Moving Your Dog, Cat or Ferret to Sweden

In the first group an EU passport must come from a vet with EU authorisation, the dog page (opens in a new window) says. Only these non-EU places may issue a passport of their own: Andorra, Gibraltar, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Northern Ireland, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and the Vatican. Iceland does not at present. From a place that issues none the animal needs a health certificate, and a passport from any other non-EU country is not valid. The cat page (opens in a new window) agrees on Norway. A puppy or kitten bought in Norway gets the exemption only if the buyer travels with it, or within five days before or after it. Otherwise it must be at least 15 weeks old.

The second group includes Great Britain without Northern Ireland, with Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, and also the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. Its page (opens in a new window) asks for a health certificate filled in and stamped by an official vet, meaning a vet with a special appointment, or by the country’s central veterinary authority. A blood test is only recommended, because Jordbruksverket has been told that some dogs arriving from outside the EU lacked enough antibodies despite valid vaccinations.

The third group is every country named in neither of the others, for example Brazil, Egypt and Thailand on its page (opens in a new window). A vet takes the blood sample at least 30 days after the vaccination, or after the second injection of a two-dose course. An EU-approved laboratory must find 0.5 IU/ml or more. The certificate may not be issued until 90 days after the sample, and the page allows no dispensation from that wait. The wait and the test can mean up to four months before the animal may come.

An animal from the first or second group that passes through a third-group country skips the blood test only with a transit declaration, form E9.204c, in which the owner, an authorised person or the transport firm certifies that it did not leave the vehicle or the airport. Jordbruksverket allows this only for an animal that is not sold, is not in a group of more than five (unless the group competes or trains) and travels within five days of its owner. A rabies booster given within the validity the vet wrote down needs no new 21-day wait; a late booster counts as a new primary vaccination, with a new wait and, for the third group, a new blood test.

An animal that left the EU on an EU passport can return on it from a second-group country if the rabies vaccination was entered before it left and stays valid. From a third-group country the blood test must also be entered before it left, and then the 90-day wait does not apply.

Malaysia is in the second group, but dogs, cats and ferrets from there are banned unless the owner certifies in writing that the animal had no contact with pigs for 60 days before travel and was not kept where Nipah disease occurred in those 60 days, and a sample taken within 10 days before travel is negative on an ELISA test. A cat from Australia needs a written statement that it was not kept where Hendra disease occurred in the last 60 days.

For a chip fitted outside the EU, the vet notes in the passport that it was fitted outside the EU, and the quickest proof is the health certificate the animal arrived with. For an unlisted chip fitted before 22 April 2026, you must be able to show the date when a passport is issued, for example from vet records giving the chip number and date, an earlier passport or an entry in the dog register. A legible tattoo made before 3 July 2011 also counts on the first-group pages.

The page on marking dogs (opens in a new window) says the chip must be fitted before the rabies vaccination, or read that day, or the vaccination is not valid. A dog or cat that is already marked may not be marked again unless that is needed for a passport, or the old mark has stopped working or can’t be read. The second-group dog page says a dog whose chip can’t be read at the border may be sent back, quarantined or, in the worst case, put down, and suggests bringing your own reader, which it says you also need if the chip is not an ISO microchip.

Only vets with EU authorisation may issue or write in an EU passport. Since 22 April 2026 the name, address and signature of the person travelling with the animal must be in the passport, even if that person is not its first owner. A passport from another EU country stays valid after a move to Sweden, but one issued from 22 April 2026 to a first owner who was not permanently resident in the issuing country is not valid for travel. The page on the new requirements, last reviewed on 23 April 2026, says Jordbruksverket has not yet made a Swedish version of the new passport model, so vets keep issuing the 2014 model.

If you later take the animal to a second-group country and back, the EU passport serves for the return only if the rabies vaccination was entered before you left the EU and stays valid for the whole stay. If it runs out abroad you need a health certificate, because only EU vets may write in an EU passport. When you travel with the animal you can order that certificate from Jordbruksverket before leaving, and it is posted to your Swedish address in about a week.

The dog and cat pages give two deadlines: registration before the animal is four months old, and within four weeks for a dog you buy, or a cat you buy or take over, that is older than three months. The Swedish import pages say four weeks after arrival for a dog or cat bought abroad, and the English page adds animals rehomed or adopted. The pages we read give no deadline for an animal you bring with you when you move. A registration with the Swedish Kennel Club does not replace the dog register.

The e-service needs an e-legitimation, an electronic ID such as mobile BankID or Freja eID. Both registers accept a paper form from those who cannot use it, and the cat page says a registration by telephone is not possible.

A group is counted per private vehicle, meaning any vehicle that is not public transport, even if the animals have different owners. A show, competition or training group of animals over six months old is the exception and needs written proof that they are registered for the event.

An animal that travels up to five days before or after you with an agent or a shipping company carries a declaration for authorising persons, form E9.204b, and copies of your own ticket or booking. For the stricter route, a country in the third group must be one of the 44 on Jordbruksverket’s list, which includes India, Israel, Morocco, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey; its English third-group page (opens in a new window) lists 42, without Belarus and Russia. From any other country the animal can come only with its owner, or with an authorised person if the owner travels within five days before or after.

At the border control post the importer pays a fee, lower in regular weekday hours, with an extra fee outside them, and books the inspection by 13.00 on the working day before arrival. The English second-group page adds that a Monday arrival must be booked by 13.00 on the Friday. The importer, who can be a private person, a firm or a forwarder, also reports the animal in TRACES, the EU’s online animal-movement system, on a CHED, a Common Health Entry Document. Anyone moving animals between countries to change their owner, or in business, must register as a transporter. A person travelling with up to five of their own animals need not.

Jordbruksverket’s pages cite 2026/131 and 2026/705, and its page for EU origins cites 2026/636 too. Recital 1 of 2026/636 says Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 is repealed from 22 April 2026. A recital of 2026/705 says 2016/429 repealed it in 2021 and that Article 277 kept it applying until 21 April 2026. Article 7 of 2026/705 repeals Regulation (EU) No 577/2013 from 22 April 2026.

Annex II of 2026/636 lists the United Kingdom with a footnote that leaves out Northern Ireland, and lists Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey as entries of their own. Under Article 17 of 2026/131, an animal from a place on either list skips the blood test if it comes directly from where its owner lives, after a stay only in listed places, or through an unlisted place with a signed declaration that it had no contact with animals susceptible to rabies and stayed inside a vehicle or the international zone of a port or airport. Annex I lists ten places for which Article 15 drops the rule to enter through a designated point.

The owner’s declaration that the move is not a sale is Annex V, Part 2 of 2026/705; Annex IV of that act is the certificate for pet birds, and Annex III is the one for dogs, cats and ferrets. The declarations for an authorised person (Part 1) and for transit through an unlisted place (Part 5) share the language rule of Part 6: at least one official language of the destination or entry country, and English. Article 3(c) of 2026/705 applies the same rule to the owner’s declaration, although the title of Part 6 does not list it.