OV66: what the authorisation is, and what to do with no vet nearby

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The answer

“Find an OV66 vet” sounds like a small task next to microchips and blood tests. It is not, and this site’s own corridor pages already flag it as one of the two most common places a British move comes unstuck. This page explains why, and what to do about it.

OV66 is not a general veterinary qualification. It is a specific, additional authorisation that APHA grants on top of ordinary Official Veterinarian status:

Export preparation in relation to rabies requirements, pet identity checks and export health certification work will need to be carried out by veterinarians who are authorised by APHA as an OV under either the OCQ(V) SX or OCQ(V) CA. In addition, these OVs will need to have an additional authorisation from APHA that is specific for export of dogs and cats to Australia — OV66 authorisation.

Most vets, including most OVs who do other kinds of export certification, do not hold it. You cannot assume your regular vet — even an experienced one — has this specific approval, and asking is the first thing to do, not the last.

Why it takes two, not one

This corridor’s identity check is stricter than it sounds, and the strictness is deliberate:

Two identification checks will be required by different OVs from different practices that are not associated. (They can be from two different practices within the same corporate practice group.) Each OV must complete a separate ID declaration and email it to DAFF from their own email address registered with their OV66 authorisation.

Two vets, two unconnected practices, two separate emails sent directly to the Australian department — not to you, and not through a third party. This is why “my vet can do both checks” is not an option, however convenient it would be.

The date that counts is not either appointment individually:

Consider the date of the identification verification to be the date the second OV completes the identity verification. Both dates must be at least 180 days prior to the scheduled date of export.

Your 180-day clock starts at the later of the two appointments — one more reason not to leave the second one until it is inconvenient to arrange.

The check must precede the blood draw, with no exceptions

This rule has already cost readers twenty days of quarantine, and the department states it without any flexibility:

To be eligible for a minimum 10-day quarantine period, the identity verification must occur prior to blood sampling for the RNATT. The department cannot recognise OV66 identity checks that were completed after the RNATT blood sample was collected.

There is no appeal and no retroactive fix once the blood has been drawn. If your rabies work is already underway and you have not yet had either OV66 check, the 10-day route is closed for this preparation cycle — not delayed, closed.

No OV66 vet nearby: what actually works

The published list is the answer, and DAFF is explicit that using anyone off it is not an option:

DAFF will only accept declarations from OVs that have current training and authorisation to prepare companion animals for export and that have been included in the APHA/DAERA approved list of OVs for export certification of pets.

So the task is not “find any vet who says yes” — it is “find someone on that specific, maintained list”, and the list itself is APHA’s, not something a private directory can substitute for.

If nobody is listed within reach of you:

You will need to contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) of the UK. They will provide you with further information on the process and help you to find an authorised OV66 veterinarian who can perform the identity verification.

That is the department’s own answer to the exact problem this page opened with. APHA is who you contact — not a pet shipper, not a generic vet-finder, and not this site.

If you already have a 30-day permit

This one is easy to miss, because it sounds like something that should be fixable after the fact:

Permits that have already been granted for a minimum 30-day quarantine period cannot be changed to a 10-day permit without meeting the above requirements.

The identity check has to have happened, in the right order, before the permit reflects it. A granted permit does not retroactively benefit from a check done later.

The one case where OV66 is not needed

If your animal is an Australian pet returning home, a different rule applies:

Returning Australian animals can use their Australian export permit as proof of identity and do NOT need to undergo an identity check using the OV66 OV process to be eligible for the 10-day PEQ.

That exception is narrow — it is about animals with prior Australian export documentation, not a general shortcut for British pets, and this site does not cover that pathway further.

What this page does not tell you

• The APHA/DAERA approved list itself, or how to search it — request it from APHA directly.
• What an OV66 appointment actually involves. See identity verification for the general mechanism.
• Fees for an OV66 appointment, which are set by the practice, not by APHA.
• Northern Ireland’s DECS-specific process, beyond noting that DAERA maintains its own part of the approved list.