Why identity has to come before everything else

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The answer

Identity comes first. Not as a recommendation — as a structural requirement, because every later document is bound to the microchip number.

The fixed order:

1. Microchip — verified before the import process starts, and at least 180 days before export.
2. Identity check (optional but valuable) — by the competent authority, before any other pre-export preparations, and at least 180 days before export.
3. Rabies vaccination — after the chip exists, so the vaccination record carries the number.
4. RNATT blood sample — at least 3–4 weeks later, in a separate visit from the identity check.
5. 180-day wait, then the permit application, then travel.

All rabies requirements must be complete before you apply for the import permit.

What goes wrong when the order slips

The identity check after the blood draw. The check must precede the RNATT and cannot happen at the same visit. Get this the wrong way round and your animal is not eligible for the 10-day quarantine minimum — it serves 30 days instead. See 10-day versus 30-day quarantine.

The microchip after the vaccination or the test. A government approved veterinarian must scan the chip at every visit and before any pre-export blood sampling, and the number must be on the documents. A record made before the chip existed cannot be linked to your animal, and documents cannot be amended afterwards to add the number.

Vaccination too early in the animal’s life. The rabies vaccine only counts if it was given when the dog was at least 84 days old. A vaccination given before that is not a valid starting point, no matter how well documented.

Why the rule exists

Australia is not verifying a dog. It is verifying a chain of evidence about a dog: this chip was in this animal, this blood came from this chip, this laboratory tested that blood, this official veterinarian saw that chip on that date.

Break the chain at any link and the later evidence proves nothing — not because anyone doubts your honesty, but because the document no longer demonstrates what it needs to demonstrate. That is also why the department is so unyielding about amendments: a document changed after the fact cannot prove the sequence it claims to.

The practical rule

Before you book any appointment, ask what it will attach to. If the answer is the microchip, and the microchip is not verified yet, that appointment is in the wrong place in your plan.

And do all of it with a government approved veterinarian, in an approved country, before departure. Your competent authority decides which veterinarians qualify — in some countries any registered vet, in others a specific list. Confirm that before your first appointment rather than after it.

What this page does not tell you

• How to find your competent authority or its approved veterinarians.
• Whether an existing vaccination still counts given when your dog was chipped — take the dates to your veterinarian.
• Cat-specific sequencing, which is not yet recorded on this site.