Bringing a pet to Morocco: the chip must come before the vaccination

Of all the preparations before your departure, this one starts earliest, and it is the only one where the order weighs heavier than the lead time.

The mistake made most often

The chip must be placed before the rabies vaccination.

That sounds like a formality and it isn't. The certificate links the vaccination to the chip number. If the vaccination is registered before the chip, that link cannot be made, and then the file isn't right. At the border that is no discussion but a refusal.

The annoying thing is that this happens with animals that have been vaccinated for years: the jab came before the chipping obligation. In that case the animal has to be vaccinated again after chipping, and the waiting time starts from the beginning.

So first of all check the dates in your animal's pet passport. Not the validity — the order.

The clocks in a row

Twenty-one days. After a first rabies vaccination at least twenty-one days must pass before the animal may enter Morocco.

Twenty-four hours. The health certificate is issued by an official vet within twenty-four hours before loading. That means an appointment tied to your travel date, and so an appointment you make as soon as you have that date.

The titre test. If the animal doesn't stay permanently in Morocco — if you want to travel back and forth with it — a blood test is needed that shows the vaccination has taken, at least thirty days after the vaccination. Have it done in the Netherlands before departure. Arranging it afterwards is considerably harder, and without that test you don't get back into the EU with the animal.

On arrival

ONSSA checks the papers, the identification and the animal itself on entry. Make sure the chip number is readable and that the passport, the certificate and the vaccination record are together.

By road or by air

On this route you have a choice far destinations don't offer: with the animal in the car, through France and Spain and across with the ferry. That is cheaper than air freight and for many animals less stressful.

Whoever flies books the animal well ahead: the number of places per flight is limited and in the summer months they're gone.