Quarantine release, and what you have to do afterwards

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The answer

Your release date is printed on your import permit. It is not negotiated at the facility and not estimated — it is a condition of the permit you already hold.

The minimum stay at Mickleham is 30 days, or 10 days if your pet qualified through identity verification or Australian origin. Any issue that increases biosecurity risk may result in a longer stay.

Payment gates the release

Two separate obligations, and the second is a hard gate:

• Partial payment for the quarantine accommodation is due at booking;
• the account must be paid in full before your animal is released.

The department’s estimated total cost of importing one cat or dog is AUD 3,114 at the 10-day minimum and AUD 4,234 at 30 days. Those are estimates covering government charges, and they go up for extra parasite treatments, veterinary care, an extended stay, or testing where a disease of biosecurity concern is suspected.

Budget for the higher figure rather than the lower one. Arriving at the release date with an unpaid balance delays the one thing you have been waiting six months for.

After release: what is yours to do

The department’s involvement ends at the gate. It states this plainly, and it catches people who assume the import process registered their animal:

You are responsible for meeting local requirements for cats and dogs in Australia. This might include registering your pet and their microchip and paying yearly fees. The department is not involved in local council or national microchip registration databases.

So the microchip that carried your animal through the entire import chain is not on any Australian registry when it walks out. Contact the local council where you will live — requirements and fees differ between councils and between states.

Two other things worth doing in the first week:

• Get the animal onto an Australian microchip database, so a lost pet can be traced. Your new veterinarian can do this.
• Register with a local veterinary practice and hand over the import paperwork, which is the animal’s complete recent medical history.

Getting your pet home from Melbourne

Quarantine is at Mickleham regardless of where in Australia you are moving. If your home is in another state, the journey from Melbourne after release is a separate arrangement you make yourself — worth booking before the release date rather than on it.

What this page does not tell you

• A daily timetable or an update schedule. What the department does publish about the stay — no visiting, individual climate-controlled pens, bedding, and the collection window — is on inside quarantine.
• How an extension is decided, or how you are told about one.
• Council registration fees, which vary by council and state — though the registration and desexing obligations themselves are covered in after-arrival state rules.
• Prices and booking mechanics for the journey from Melbourne to another Australian city — the carriers and the cabin-or-hold question are covered in onward domestic travel.