Pet Import Fees, by Country
Pet Import Fees at a Glance
- Most expensive: Australia (about A$2,486 including mandatory quarantine, about $1,640).
- Free: Japan (import inspection, with complete paperwork).
- Scope: government fees only; private pet-relocation costs excluded.
Cheapest and most expensive are ranked after converting to US dollars at approximate November 2026 exchange rates; the table shows each country's own currency at face value. See methodology.
Last updated 3 November 2026.
Moving a pet abroad involves a long list of private costs — a vet health certificate, microchipping, rabies titer testing, airline crates and relocation-agent fees — that vary by provider and aren't comparable across countries. What is comparable is the fee the destination country's own government or biosecurity agency charges to process the import: an import-permit fee, and in some countries, a mandatory quarantine charge. This table prices that government fee only.
Figures are each country's own currency, face value, with no FX conversion — treat a 'most/least expensive' ranking as directional, not exact, once exchange rates are applied. The one exception is the FAQ below naming the genuine most expensive country once converted to a common currency.
| Source | ||
|---|---|---|
🇮🇸 IcelandEstimateOfficial MAST import permit fee for a dog, covering administration and import control at Keflavik. Iceland also requires several weeks of mandatory quarantine at a MAST-approved facility — a real, substantial cost, but not published as a fixed government rate, so it isn't added to this figure. | ISK 37,400 | [2] |
🇦🇺 AustraliaEstimateImport permit (A$626) + mandatory 10-day Post Entry Quarantine at Mickleham, Victoria (A$1,132 reservation/importation charge + A$84 inspection + A$84 document assessment + A$56/day accommodation). The only row in this table that includes quarantine — it's unavoidable even for a fully compliant pet from an approved country. | A$2,486 | [1] |
🇭🇰 Hong KongImport permit for the first animal (HK$102 for each additional animal on the same permit), via AFCD. Pets from Group I countries that fully meet the conditions are normally exempt from quarantine. | HK$432 | [4] |
🇳🇿 New ZealandEstimateImport permit fee for the first cat or dog, including GST, via MPI. Pets from Australia are exempt; most other approved-country pets need this permit but not quarantine. | NZ$374.05 | [3] |
🇯🇵 JapanJapan's Animal Quarantine Service charges no fee for the import inspection itself. The real cost is the months of required preparation beforehand, and a daily detention charge only if an animal's paperwork isn't complete on arrival. | Free (¥0) | [5] |
What's included: the official import-permit application fee charged by the destination country's own government agriculture or biosecurity authority, plus — for Australia specifically, where it's unavoidable even for a fully compliant pet from an approved country — the mandatory Post Entry Quarantine fee. Every other country in this table shows the import-permit fee only; where mandatory quarantine also applies elsewhere (Iceland) but isn't published as a fixed government rate, that's noted on the row rather than estimated.
What's excluded: vet health certificates, microchipping, rabies vaccination and antibody (titer) testing, airline or freight-forwarder transport costs, and private relocation-agency fees. These are real and often substantial, but they're set by private vets, labs and companies, not by government, and vary by provider the same way a lawyer's fee does on this site's other hubs.
Why this isn't a full apples-to-apples comparison: Australia's figure includes mandatory quarantine; every other row is the import-permit fee alone. That makes Australia's true lead over the rest of this table even larger than comparing permit fees alone would show — not smaller — but it also means Iceland's total understates its real government-side cost, since quarantine is mandatory there too and just isn't priced here.
Countries researched but not included: Singapore, Canada and the United Kingdom were researched and dropped. Singapore's current AVS import-licence fee couldn't be confirmed against a current, non-archived official source (the clearest documents found were from 2018). Canada's CFIA fee most commonly cited for a personal pet import traces back to an archived 2006-07 schedule that may no longer be current, and most personal pet imports don't require a CFIA permit at all. The UK's post-Brexit pet travel scheme charges no standard government fee for a compliant pet from a qualifying country, and has no single comparable fee for non-qualifying countries either — so it didn't fit this table's one-official-fee format.
What is the most expensive country to import a pet?
Australia — at roughly A$2,486 (about US$1,640) once converted to a common currency, this is the most expensive government pet-import cost of the countries in this table, and it's not close: the next-highest, Iceland's import permit fee, converts to only around US$270. Australia's total combines its import-permit fee (A$626) with its mandatory Post Entry Quarantine charges (around A$1,860 for a standard 10-day stay) — quarantine that applies even to a fully compliant pet from an approved country, unlike most other countries in this table. Every other figure on this page stays at face value, in each country's own currency, with no conversion — this ranking is the one exception, done specifically to answer this question honestly.
Which country charges nothing to import a pet?
Japan — its Animal Quarantine Service charges no fee at all for the import inspection itself, confirmed directly against its own official guidance. The real cost in Japan is the lengthy preparation required beforehand (microchipping, a rabies vaccination series and a blood antibody test, typically needing around 7 months' lead time before arrival) and, if an animal's paperwork isn't complete on arrival, a daily detention charge — but the government's own inspection fee is genuinely zero.
Does this include vet certificates, microchipping or flights?
No — only the government import-permit fee (and, for Australia, mandatory quarantine) is priced here. Vet health certificates, microchipping, rabies vaccination and titer testing, airline or pet-freight costs, and private relocation-agency fees are real and often substantial, but they're set by private vets, labs and transport companies, not by government, so they're excluded the same way this site's other hubs exclude lawyer or agent fees.
Does Australia's figure include mandatory quarantine, not just the import permit?
Yes — Australia is the only country in this table where that's true. Its A$2,486 figure combines the A$626 import-permit application fee with roughly A$1,860 in mandatory Post Entry Quarantine charges (reservation, inspection, document assessment and a standard 10-day stay at the government's Mickleham facility), because quarantine there is unavoidable even for a fully compliant pet from an approved country. Every other row in this table shows the import-permit fee alone — see the methodology section above for why.
Passport Fees by Country
Another official government fee tied to international travel and relocation.
Residence Permit Fees by Country
The other major government fee people moving abroad often face.
Visa on Arrival Fees by Country
Another government fee travellers pay at the border, sourced and compared the same way.
- 1Cat and dog import permit fees, and Post Entry Quarantine fees
Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF)
Import permit: $135 lodgement + $491 assessment for the first animal = $626. Post Entry Quarantine (2026-27 schedule, Mickleham): $1,132 reservation/importation charge + $84 inspection + $84 document assessment + $56/day accommodation (10 days = $560). DAFF's own site returned repeated 503 errors on direct fetch this session; figures confirmed via the department's own 2026-27 fee-schedule text, independently cited. Checked 3 November 2026.
- 2Import instructions for dogs (D2)
Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST)
Import permit fee: 37,400 kr, covering administration and import control on arrival at Keflavík and on release from quarantine. MAST's PDF didn't return readable text on direct fetch this session; figure confirmed via the document's own quoted fee text. Checked 3 November 2026.
- 3Fees and charges when bringing pets to NZ
New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)
Import permit fee for the first cat or dog: NZ$374.05 including GST. MPI's page didn't render on direct fetch this session; figure confirmed via the department's own quoted fee text. Checked 3 November 2026.
- 4Import of Dogs and Cats from Group I countries/places
Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD)
Permit fee: HK$432 for the first animal, HK$102 for each additional animal on the same permit. Fetched and read directly 3 November 2026.
- 5Animal Quarantine Service: Q&A on import quarantine
Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Animal Quarantine Service
"There will be no charge for inspection" — the import quarantine inspection is free; the owner pays only for care and feeding if an animal is held in quarantine. Fetched and read directly 3 November 2026.