The exact order of the paperwork

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The chain

Each document exists because an earlier one does. Read down the “waiting for” column and the whole process explains itself:

Two clocks run underneath all of it: 180 days from the RNATT sample reaching the laboratory, and the 12-month RNATT validity that the permit inherits — the permit must still be valid on the day your pet arrives.

The four points of no return

Most ordering mistakes cost a delay. These four cost a restart.

1. Identity before the blood draw. The identity check must precede the RNATT and cannot share a visit with it. In the US, blood cannot be drawn until after the second microchip scanning. In Great Britain, an OV66 check completed after the RNATT cannot be recognised at all. Miss it and your animal serves 30 days of quarantine instead of 10.

2. The microchip before everything. Every later document is bound to that number, and no document can be amended afterwards to add or correct it.

3. Continuous vaccination from the RNATT to departure. A lapse makes the animal ineligible: revaccinate, retest, and the 180 days start again.

4. Rabies work complete before the permit application. The permit application needs the RNATT report and the endorsed declaration. Applying early does not reserve a place — it produces an application that cannot be assessed.

The country-specific deadlines inside the chain

• United States: identity declaration Part 3 must be endorsed within three months of the first microchip scanning. The chain has an expiry date at the very start.
• Great Britain: both OV66 verification dates must be at least 180 days before the scheduled export, and the date that counts is when the second OV completes it.
• Canada: CFIA endorsement must happen before the animal leaves Canada — there is no after.

Where scans go and originals go

Scans are submitted with the BICON permit application. The originals travel with your animal. Keep copies of the endorsed identity declaration and the endorsed RNATT declaration to attach to the export health certificate.

Working backwards, and why it usually fails

Most people start from a moving date and work backwards. That reveals whether the plan fits — but it does not produce a plan, because the chain’s start is not a fixed distance from the end: the identity check, the vaccination, the 3–4 week wait and the laboratory’s receipt date all move independently.

Work forwards from the RNATT sample date instead. That single date determines the earliest export, the RNATT expiry, the permit validity and therefore the arrival window. Everything else is scheduling around it.

What this page does not tell you

• Dates for your specific case. Doing that reliably is the automated route plan’s job, and it is not live yet.
• Whether a day count includes its starting day. The department states the convention for external parasite treatment (first day is day 0) but not for every window here.
• How long each authority takes to endorse, which varies by office and season.