There is no information online on pet relocation to Macau no matter if you search in Mandarin or English on different search engines and it was as usual a pretty stressful endeavour to get Smudge out of Macau legally. I wonder why no one blogged about their experiences because if you’re a pet owner who is relocating, you’d understand how exasperating the whole process is… and everyone just tells you to get a new pet or find it a new home!
The Macau authorities (you wouldn’t know which one because the website tells you nothing) was very kind and sent me a whole list of information that I’m sharing here, because we went to two different places in immigration and none of them were right, and they finally sent us to the right place and gave us a telephone number that had a real person on the other end of the phone.
I picked smudge up at Ponte 7A, where imports, goods and live cargo arrives daily from Hong Kong, it’s on the other side of the passenger ferry terminal. You have to tell the taxi driver 内港 which is the inner harbour of the Macau ferry terminal. Taxis aren’t the easiest to get when you’re on your way back, so if you have many pets arriving with you to take home, it’s best to have arranged transport.
I hope this helps, it was a really stressful process getting it altogether, but it also saves you a large portion of the costs. Dogs have a different set of costs, which you can contact the government department for full details below.
It’s alot more cost effective to apply for the permit and things yourself although the process is a nightmare where you end up going to all the wrong immigration offices before you end up in the right one (but now you won’t because you’ll know exactly where to go with the post!).
Otherwise, if you are short of time, you can hire a pet relocation agent who does a great job. George Yung (info@internationalpettravel.com) of International Pet Travel was the HKG partner when Smudge arrived in Hong Kong from Beijing and he helped with the HKG leg of exporting Smudge, while I did all the Macau paper work.
Macau Pet Import Procedures. Following is the procedures of importing pet dog/ cat to Macau for your reference:
1. You should buy an import license application form “licença de Importaçao, Modelo I”, which can be bought at Integrated Service Centre or Public Information Center, then apply the import license at Integrated Service Centre. The application form must be applied in person, it can also be done by your authorized person or agent in Macau, however, an authorization letter signed by yourself and a copy of your passport must be provided. Please find below a template of authorization letter:
To whom it may concern:
I, Mr./ Ms. __________ with _______________(Type and N.o of passport), have authorized Mr./ Ms. ____________ with ID N.o ___________to apply for the Macau Import License (and/ or Macau Import Permit) on my behalf, in the case of importing a dog/ cat from _________________(Country of export) to Macau.
Identification of the dog/ cat
Name________ Breed ________Sex_________
Color ________ Date of Birth___________
Microchip N.o____________
(Date and signature of the declarant)
2. The expenses of applying an import license: (i) Import license application form: MOP$4.0 (ii) Import inspection fee: MOP$100.0 per pet dog/ cat. (iii) Dog license fee (Registration fee for first-time application) : MOP$500.0 per pet dog. The import license will be issued after 3 working days, and it will be only kept in our department. The import license is valid for 30 days.
3. Before your animal leave for Macau, an import permit issued by Macau government may be required by some of the exporting countries. For further information, please contact the competent authority of your exporting country. If it is necessary, you can apply it at the same time when you apply the import license, and an import permit costs Mop$135.0 (if more than one page, every page added costs Mop$5 more).The import permit will be issued after 3 working days. We will inform the applicant by phone to collect the import permit when it is ready.
4. You need to provide us your contact telephone no., the port of arrival, the flight number, the arrival date and time, as soon as possible.
5. All of the importing animals will be inspected at the arrival Airport/Port Customs, they must be in good health conditions and free of any kind of symptoms of infectious and contagious diseases, in accordance with an Animal Health Certificate. Enclosed the importation requirement of pet dog/cat import for your reference.
6. The health certificate must be issued or certified and stamped by a government veterinarian in the exporting country. From the date of issue, the health certificate is valid for 10 days only.
7 . The anti-rabies vaccination must have been administered at least 30 days before but not more than one year prior to arrival in Macau.
8 . Failure to comply with the above requirements may render the animals liable to quarantine for 14 to 30 days. If considered necessary after veterinary inspection, quarantine may be extended to 6 months.
9. Following is the address information of above Centre/Center for your reference:
Integrated Service Centre (Centro de Serviços do IACM/ 民政總署綜合服務中心)
Avenida da Praia Grande, Nº 762-804 China Plaza Building, 2/F, Macau/ 澳門南灣大馬路762-804號中華廣場2字樓
Public Information Center (Centro de Informações ao Público / 政府資訊中心)
Rua do Campo, nºs 188-198, Vicky Plaza 1.º Andar, Macau/ 澳門水坑尾街188-198號方圓廣場
Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us directly (Tel: (853)8598 6816 or Fax: (853)8598 6898).
Division of Animal Control and Inspection
Department of Food and Animal Inspection and Control
Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau
Macao, China