How to Exit China With Your Pet

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Image via Pet world shop

I’ve been wanting to post this for a while now. It’s almost a month since I’ve moved here and it’s been the usual madness of beginning a life from scratch in a new place, this time with a cat in tow.

Prior to moving, I found little information that was any help at all. Even the vets would encourage you to spend a fortune to pay a relocation pet agency to do the work or pay under the table money to do it illegally across borders. Post-settling, I find out that it’s more than twice the price if you hire the agency to do it and you still have to deal with the stress of trust.

* Please note that this is for a cat moving from Beijing to Hong Kong, every country has their own import rules, so the paperwork isn’t entirely the same. Your best bet is first to ring the airlines to inquire about live cargo and call the country’s “Live animals agriculture department” to inquire about import/export rules. They should have all the paper work should you do this yourself and not via a pet relocation agent (which I did)

Smudge arrived safe and sound with the aid of World Care Pet. Here’s a breakdown of the fees:
1.Rabies and Tri Cat injection Rmb200.00
2.Microchip Rmb200.00
3.Export inspection Rmb1000.00
4.Apply export permit and health certifiate Rmb500.00
5.Cat cage: Rmb650.00
6.Travel pad: Rmb48.00
7.Apply export permit from Beijng Customs Rmb500.00
8.Customs clearance charge at Beijing airport Rmb1,000.00
9.Termina handling charge Rmb200.00
10.Airfreight from PEK-HKG Rmb43.5/kg x chargeable weight ( up to cat’s cage dimension)
11.Our admin fee in Beijing Rmb2,000.00
12.Est. HK Destination agent charge HK$5,500.00
13.HK quarantine fee for cat HK$42.00/day x 120days.

Remarks:
1.According to HK gov. regulation, all of pets move to HK must fly as manifest cargo, check-in baggage is not allowed.
2.If you want to carry the cat as baggage to HK, then you need fly to Shenzhen or Guangzhou, after that by Train to HK. (the illegal route)

There are several other ways to do it illegally, including flying your pet via Malaysia for a 7 day quarantine or to the US and then direct to HK, none of these are legal. Best to fly your pet into Hong Kong and do the 120 days quanrantine where you can visit your pet daily. Be sure to book the quarantine kennel in advance as places are tight.

After much research on moving your pet within asia, the alternative and more cost effective way of moving your pet is to contact the airlines directly and book your pet a live cargo spot, fees vary depending on weight and airline companies. Just make sure your vaccination papers are all up to date. Before a pet leaves Beijing and presuming all over China, they have to do a health check within 7 days of flying out. In my case, I had to fly out first and the cat got on the flight out 3 days later.

More details on flying via Cathay, Malaysian Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

A different set of rules apply for pets flying out to/from the US and Canada and you can take small pets as carry on baggage. It’s much less of a hassle.

Tip for getting your pet ready to check in. Freeze the water in the tray, so it will slowly melt throughout the flight so you won’t end up with a wet pet when you arrive!

Moving your dog out of China to Australia via a pet relocation agency would cost a minimum of 100,000RMB, as the pet has to be quarantine in a 3rd party country before entering Australia.

Kiki Chen
World Care Pet Transport LLC
Tel # (86 10)8459 3008, 8459 2858, 8459 3096, 6431 0199
Fax #: (86 10) 8459 4198
Cell:(86 )15010398158

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