Dog or cat to South Korea: chip, titre test and your EU pet passport, and registering your dog after arrival
Your dog or cat may come to South Korea with a chip, a rabies vaccination and a titre test with a result of at least 0.5 IU/ml. The blood sample is at most 24 months old on arrival. An EU pet passport may replace the health certificate. If something is not right, quarantine follows at your expense. You then register a dog with the municipality.
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Your dog or cat may come to South Korea. The animal needs a chip, a rabies vaccination and a titre test: a blood test that shows the vaccination works, with a result of at least 0.5 IU/ml. The blood sample may be at most 24 months old on arrival. An EU pet passport may replace the health certificate. If something is not right, your pet goes into quarantine, at your expense. You register a dog with the municipality after arrival.
What does Korea require?
The rules come from the APQA, the Korean quarantine agency for animals and plants.
| Requirement | What applies | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | ISO 11784/11785; another chip is allowed if you bring your own reader | before the rabies vaccination |
| Rabies vaccination | valid on arrival | |
| Titre test | required from 90 days old; result 0.5 IU/ml or higher, at an approved lab | blood at most 24 months old on arrival; no waiting period after the sample |
| Certificate | a government health certificate with chip number, titre result and date of birth, or an EU pet passport | |
| Notifying in advance | not needed for up to 9 animals | |
| On arrival | report to the APQA counter, before customs |
Why a titre test?
Korea has a list of countries without rabies. It includes Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland. The Netherlands is not on it. That is why the titre test is required for every dog and cat from 90 days old.
Have the blood taken by your vet in the Netherlands. The lab must be approved; the APQA refers to the list of labs approved by the EU. Have the blood taken at least 30 days after the rabies vaccination, as the EU rules for the way back require. Korea itself names no waiting period between the blood sample and the journey. So your pet can leave as soon as the right result is in.
An old APQA table still mentions 30 days of quarantine if the vaccination is less than 30 days old, and no titre test. The newer pages do require the titre test. Stick to that newer requirement, and vaccinate well before the blood sample. Then you meet both.
What do you arrange in the Netherlands?
Make sure your pet is chipped before it gets the rabies vaccination. According to the NVWA, the vaccination is otherwise not valid. The vet enters the chip, vaccination and titre result in the EU pet passport.
Korea asks for a government health certificate. But according to the APQA an EU pet passport may replace that certificate, if it was issued in an EU country and you are leaving from the EU. So check that the passport is complete: chip number, date of birth, vaccination and titre result.
Do you still want a certificate, or does your airline ask for one? We found no fixed certificate for Korea in the NVWA's Export Assistant. If you do not find one there either, email dpp@nvwa.nl with the species, the country, any stopovers, your departure date, the purpose of the trip and your phone number. The NVWA tries to reply within two working days.
What happens on arrival?
On the plane, tick on the customs declaration that you have an animal with you. After passport control, report to the APQA counter, before you go through customs. At Incheon it is at the baggage belts:
- Terminal 1. At belts 4, 11, 12 and 19; phone 032-740-2671.
- Terminal 2. At belts 1, 13 and 20; phone 032-740-2021.
If everything is in order, you take your pet with you straight away.
| What goes wrong | Consequence |
|---|---|
| No certificate or passport with you | the animal goes back to the country of departure, at your expense |
| No chip, a different chip number, no titre test or a result below 0.5 | quarantine at your expense, on average 10 days, sometimes longer |
Do you have to register your dog?
Yes. A dog from two months old that lives in the home must be registered with the municipality where you live. A vet may do it for you. Not registering costs a fine of up to ₩ 1,000,000 (about € 675).
The law names no deadline after arrival. Do it in your first weeks. You report a new address within 30 days, and if your dog goes missing, you report it within 10 days. For cats registration is not compulsory.
How do you come back to the Netherlands later?
South Korea is not on the European list of countries without a blood test requirement. So for the way back you need a titre test. That is why it pays to do the test in the Netherlands before you leave and have it entered in the passport. Then it also counts for the return journey, as long as you always repeat the rabies vaccination on time. If you only do the test in Korea, you wait 90 days after the blood sample before your pet may travel to the EU.
According to the NVWA, a rabies shot that a vet outside the EU enters in the EU pet passport is not valid. If your pet gets a booster in Korea, it travels back with an EU animal health certificate from an official vet in Korea. That certificate is valid for ten days until the check on arrival in the EU.
What else can come along in the move, you read in household goods to South Korea. How the return works further, you read in moving back to the Netherlands.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.4: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to South Korea or go straight to step 4.4 in the open plan.
What is due when?
Enter your departure date and see day by day what your dog or cat needs for South Korea, from microchip to certificate.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- APQA, the Korean quarantine agency — bringing a dog and cat to Korea, with the chip, the titre test and quarantine for errors — apqa.go.kr
- APQA — the import procedure in Korean, with the 24 months, the EU pet passport as certificate and the counters at Incheon — apqa.go.kr
- APQA — the general conditions and the list of rabies-free countries; the Netherlands is not on it — apqa.go.kr
- Animal Protection Act (동물보호법), article 15 — registering your dog with the municipality, and the fine — law.go.kr
- NVWA — with your dog or cat to a country outside the EU, with the chip before the vaccination and the blood test for the return journey — nvwa.nl
- European Commission — the non-EU countries without a blood test requirement (Implementing Regulation 2026/636, annex II); South Korea is not among them — food.ec.europa.eu
- European Commission — bringing a pet from a non-EU country, with the titre test, the 90 days and the animal health certificate — food.ec.europa.eu
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