Pet transport to and from Southeast Asia: three countries, three sets of rules
A dog leaving Thailand, one leaving the Philippines and one leaving Vietnam do not travel on the same file. Asia Relocation runs all three with its own teams, and this page exists to tell you which set of rules applies to you before you plan anything.
Everything an airline asks for is the same across the region: a crate that meets the standard, a healthy animal, a booking accepted in advance. Everything a government asks for is different, and that is where moves go wrong.
Thailand issues an export permit through its Livestock Department. The Philippines works through the Bureau of Animal Industry, and adds a second dimension nobody expects — in an archipelago, a household can move without leaving the country and still have to fly its dog. Vietnam inspects on arrival, and how long that takes depends on whether the documents agree with each other.
Read that way, the choice of page is easy: the one for the country the animal is leaving. This one is for deciding which, and for the moves that touch two of ours at once.
What one coordinator holds, wherever the animal starts
The list below is identical in all three countries. What changes underneath it is the paperwork, and that is the point of this page.
Carried by the service
- Which regime applies, established first: departure country, destination, and the lead time the stricter of the two imposes.
- The local permit file, whichever of the three it is, prepared by the team that deals with that authority every week.
- An airline-standard crate, sized on the animal and delivered early enough to be familiar.
- The booking, once the carrier has confirmed in writing what it accepts on that route.
- Both ends inside the region: departure handled by one of our teams, arrival by another, with one coordinator across the two.
The scope is written out per country in the quotation.
A different service
- Veterinary work. Clinics vaccinate, chip and certify. We schedule, chase and verify — three separate jobs from signing.
- Offices we do not have. Outside the three countries a briefed partner receives the animal, and we say so plainly rather than implying a network.
- The household's own shipment. Across a border, an international move; inside one country, a domestic one.
- Vehicles. A car or a motorbike travels under customs rules, not veterinary ones: vehicle transport.
- Cover and interim space. Moving insurance is quoted separately, and storage holds the household while a family lands.
Any of these can be added to the same file. Mention it when you write.
Five ways an animal moves, and who decides each one
Airlines set most of these rules. Governments set the ones in the section below.
As cargo, on its own booking
The standard for medium and large dogs out of all three countries alike. Its own air waybill, cargo terminal check-in, and the widest choice of long-haul routings out of the region.
With the owner, in the hold
Booked against your own ticket so the animal lands when you do. Availability varies by carrier and by airport, and it is thinner out of secondary cities than out of the three capitals.
In the cabin
Small animals in an approved carrier, where the airline allows it. This is a carrier rule rather than a national one, so it can differ between two flights leaving the same airport on the same day.
Between two of our countries
Thailand to the Philippines, the Philippines to Vietnam, and the postings that move families around the region. Two of our own teams, one file, and no handover between firms that each assume the other is holding it.
Beyond the region, with a receiving partner
Europe, the Gulf, North America, Australia. We prepare and despatch; a briefed partner receives and reports back to the same coordinator. Named in the quotation, not discovered on arrival.
From which-country to a crate opened at the far end
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Which regime, and which is stricter
Departure country and destination are read together. The stricter of the two sets the calendar, and it is not always the one people expect.
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The local file, by the local team
Livestock Department permit, BAI clearance or Vietnamese import permit, prepared by the people who file them routinely rather than by a head office reading a website.
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Vet appointments, in sequence
Chip, vaccination, tests where required, certificate. Sequenced so every document is still valid on the day the animal flies.
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Crate, carrier, confirmation
The crate is sized on the animal; the airline confirms its conditions in writing for that exact routing; only then is space held.
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Departure, arrival, handover
Check-in on one side, clearance and delivery on the other, with the same coordinator writing to you at each stage rather than a reference number.
Four journeys that start in this region
Four journeys that start in this region, each with an Asia Relocation team at the departure end.
Leaving Southeast Asia for good
The destination writes the medical calendar and the departure country signs the permits. Strict arrival countries decide the month, not the airline.
Arriving with an animal
Each of the three countries wants something different at the door. What they share is that the paperwork must exist before boarding, not on landing.
Moving between our three countries
A posting that shifts from Thailand to the Philippines. Two regimes in one file, both of them ours, and a single person answering for the animal throughout.
Companies and HR teams
Assignments that include families, and families that include animals. One contact for three countries, one written scope, one invoice.
Three countries, three animal regimes
The page that applies to you is the one for the country the animal is leaving.
In Thailand the export permit comes from the Department of Livestock Development, and departures run through the capital or two regional airports depending on the route. In the Philippines the Bureau of Animal Industry issues the clearances, and geography adds a case the other two do not have: a family moving from one island to another is not going abroad, and the dog still flies. In Vietnam arriving animals are inspected against their documents, so the file is what decides whether that check is a formality.
Beyond the three, Asia Relocation does not claim offices it does not have. The animal is prepared and despatched by our team, received by a briefed partner, and reported on to the coordinator who built the file.
What owners ask before choosing a country page
Are the rules the same in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam?
Which country page should I read?
What is common to all three countries?
Can you move an animal between two of your countries?
What about a destination outside the region?
Do you handle animals other than dogs and cats?
What does IATA compliance actually mean for the crate?
How far ahead should we start?
Two neighbouring services
The household is moving too
Surveys, crates and customs files for homes leaving or entering the region.
Moving a home across a border →The whole moving service
Everything we run across the three countries, and which part your move needs.
Moving services in Southeast Asia →Tell us where the animal is now, and where it has to be
Asia Relocation will say which regime applies, what the critical path is, and which of its teams takes the file — in writing, before you fix a date.
Ask about your pet's move →