picked up our cat from quarantine last week and she is now home with us. The paperwork was all easier than we had anticipated.

The tough part was processing her through customs once she arrived as United Airlines cargo. It took three hours of driving around, finding unmarked places and offices, waiting around, etc. Advice to anyone importing their pets: bring a Mandarin speaker with you! You don’t need a customs broker, but it’s a lot of go here go there at 12 midnight. And thank goodness our cab driver was up for an adventure so he was with us the whole four hours. :laughing:

Anyway, it’s doable, everyone! Quarantine is wonderful. They were wonderful in 2004 when I brought my own two cats over, and are still good today. Cost for one cat incl. food, med was $18,300 NTD.

Ncaraway: how is your cat doing?

Sorry, I don’t know how I missed this post. Our cat is fine. Of course, she’s home with us now. She survived the plane trip and quarantine and is doing well. She’s a long-haired cat (Ragdoll) so we’re now making plans for trimming her hair so the summer heat won’t be too oppressive. (Thank you for asking)

I just bought my American and Old Time Bulldogs ( 3 in all ) from England. They got out of quarantine on Friday. I have to say the whole procedure is pretty straight forward, and the Taiwanese side ( and DEFRA ) were really helpful and prompt at every turn. The paperwork side of things takes a bit of time to put together, but after that it was all plain sailing. I used a company called Jet Set Pets who were much much cheaper than all the others, I was probably a total pain in the ass to them with multiple questions but they were great. My only complaint re the quarantine in Taichung is that all my dogs came out after 3 weeks there, fat as hell. I would guess going from 25 kilos to 30 ish, which has done them no favours in the heat. But as complaints go that is minor and is my only one. The vet there called my other half numerous times to check things about the dogs. She visited them by public transport from Taipei twice and he both times gave her a lift to the station afterwards.

If I can help anyone coming from England feel free to ask.

[quote=“riggers”]I just bought my American and Old Time Bulldogs ( 3 in all ) from England. They got out of quarantine on Friday. I have to say the whole procedure is pretty straight forward, and the Taiwanese side ( and DEFRA ) were really helpful and prompt at every turn. The paperwork side of things takes a bit of time to put together, but after that it was all plain sailing. I used a company called Jet Set Pets who were much much cheaper than all the others, I was probably a total pain in the ass to them with multiple questions but they were great. My only complaint re the quarantine in Taichung is that all my dogs came out after 3 weeks there, fat as hell. I would guess going from 25 kilos to 30 ish, which has done them no favours in the heat. But as complaints go that is minor and is my only one. The vet there called my other half numerous times to check things about the dogs. She visited them by public transport from Taipei twice and he both times gave her a lift to the station afterwards.

If I can help anyone coming from England feel free to ask.[/quote]

My cat was successfully brought from Canada two months ago. And I agree, the process is pretty straightforward. But, I assume it’ll be harder if you can’t speak Mandarin. And, my cat came over with my friend, so it was probably a bit easier than sending her as cargo with no accompanying passenger.

Our cat stayed in the Taichung quarantine, as well, and we visited her 2-3 times a week. Hardly anybody else was ever there visiting…

Your dogs probably came out fat, because of the lower-quality food they were being fed, and the fact that they were only let out to play in the little courtyard area twice a day, for 15 minutes each time. For cats, it was quite alright… more akin to a dirty motel than to a 5-star hotel, though.

For my Canadian comrades out there, here’s a quick little rundown of what we went through:

First, read this webpage: inspection.gc.ca/english/ani … wane.shtml

Then, go here and find “dog/cat import permit” on the bottom right (it has been updated since we brought our cat over): baphiq.gov.tw/homeweb5.php

The outline of the steps in general:

  1. Get an inactivated vaccine rabies shot for your pet. A new one, doesn’t matter if s/he had one within a year ago.
  2. Get your vet to send a blood sample to Kansas State University for a “neutralization antibody titration test” (about two weeks after the vaccine).
  3. Once you get your results back and they’re within the limits… wait 6 months before you can bring your pet over to Taiwan.
  4. While you’re waiting, apply to import your pet on the Taiwan side… and make sure to book a quarantine space (can be done online) well in advance. In Taipei, do it at least 3 months in advance, in Taichung, at least 1.5 months in advance.
  5. When the 6 months have passed, take your pet to be examined by a vet within 10 days before your flight out (of course, arrange for your pet’s transport on the airline, too)… then, take that vet certificate and all the paperwork from Steps 1-3 to the closest CFIA office, with the official form, HA2221, printed out on legal size paper, and they at the office will check everything and make sure your HA2221 form is filled in correctly, and then give it the official stamp. The HA2221 form is the only form you need from Canada.
  6. Once you arrive in Taipei and are reunited with your pet (hopefully, you can get in-cabin transport, rather than cargo)… you go to the Taiwan animal quarantine desk and show them your Taiwan and Canada paperwork (they should be expecting you, because you’ve applied in advance and told them your arrival date).
  7. They will then take you to the office beyond customs and basically hand over your pet to the local Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, to be taken to the pre-arranged quarantine centre.
  8. Then, you can go visit your pet at whatever visiting hours the quarantine centre allows. Taichung allows M-F between 2:30 - 5:00 pm. Taipei is more strict… limit is 3 times a week, I believe.
  9. Once the 21 days is up (it’s pretty short, really)… you can bring your loved one(s) home! And, your ordeal is over.

The worst part about this whole thing was that we didn’t train our cat to stay in her transport cage with a lot of noise for a long time… so, she was really scared and tried to claw her way out. This resulted in bleeding claws, although they were dry by the time she got off the plane. Luckily, she didn’t get infected or anything. Train your cat appropriately, if you can’t find an airline that will allow her to be in-cabin with you.

I am trying to get everything in order to bring my cat with me to Taiwan but I am having the hardest time figuring out WHO the animal authority is in the U.S. and which lab to send my cat’s bloodwork to! Any help? We just got his rabies booster 2 weeks ago and can do his titer check next week.

brightful, our vet was familiar with the process and even had the necessary forms. Regardless, I believe we sent ours to Kansas:

vet.k-state.edu/depts/dmp/se … /index.htm

Best of luck to you. The process seems daunting but we (and our cat) survived! This forum was incredibly helpful.