Bringing your dog or cat to Vietnam

Short answer: Vietnam lets your pet in with a rabies shot, a health certificate and a quarantine registration, but Australia won't take it straight back, so the return trip is the part to plan first.

The short version

Foreigners can bring up to two cats or dogs into Vietnam as household pets [1].
Your pet needs a rabies vaccination given at least 30 days before travel, an Australian export health certificate and a pre-registration with Vietnam's Department of Animal Health (DAH) [1][2].
On the Australian side, you lodge a Notice of Intention to Export at least 10 working days before departure and get the paperwork endorsed by a government vet [3].
Vietnam isn't an approved country for pets coming into Australia. To bring your pet home, it must spend at least 180 days in an approved country first [4].
Talk to your vet about a rabies blood test (RNATT) before you leave Australia. It keeps your options open later [5].

Why this is different from the move itself

Australia is rabies-free, which makes Australian pets low risk for Vietnam. That's the good news. The bad news is the reverse: rabies is present in Vietnam, and rabid dogs cause almost all of the country's human cases [6]. Australia's biosecurity rules treat Vietnam accordingly.

So this is really two projects:

	Australia to Vietnam	Vietnam back to Australia
Lead time	About two to three months	At least seven months, often longer
Key test	Rabies vaccination at least 30 days before travel [2]	Living in a Group 2 or 3 country for at least 180 days and meeting all its conditions [4]
Quarantine	At the border in Vietnam, can be up to 45 days if there's a disease risk [1]	Post-entry quarantine at Mickleham, Victoria [5]
Who decides	Department of Animal Health, Vietnam [1]	Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) [4][5]

If you can't face the return leg, think hard about whether the pet comes at all. Leaving an older animal with family in Australia is sometimes the kinder option.

Vietnam's entry rules

Vietnam's rules come from Circular 25/2016 of the agriculture ministry and the decree behind it. Viet Nam News summarised them in January 2026 [1]:

Numbers: up to two animals per person, kept as household pets [1].
Export health certificate from the exporting country's veterinary authority, usually issued within 7 to 10 days of departure [1].
Rabies vaccination certificate showing the date, vaccine type, batch number and validity. The shot must be at least 30 days and no more than 12 months before entry [1].
Vaccination record with other vaccines and parasite treatments [1].
Microchip number, identical on every document. Vietnam doesn't strictly require a chip, but airlines and the Australian export process do, so your pet will have one [1].
Translations into English or Vietnamese. Australian documents are already in English.

The DAH registration

Before you fly, you or your agent submit a quarantine request (Form 19 in Appendix V of Circular 25), an animal quarantine declaration and copies of the vaccination and health certificates. It goes through Vietnam's National Single Window portal (vnsw.gov.vn) or by post to the Department of Animal Health in Hanoi. DAH decides within five working days of a complete file and tells the airport quarantine office [1].

Arriving at Tan Son Nhat

After immigration, you collect your pet, usually from a special baggage or cargo area, and report to the animal quarantine office. Officers scan the microchip, check the file and examine the animal. A healthy pet with complete papers is released once a veterinary certificate is issued. If there's a disease concern, they can take samples and hold the animal in quarantine for up to 45 days, at your cost [1]. Complete, consistent paperwork is the best way to avoid that.

Getting out of Australia

Australia's export rules apply to every cat and dog leaving, even with its owner. DAFF's process has clear steps [3].

Check Vietnam's requirements in MICoR, the department's importing-country database. For Vietnam it lists a rabies vaccination with an approved inactivated vaccine at least 30 days before departure, with full details on the certificate [2].
See a registered vet early. Microchip check, rabies vaccination and any extra treatments. If your pet has never had a rabies shot, which is normal in Australia, start here [2][3].
Consider the RNATT now. DAFF recommends a rabies vaccination and blood test before leaving Australia if your pet may go to a non-approved country. A result of at least 0.5 IU/ml is valid for 12 months from the blood draw [5].
Lodge the Notice of Intention to Export with your state's regional office at least 10 working days before departure, with your documents attached. There's an assessment fee [3].
Final vet exam within 72 hours of departure. You and your vet sign the pre-export inspection declaration [3].
Government vet endorsement. At a pre-export appointment, a DAFF certifying officer endorses the health certificate and issues the export permit. Your pet must leave within 72 hours of that [3].
Keep every record for at least two years [3]. You'll need them to prove your pet left Australia, which matters later.

Flights and crates

Pets leaving Australia generally travel as manifested cargo, not in the cabin. Not every airline on the Australia–Saigon route accepts animals, and those that do have their own crate, breed and temperature rules. Snub-nosed breeds such as pugs, bulldogs and Persian cats face extra limits. Ask the airline before you book your own seat, and use an IATA-standard crate your pet has slept in for weeks [3].

Life with a pet in Saigon

The city is more pet-friendly than it looks. Plenty of expat-area apartments in Thao Dien and District 7 accept pets, and international-standard vet clinics operate in those same neighbourhoods. A few things to know:

Check the lease and building rules. Many condos restrict dogs in lifts and common areas, or ban them. Get it in writing before you sign. See our renting guide.
Keep rabies shots current. This protects your pet in a country where rabies is present, and an unbroken vaccination history helps the trip home [5][6].
Heat is hard on animals. Walk dogs early and late, and watch paws on hot pavement.
Keep dogs on a lead and never leave them tied up alone outside shops.
Mosquitoes carry heartworm. Ask your vet about prevention year-round.

For tips on vets, groomers and pet-friendly buildings, join Cooee Vietnam, our Facebook group for Australians in Vietnam.

The hard part: bringing your pet home

This is where expats get caught. DAFF's country lists don't include Vietnam, so it's not an approved country for cats or dogs coming into Australia [4]. Your pet can't fly straight from Saigon to Melbourne.

Instead, DAFF says you must import via an approved Group 2 or 3 country, spend at least 180 days there and meet all conditions for importing from that country [4]. In practice that might mean relocating with your pet to Singapore, Japan or another approved country before going home, or boarding it there. It's expensive and slow.

Two things make it a little easier:

Australian origin counts. Pets that left Australia with identification on their Australian export certificate can be eligible for the shorter 10-day stay at Mickleham, rather than 30 days [5].
A valid RNATT saves time. If vaccinations and the RNATT stay valid the whole time your pet is overseas, you avoid restarting the 180-day wait after a rabies-risk country [5].

Our full guide to bringing your pet home to Australia covers permits, Mickleham and 2026 government fees.

A simple timeline

Three months out: vet visit, microchip check, rabies vaccination, ask about the RNATT.
Two months out: blood test if you're doing one. Book flights that take pets.
Six weeks out: submit the DAH registration to Vietnam.
Two to three weeks out: lodge the Notice of Intention to Export with DAFF.
Within 72 hours of the flight: final vet exam, government endorsement, export permit.
Arrival day: border quarantine check at Tan Son Nhat, then home.

Bringing your dog or cat from Australia to Vietnam: easy in, hard home