Travelling Abroad With Your Pet Microchip Checks Before You Go - ChipTrace

Travelling Abroad With Your Pet: Microchip Checks Before You Go

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Published: 24 September 2026

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When planning a trip abroad, it’s easy to overlook your pet’s microchip. It quietly does its job under the skin, doesn’t need a battery, and probably hasn’t caused any problems since it was put in.

However, once you cross a border with your pet, that small chip can quickly become one of the most important things for your trip.

What’s inside this guide

1. Get the microchip scanned before you travel

Just knowing your pet has a microchip isn’t the same as knowing it can actually be read.

Ask your vet to scan it before an international journey, especially if it hasn’t been checked in a long time.

This helps you confirm two things: the chip can still be found, and the number on the scanner matches what you expect.

Microchips are meant to stay in place for life, but sometimes they move from where they were first put in. If the chip isn’t found right away, your vet can scan a larger area.

It’s much better to find out at your local vet if the chip is hard to read, rather than discovering it during a document check in another country.

2. Check the microchip number against the passport or travel documents

Don’t just make sure there’s a number listed.

Check each digit carefully.

If your pet has an EU pet passport, the passport contains the microchip or identification number alongside the animal’s health information.

The number displayed by the scanner should match the number in the passport or other official travel document.

A standard ISO microchip number usually has 15 digits. If even one digit is wrong, it could look like it belongs to a different animal.

This check is especially important if your pet has a replacement passport or if details were copied from old vet records.

If you want to understand what the digits in a pet microchip number mean, see our guide to pet microchip numbers and manufacturer codes.

What if a tattoo identifies your pet?

Some pets travelling in Europe don’t have a microchip.

Under EU pet travel rules, a clearly readable tattoo can still be accepted as identification if it was applied before 3 July 2011. Older dogs and cats may therefore have a tattoo code recorded in their pet passport instead of a microchip number.

If your pet has a tattoo, make sure it’s still easy to read and that the code matches what’s in the passport.

If the tattoo was done after 3 July 2011, it doesn’t count for this exception under EU rules. Don’t assume any tattoo can take the place of a microchip.

If you’re travelling outside the EU, always check the rules for your destination. Some countries require a microchip even if a tattoo is accepted within the EU.

3. The order of the microchip and rabies vaccination matters

This detail is easy to miss.

Under current EU pet travel rules, a rabies vaccination used for travel must not have been given before the animal was identified by microchip, or before the microchip was read and recorded.

Put simply, officials need to link the vaccination to the right animal.

For a first or primary rabies vaccination, an animal must normally be at least 12 weeks old, and at least 21 days must pass after completion of the primary vaccination before travel within the EU.

Booster vaccinations are different if they are given while the previous vaccination is still valid. If a booster is allowed to lapse, the next vaccination can be treated as a new primary vaccination and another waiting period may apply.

That’s why it’s just as important to check the dates in the passport as it is to check the chip number.

If something doesn’t look right, talk to your vet well before you leave. It’s much easier than trying to fix it at the airport or border.

4. Make sure the microchip registration is up to date

This is different from your travel documents.

A pet passport can identify your pet and document its rabies vaccination, while a microchip registry helps connect a found animal with its owner.

Before you travel, make sure the registry with your pet’s microchip has your current phone number, email, and other contact details.

This is even more important when you’re abroad.

If your dog gets loose in France or your cat escapes in Spain, you want whoever finds them to be able to contact you easily after scanning the microchip.

If you don’t know where the chip is registered, use the free ChipTrace microchip lookup to help find the relevant registry.

You can also check our pet microchip country guides to see how microchip registration and tracing work in different countries.

If you are moving permanently rather than taking a holiday, read our guide to whether your pet needs a new microchip when moving abroad. Registration systems vary by country, and moving does not normally mean replacing a perfectly good chip.

5. What if the microchip can’t be read?

Don’t worry if your vet can’t find the chip right away.

Microchips can move from where they were first implanted, so your vet might need to scan a larger area or try different angles. If the chip genuinely cannot be read, ask your vet what happens next before making travel arrangements.

Getting another chip put in can affect your paperwork, since your pet’s ID number is linked to its vaccination and travel records.

If a new microchip is necessary, make sure your vet advises you on how to document the old and new identification details and whether any vaccinations or travel documents need updating.

Sort this out before you leave.

6. Check the rules for your actual journey

There isn’t one global checklist for pet travel.

The rules depend on where you’re coming from, where you’re going, and sometimes where you’ve been before you arrive.

Within the EU, dogs, cats and ferrets generally need an accepted form of identification, a valid rabies vaccination and the appropriate travel document. An EU pet passport is normally used for eligible journeys between EU countries.

There may be extra requirements too.

Dogs travelling to certain destinations, for example, may need treatment against the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis. Pets entering the EU from some non-EU countries may need a rabies antibody titration test and an animal health certificate.

Other countries might have completely different rules.

Check the official government or vet authority for both your destination and your return trip. Do this early, since some rules have waiting periods you can’t fix at the last minute.

7. Don’t forget about coming home

It’s easy to focus on getting your pet into another country and forget you’ll need to bring them back too.

The rules for coming home can be different from those for leaving.

This is particularly important when travelling between the EU and a non-EU country. Depending on where you travel, you may need additional tests or documentation for re-entry.

Check these requirements before you leave home.

If you need to do a test before leaving, it’s best to find out at home—not when you’re already 2,000 kilometres away by the pool.

A simple pre-travel microchip checklist

Before travelling abroad with your pet:

  • Have your vet scan the microchip.
  • Write down or photograph the number.
  • Compare every digit with the passport or travel certificate.
  • If your pet travels using an older identification tattoo, make sure it is still clearly readable and correctly recorded.
  • Check the dates of the microchip identification and rabies vaccination.
  • Make sure the rabies vaccination will remain valid for the entire journey.
  • Check that your contact details in the microchip registry are up to date.
  • Research the official entry requirements for your destination.
  • Check the requirements for returning home.
  • Ask your airline, ferry company or other carrier about its own pet travel rules.

Do these checks well before you leave, not the night before your trip.

Useful pet travel resources

Pet travel rules depend on where you are travelling from and where you are going. Official government and veterinary authorities should always be your main source for entry requirements, as rules can change.

If you are travelling to or within the European Union, the European Union’s official pet travel guidance explains the requirements for dogs, cats and ferrets, including identification, rabies vaccination, pet passports, animal health certificates and additional requirements for certain journeys.

For travel from or back to Great Britain, GOV.UK provides official guidance for taking dogs, cats and ferrets abroad and bringing them back into England, Scotland or Wales. Northern Ireland has separate rules, so make sure you are reading the guidance for the correct part of the UK.

For travellers in the United States, USDA APHIS provides official pet travel information and destination-specific guidance. If you are taking a pet from the US to another country, remember that the destination country ultimately decides which health and entry requirements your pet must meet.

Independent tools can also make planning easier

ClearToFly.pet provides country information, airline policies and planning tools for international pet travel.

CatAbroad is particularly useful for people travelling internationally with cats, with destination information, airline and airport guides and practical advice for travelling with a cat.

These independent resources can be very useful when planning a journey, but always confirm the final requirements with the relevant government authority and your airline, ferry company or other transport provider.

Check the chip before you pack the suitcase

Most of the time, your pet’s microchip works quietly in the background and you don’t have to think about it.

But when you travel internationally, it’s worth giving the microchip a little extra attention.

Have it scanned. Check the number. Check the paperwork. Check the registration.

Spending ten minutes at your vet before your trip can uncover a problem that would be much harder to fix once you’re far from home.

Then you can focus on the real challenge: convincing your cat why the carrier has suddenly come out of the cupboard.