The Legislation in Dubai regarding importing cats and dogs is designed to allow people to bring in pets, companion animals and service animals. It recognises the need for such animals that can give emotional or practical support to their owners, whether as pets simply kept for company and pleasure or for their practical help. What it is not aimed at is facilitating the importation of animals that don’t fit those criteria. In other words, it is not an aid for bringing in animals for commercial purposes such as breeding.
Who to Contact
The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) is the department responsible for importing animals and its website is the place to start when you wish to begin the process.
General Rules and Definitions
Like many government departments worldwide, MOCCAE’s brief is a wide one. The importation of companion animals is quite simple: it enables individuals to import companion’s animals – cats or dogs from outside the country and obtain an import permit valid for 90 days from the date of issuance and then examine these animals at the entry port when they arrive in the country and release them.
An important part of this is the time period of 90 days. It is not the sort of thing that can be done well in advance of your move, so it needs to be built into your moving schedule. Whether you are drawing up a schedule and printing it to be kept somewhere prominent so the stages can be crossed off one by one as they are accomplished, or in the calendar of your phone, where you can set alerts to tell you what needs doing next, do get it established in the schedule so that it can be dealt with by the authorities in the way they have decided is best.
The application process itself is no different from what we are accustomed to these days. You fill in an online form, pay a fee and receive a permit electronically. That gives you the green light to get your pet ready and bring them with you.
Once you arrive in Dubai you will fill in another form, make another payment and your animal will be inspected. All being well you’ll be granted the permit and off you go.
What Documents do you Need?
No documents are required for pet cats and dogs.
If the animal is not just a pet, you will need a certified document from a training centre stating that the dog has been trained for emotional support, service dog or medical use, certified by the competent authority in the country of origin. You must also obtain a medical report on the owner’s health status that supports the purpose of using the dog, certified by the competent authority in the country of origin.
To emphasise the restrictions of animals for commercial purposes, you will need to provide a pledge not to transfer the ownership to others, to abandon it or to breed it, and to abide by the requirements stipulated in the relevant legislation
You should bring with you records of immunisations and if the dog is coming from a high-risk rabies country, a lab test certificate attached to an antibody titration test. To check if this applies to you, look online for “countries high risk rabies” and you will find sites such as the USA’s CDC Importation.
