Your pet along to Curaçao: chip, rabies, a fourteen-day certificate and the deposit at customs

Yes, your dog or cat can come along to Curaçao, and there is no titre test and no compulsory quarantine if the papers are in order. But the EU pet passport you travel with inside Europe is not enough here: on arrival customs wants an original health certificate at most fourteen days old, signed by an official or accredited vet, plus proof of vaccination against rabies. On top of that, the veterinary service requires an import permit, to be applied for before departure. The find in the customs brochure is about money: a pet counts as household goods and may come in tax-free if you owned it for six months, but because your animal usually lands before your household-goods exemption is settled, you pay a deposit on arrival that you only get back once the permit is there. The pitfall is the order: without a health certificate the veterinary service takes your animal into quarantine, and a certificate fifteen days old is not one.

What goes in my dog's or cat's file?

Customs lists it, and it is less than for distant destinations but stricter than within the EU:

• An original health certificate (the international health certificate), signed by an official or accredited vet, no older than fourteen days before departure from the Netherlands. Also for birds.
• For dogs and cats, proof of vaccination against rabies.
• Prior contact with Veterinary Affairs Curaçao, preferably by e-mail (info.uovz@gobiernu.cw); the service itself calls the application for an import permit mandatory, because admission depends on the animal health status of the country of origin.
• If your animal is a protected species, the CITES documents come on top.

On the Dutch side comes the usual basis the NVWA describes: a chip, and a rabies vaccination that is only valid if the animal was already chipped when vaccinated. If a document has to be legalised, that happens at the NVWA office in Utrecht, by appointment, and you request that appointment at least fourteen working days in advance. Whether Curaçao requires that legalisation is not on the customs pages; ask Veterinary Affairs in the same e-mail in which you apply for the permit.

Item	Requirement or deadline
Health certificate	original, from an official or accredited vet, at most 14 days old at departure
Rabies vaccination	proof compulsory for dogs and cats; the chip must be placed before the vaccination
Import permit	apply in advance at Veterinary Affairs; decision depends on the country of origin
Exemption as household goods	the animal in your possession without interruption for at least 6 months before shipping, to be proven
Deposit at customs	depends on the customs value of the animal; reclaimable once the household-goods exemption permit is there
Without a health certificate	quarantine by Veterinary Affairs
Legalisation at the NVWA (if required)	appointment in Utrecht, at least 14 working days in advance

Why do I pay a deposit, and do I get it back?

According to customs a pet belongs to your household goods. That means it may come in, like your household effects, with exemption from import taxes, provided it was in your possession without interruption for at least six months before shipping and you can prove that. But you apply for the permit for that exemption on arrival of the household goods, with your Kranshi registration and your deregistration proof, and on the day your animal lands you usually do not have it yet. Then you pay a deposit (security), depending on the customs value of the animal, and you reclaim it as soon as the household-goods exemption permit is in. Keep the payment receipt with the moving file: it is the paper you get the money back with.

How do I plan the last weeks?

The fourteen-day clock forces the order. Chip and rabies vaccination you arrange months earlier, because they must be in place and stay valid. The application to Veterinary Affairs you make well before departure, with copies of the papers, so the permit is there when you book. The health certificate you only collect in the last two weeks from your vet, and any legalisation must be scheduled by then. Whoever collects the certificate too early stands at the airport with an expired document.

Without a health certificate your animal goes into quarantine at Veterinary Affairs on arrival, and customs only settles the case once that service releases the animal. A certificate of exactly fourteen days is the limit: plan the vet appointment back from your departure date, not on the day that suits you.

The journey itself goes as cargo or in the cabin, depending on the airline; the cost indication for Curaçao reckons per animal with the examinations, the crate and the flight. And do not forget the way back: whoever ever returns to the Netherlands with the animal travels with an EU animal health certificate from an official vet on Curaçao, because a rabies vaccination entered in the passport outside the EU does not count there.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Curaçao or go straight to step 3.3 in the open plan.