China is one of the few strict destinations where your pet can clear the airport and come home with you the same day. There is no quarantine at all, as long as the file is complete: an ISO microchip, at least two rabies vaccinations in your pet’s lifetime, and a rabies antibody result of 0.5 IU/mL or higher from one of five laboratories China accepts. If any one of those is missing, the trip changes completely. Your pet can then only land at one of ten designated ports, and stays 30 days in a customs quarantine facility.
So this route is won or lost on paperwork, not on waiting. One coordinator builds the sequence around your travel date, checks every document against what the customs officer will actually look at, and makes sure your pet lands eligible to walk out of the airport with you.
Different destinations, different routes, different challenges.
Because China checks the documents as a set, and one missing line changes the whole arrival, we build a plan that fits your pet and your move date.
We work from the General Administration of Customs rules and the USDA export requirements, then turn them into a checklist and a dated timeline you can follow.
We help choose practical routes and travel windows, and confirm how your arrival airport handles animals before anything is booked.
Pet Travel Advisors assigns a move coordinator who keeps you updated and checks the same details the customs officer will check.
Moving a pet to China is a document exercise with one hard dependency. The rabies antibody test, usually called a titer, has to be drawn on or after the day of the second rabies vaccination. There is no waiting period after it, which is what makes China faster than most countries that ask for a titer at all. The result stays valid for up to one year, and the health certificate has to be issued within 14 days of arrival. So the titer goes early, the certificate goes last, and the flight is booked to fit between them. Here is what we lock in for every China move:
To keep everything clear, we break the process into steps:
We check your pet's vaccination history first, because China counts rabies vaccinations across a lifetime, not just the current one.
We work backward from your travel date to the blood draw, so the laboratory turnaround is never the thing that moves your flight.
We keep the microchip, the vaccinations and the titer draw in the right order with a USDA accredited veterinarian.
We check the details the customs desk checks: microchip digits, vaccination dates, laboratory name, sampling date, and the traveler name against the passport.
We help align crate setup and routing with airline handling expectations.
We tell you exactly which documents to carry to the customs office on arrival and what happens there.
A pet that meets every requirement can enter through any port of arrival in China. That is unusual for a country this strict, and it is worth knowing early, because it means the routing can be chosen for the shortest and coolest trip rather than to reach one approved airport.
A pet that cannot meet them has ten options and only ten. The designated ports with quarantine facilities are Beijing Capital Airport, Beijing West Railway Station, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Shanghai Railway Station, Shanghai International Passenger Transport Center, Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal, Urumqi Diwopu International Airport, Alashankou, and Guangzhou Baiyun Airport. We book the routing, the crate and the travel window against the port your paperwork actually allows.
With a complete file there is no quarantine. You present the documents at the customs office in the arrivals area, collect your pet, and go home. Without one, your pet completes 30 days in a facility designated by customs, and the withholding period counts inside those 30 days.
APHIS states the alternative plainly: a pet that cannot meet the no quarantine requirements must enter through a designated port, or it will be returned to the United States or euthanized. That sentence is the reason we check the file three times before anyone books a flight.
Carry more paper than feels necessary. On arrival you need the APHIS endorsed health certificate, the original rabies vaccination certificate and the original titer laboratory report, plus one photocopy of your passport for each pet and a printed photo of your pet with a photocopy of it. For a large dog, put something in the photo that shows the size. Dogs are also registered with the local police where you live within one month of arrival.
For what all of this costs, our USA to China pet shipping cost page sets out the endorsement band, the crate driver and the one pet per traveler limit line by line.
Before scheduling vet steps or flights, we confirm what applies to your pet against the General Administration of Customs rules and the USDA export requirements, so nothing in your plan rests on an outdated summary.
The order is simple and it matters. Microchip first, so every later document refers to the same number. Rabies vaccinations next, and China counts them across your whole pet’s life: there must be at least two, and the current one must still be valid on the day you land. The titer blood draw comes on or after the day of that second vaccination, and the sample goes to one of five laboratories China accepts. Kansas State, which handles most of these samples, currently estimates 10 to 14 calendar days and offers no expedited service. The health certificate is last, issued within 14 days of arrival and endorsed by APHIS electronically through VEHCS.
We schedule every step with margin, and we build the flight date around the laboratory rather than hoping it keeps up.
| Requirement | China, from the United States |
|---|---|
| Microchip | ISO 11784 or 11785 microchip, 15 digits. If the chip is not ISO compliant you have to travel with a reader that can read it |
| Rabies vaccination | Vaccinated at least twice in its lifetime and still current on the day of arrival. The original vaccination certificate travels with the pet |
| Rabies titer test | Required. At least 0.5 IU/mL, from one of five laboratories China accepts. Blood drawn on or after the day of the second rabies vaccination |
| Waiting period | None after the titer. The result is valid for up to one year from the sampling date |
| Health certificate | Issued by a USDA accredited veterinarian within 14 days of arrival, endorsed by APHIS through the VEHCS system |
| Pets per traveler | One. The traveler name on the certificate must match the passport, and each pet needs its own certificate |
| Quarantine | None when every requirement above is met. 30 days in a customs designated facility if any of them is not |
| Entry ports | Any port of arrival with a complete file. Ten designated ports only, if quarantine applies |
| Endorsement fee | One laboratory test puts this route in the APHIS 1 to 2 test band, $160 per certificate |
| Registration in China | Dogs are registered with the local police within one month of arrival |
| Realistic lead time | About 4 to 8 weeks once the second rabies vaccination is done, set by the 10 to 14 day laboratory turnaround and the 14 day certificate window |
China does not make you wait months. It makes you sequence correctly. For a pet that already has two lifetime rabies vaccinations and a current one, plan on roughly 4 to 8 weeks: the blood draw, 10 to 14 calendar days at the laboratory, then the health certificate inside its 14 day window and the APHIS endorsement through VEHCS. If your pet has only ever had one rabies vaccination, the second one has to happen before the blood draw, so start earlier.
Two things move flight plans more than anything else on this route. Chinese customs has to be notified of your pet’s arrival before you travel. And only one pet is allowed per traveler, so a household moving two animals needs two people on two certificates, which is far easier to arrange at the booking stage than the week before departure.
Planning the budget? See our breakdown of what pet shipping costs, fee by fee. Moving to Hong Kong or Macau instead? Both are treated as separate places under these rules and the requirements are different, so start with our Hong Kong page.
You can price the route on our pet shipping cost calculator, and our guide to the rabies titer test explains the laboratory timing. Elsewhere in the region, we also cover Japan and South Korea, two other titer routes.
No, as long as everything is in place. A dog or cat arriving from the United States with an ISO microchip, at least two rabies vaccinations in its lifetime, a current vaccination on the day of arrival, and a rabies antibody result of 0.5 IU/mL or higher from an accepted laboratory enters with no quarantine, and can arrive at any port in China. If any one of those is missing, your pet has to arrive at one of ten designated ports and completes 30 days in a customs quarantine facility, with the withholding period counted inside those 30 days.
An ISO compliant microchip, at least two rabies vaccinations in your pet’s lifetime with a current one on arrival, a rabies antibody test of at least 0.5 IU/mL from one of the five laboratories China accepts, and an international health certificate issued by a USDA accredited veterinarian within 14 days of arrival and endorsed by APHIS through VEHCS. Only one pet is allowed per traveler, and the traveler named on the certificate has to match the passport. Pets traveling from Hawaii or Guam are exempt from the titer test.
The government side is small and knowable. The APHIS endorsement is $160 per certificate on this route, because China requires one laboratory test. Your veterinarian charges separately for the examination, the vaccination and the blood draw, and so does the titer laboratory. The large numbers are the flight and the crate, and those depend on your pet’s size, the season and the route. Our cost breakdown walks through each line, and a quote request gets you a real number for your pet.
Not on one passport. China allows one dog or one cat per traveler per entry, each on its own health certificate, with the traveler name matching the passport. Two animals means two travelers on the same itinerary. It is worth settling this before flights are booked.
Kansas State University’s rabies laboratory, one of the five China accepts, currently estimates 10 to 14 calendar days from receiving the sample and does not offer an expedited service. The blood cannot be drawn before the second rabies vaccination, and once you have a passing result it stays valid for up to one year. That is why the titer is the first thing we schedule.
With a complete file, any port of arrival. If your pet has to be quarantined, only ten ports accept animals, including Beijing Capital Airport, Shanghai Pudong, Shanghai Hongqiao, Guangzhou Baiyun and Urumqi Diwopu. That is the practical reason to get the paperwork exactly right: it decides whether you can fly into the city you are actually moving to.
Yes. Dogs are registered with the local police where you live within one month of arriving. Registration rules and fees are set locally, so the police office in your district is the one to ask.
We build the sequence around your travel date, keep the vaccination and titer steps in the right order with a USDA accredited veterinarian, prepare the certificate for APHIS endorsement through VEHCS, arrange the crate and the routing, and tell you exactly what to carry to the customs desk on arrival. One coordinator owns your file from the first vet visit to the moment you walk out of the airport with your pet.
Last updated 6 September 2026
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