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Pet travel route

Taking a dog or cat from Malta → Vietnam

What the official rules ask for on this route, for a family pet travelling with its owner. Enter your travel date and your pet’s details to turn it into a dated checklist.

Make my dated plan Reverse: Vietnam → Malta

Limited official guidance. The authority for entering Vietnam publishes little for this route. Everything it does say is here, with its wording. Viet Nam's 2026 circular on animal quarantine sets out what happens at the border for a pet carried by a traveller, but it doesn't list what the exporting country's quarantine certificate must state (for example a rabies vaccination or its timing), and we found no official English page for pet owners. Ask the animal quarantine office at your arrival airport and your airline what the certificate must show before you travel.

How early to start

No fixed wait

if your pet has no microchip or rabies vaccination yet (the least time the official waiting periods allow)

No fixed wait

if it is already microchipped and vaccinated

Counted only from the officially fixed waiting periods. Vet, lab and paperwork appointment times are on top, so start earlier.

What your dog or cat needs

Taking a dog or cat out of an EU country (national procedure not yet verified): we summarised this from a short or older official page and it is still under review, so it may be incomplete.

  1. Paperwork

    Quarantine (health) certificate from the exporting country

    Your pet travels with the quarantine certificate issued by the exporting country's authority. The border quarantine office in Viet Nam checks it. The circular doesn't say how recent it must be or what it must state: ask the quarantine office at your arrival airport.

    Details and the official words

    “Cơ quan kiểm dịch động vật cửa khẩu thực hiện: Kiểm tra Giấy chứng nhận kiểm dịch của nước xuất khẩu; kiểm tra lâm sàng động vật;”

  2. On arrival

    Declare your pet at the border animal quarantine office

    For up to 2 animals you bring as pets or on a trip (not on the banned list), declare them for import quarantine directly at the animal quarantine office at the border. It checks the certificate and examines your pet, and issues Viet Nam's import quarantine certificate within 1 working day if everything is in order.

    Details and the official words

    “Kiểm dịch đối với trường hợp mang theo người không quá 02 con động vật với mục đích để nuôi làm cảnh, sinh hoạt trong gia đình hoặc mang theo đi du lịch, công tác, quá cảnh và không thuộc Danh mục động vật cấm xuất khẩu, nhập khẩu theo quy định”

    “Chủ hàng khai báo kiểm dịch nhập khẩu trực tiếp tại Cơ quan kiểm dịch động vật cửa khẩu;”

    “Trong thời hạn 01 ngày làm việc kể từ ngày thực hiện kiểm dịch, Cơ quan kiểm dịch động vật cửa khẩu cấp Giấy chứng nhận kiểm dịch động vật nhập khẩu”

Good to know

  • The circular doesn't list the vaccinations a pet must have. At the border, the quarantine office vaccinates an animal that hasn't been vaccinated against dangerous infectious diseases, and takes samples from an animal suspected of an infectious disease (the certificate then comes within 1 working day of the test result).
  • An animal with a dangerous infectious disease is destroyed near the border crossing, and an animal whose foreign quarantine certificate isn't valid is held.
  • EU rules on pet travel cover moving between EU countries and entering the EU. They do not set the rules for entering a non-EU country: the destination does that. Each member state's veterinary authority issues or endorses the certificate a destination asks for. For this country we could not read an official national page that describes that procedure (the site was unreachable from our checks, blocks automated reading, or the instructions are not in the page text), so we show only the EU-wide rule below. Ask your vet or your national veterinary authority which certificate, stamp and timing your destination needs.
  • Planning to bring your pet back to the EU? After a short stay in a non-EU country you can skip the 3-month wait after the rabies blood test, but only if, before you leave the EU, your pet was vaccinated against rabies, passed a successful titer test, and your vet recorded both in its EU pet passport. So do the blood test before you go.

Common questions

Does my dog or cat need a rabies blood test to go from Malta to Vietnam?

We couldn't find this in our summary of the rules, but that summary is short and still under review. Ask the official authority before you rely on it.

Do I need an import permit to bring my dog or cat into Vietnam?

We couldn't find this in our summary of the rules, but that summary is short and still under review. Ask the official authority before you rely on it.

Will my dog or cat be quarantined in Vietnam?

We couldn't find this in our summary of the rules, but that summary is short and still under review. Ask the official authority before you rely on it.

Does my dog or cat need a microchip?

We couldn't find this in our summary of the rules, but that summary is short and still under review. Ask the official authority before you rely on it.