Bringing pets and household goods to the Netherlands: the pet paperwork per country, the customs exemption, and your car

Moving to the Netherlands often means moving a dog or cat, a container of belongings, or both. The two have separate rules and separate timelines, and both timelines start well before the moving date. A pet from a high-risk rabies country needs about four months of preparation. The tax exemption for your household goods depends on how long you have owned your things and on when you import them. This guide covers the pet rules per origin country, the customs exemption for removal goods, and bringing a car. Personal papers such as birth certificates and diplomas have their own guide: documents to arrange before you move.

Dogs, cats and ferrets travel within the EU under one harmonised set of rules. In the Netherlands the NVWA (the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) publishes them. Your animal needs three things:

• An EU pet passport. Any vet in the EU can issue it. It records the animal's description, its microchip number, its rabies vaccinations and your contact details.
• A microchip. The chip must be applied before, or on the same day as, the rabies vaccination. A vaccination given before the animal was chipped does not count.
• A rabies vaccination given at least 21 days before departure. The 21-day wait applies to a first vaccination. A booster given while the previous vaccination was still valid needs no new wait.

The minimum age follows from these rules. A vet gives the first rabies vaccination from 12 weeks, and the 21-day wait comes on top. Animals younger than 15 weeks can therefore not enter the Netherlands. The same passport route applies when you move from Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland.

For a move from outside the EU, first check how the EU classifies the country you are leaving. The EU keeps a list of low-risk rabies countries. It includes, among others, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Every country that is not on the list counts as high-risk. Russia and Belarus have counted as high-risk since 16 September 2024. The full requirements per group are on the NVWA page for non-EU countries.

• A microchip, applied before or on the same day as the rabies vaccination.
• A rabies vaccination at least 21 days before entry, unless a previous vaccination is still valid.
• A veterinary health certificate, issued by an official veterinarian in the country of departure. The certificate is valid for 10 days, from the date of issue until the customs check on arrival. Plan the vet visit close to the flight.
• A signed owner's declaration stating that the move is non-commercial.
• The animal must be at least 15 weeks old, the same as within the EU.

A pet that already has an EU pet passport can keep using it. The passport counts for entry only if it was issued in the EU and the rabies vaccination recorded in it was given in the EU and is still valid. This matters for families returning to Europe after some years abroad.

From a high-risk country, everything on the low-risk list applies, plus a rabies antibody test with two waiting periods. The order is fixed. First the chip, then the vaccination. At least 30 days after the vaccination, a vet takes a blood sample. The sample goes to an EU-approved laboratory, and the result must be at least 0.5 IU/ml. After that, you wait at least 90 days from the date the sample was taken before the animal may travel.

Count the days before you book anything. From vaccination to travel takes at least 30 plus 90 days, so around four months, and only if every step happens on the earliest possible day. For a puppy or kitten the arithmetic is stricter: first vaccination at 12 weeks, at least 30 days to the blood sample, then the 90-day wait. A puppy from a high-risk country is therefore around 7 months old before it can enter the Netherlands.

From outside the EU, a pet must enter through a designated travellers' point of entry. For the Netherlands these include the airports Schiphol, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Maastricht Aachen, Groningen Eelde and Lelystad, and ports such as Hoek van Holland, IJmuiden and Rotterdam for ferry arrivals. The full list is in the NVWA entry-points document. On arrival you must take the red exit, 'something to declare', with your animal. The authorities then check the documents and the animal's identity against the microchip.

If the papers are not in order, the animal can be placed in quarantine. The NVWA is clear about the bill: the owner pays all the costs, including housing, transport and vet costs. So check every date on the certificate against the rules before you fly.

• Maximum five pets per person. Up to five dogs, cats or ferrets may travel with you as pets. With more than five, the move only stays non-commercial if the animals take part in a competition, exhibition or sporting event, you can prove it, and they are older than 6 months.
• You and your pet travel together. A move counts as non-commercial only when the animal is not changing owner and its journey is part of your own move. You and the animal must make the same journey within a maximum of 5 days of each other.
• Register your dog within 2 weeks. If you bring a dog to live in the Netherlands, request a UBN (uniek bedrijfsnummer, a unique business number for the place the dog is kept) via RVO (the Netherlands Enterprise Agency), and have a vet register the dog under it within 2 weeks of arrival. Stays under 3 months are exempt.
• A pet you bought abroad can be taxed. If you bought the animal outside the EU, it cost more than €430, and it is entering the EU for the first time, you pay tax on it at import.
• Ask your airline early how the animal can travel and which crate it requires. The legal rules above come on top of the airline's own conditions.

The rules above cover dogs, cats and ferrets. Other animals have their own pages on the NVWA site, and the requirements from outside the EU are strict. Rabbits, rodents and reptiles need a general health certificate from a vet and a written declaration that the animal is a companion animal, and they enter through the same travellers' points of entry. Keep in mind that in the Netherlands only mammal species on the official domestic and hobby animal list (huis- en hobbydierenlijst) may be kept as pets.

Pet birds from outside the EU face the strictest checks, because of bird flu. A bird needs a microchip or a closed leg ring with a unique code. It must be vaccinated against bird flu, tested for it, or come from a country with approved poultry imports. A vet must examine the bird no more than 48 hours before departure. You may bring at most 5 birds, and you must declare that the bird will not go to a show, fair or exhibition within 30 days of entry. If you keep birds, read the NVWA bird page months before the move.

You may bring your verhuisboedel (removal goods) into the Netherlands without paying import taxes, but only if you claim the exemption. Customs (Douane) sets four conditions:

• You move from a country outside the EU to the Netherlands and go to live here.
• You lived outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months before the move.
• You have owned and used the goods for at least 6 months. Furniture or electronics bought just before the move do not qualify.
• You import the goods within 12 months of taking up residence in the Netherlands.

One condition continues after the import: the exemption applies only if you do not lend, pledge, rent out or transfer the goods within 12 months of the import date. The same 12-month rule returns for a car under the bpm exemption below.

You do not file the customs declaration yourself. Your removal company declares the goods in Customs' declaration system with a special relief code. You supply the removal company with two things: a signed inventory list of everything in the shipment, and proof of your registration at a Dutch gemeente (municipality) showing your settlement date. Not registered yet? Customs also accepts proof that you deregistered abroad, together with an employment contract, an employer's statement, a work permit or a rental contract. If you plan to transport everything yourself instead of using a removal company, contact Customs before you travel; the official page only describes the route through a removal company.

The exemption does not cover everything in a household. The exemption excludes products containing alcohol, tobacco and tobacco products, commercial vehicles, and non-portable materials for professional use. A wine collection in the container therefore falls outside the exemption, and you should expect tax on it.

A move from another EU country needs no customs declaration at all. There is free movement of goods within the EU, so your belongings simply travel with you. The Customs page for EU moves confirms this and lists the exceptions that still have rules of their own: weapons and ammunition, narcotics, counterfeit articles, endangered species, cultural goods such as art and antiques, and pets, as covered above. One financial exception matters for many movers: a car. Registering a car in the Netherlands triggers bpm even after an EU move, so read the next section.

A car or motorbike can move with you as removal goods, but it goes through three separate steps: customs clearance for a non-EU move, the bpm exemption, and registration with the RDW (the national vehicle authority). Bpm is the Dutch private motor vehicle and motorcycle tax. It is normally charged when a car gets a Dutch registration, and that includes a car you bring from another EU country.

From outside the EU, the car needs its own import declaration next to the household shipment. Have the registration certificate and proof of purchase or ownership ready. If Customs grants the exemption for the vehicle, you receive a copy of the import declaration with an exemption code. With that copy you then apply for the bpm exemption at a bpm declaration point.

From an EU country there is no customs step, but there is bpm. You apply for the exemption with a Belastingdienst (Tax Administration) form called 'Vrijstelling bpm - aanvraag vrijstelling bpm bij verhuizing'. The form exists only in Dutch, and you post it to Belastingdienst, Postbus 4, 6400 AA Heerlen. The conditions mirror the goods exemption: you owned and used the vehicle for at least 6 months before the move, you had your normal residence in the other country for at least 12 months, and you apply within 12 months after moving. If you sell, rent out or lend the car within 12 months after the exemption starts, you still have to pay the bpm.

The last step is Dutch registration with the RDW. Book an inspection at an RDW station and bring the vehicle, the original foreign registration certificate, a valid ID, and the Tax Administration document stating that the vehicle qualifies as household goods. Complete the customs step and the bpm request before the inspection. After approval by the RDW and the Tax Administration, the new registration certificate arrives within 5 business days. Then you arrange third-party liability insurance and number plates. Your foreign driving licence is a separate subject with its own deadlines: see exchanging your driving licence.

• The certificate dates do not add up. A chip applied after the vaccination makes that vaccination invalid, and travel before day 21 after a first vaccination is not allowed. An animal with wrong paperwork risks quarantine, and you pay all the costs: housing, transport and vet bills.
• You started the high-risk timeline too late. The 90-day wait runs from the blood-sample date and cannot be shortened. Because you and the pet must make the same journey within 5 days, a pet that follows months later no longer counts as a non-commercial move. Plan the move around the wait instead.
• You have more than five pets. With six or more animals, and no competition or show to prove, the move falls under commercial import rules. Commercial animals enter through a border control post instead of a passenger entry point, with stricter procedures. Contact the NVWA well in advance about such a move.
• Your container arrives before your gemeente registration. The exemption claim needs proof of registration showing your settlement date. If you are not registered yet, Customs accepts proof of deregistration abroad plus an employment contract, an employer's statement, a work permit or a rental contract. Registering quickly also unblocks the rest of your arrival admin; see the first 90 days checklist.
• You want to sell things soon after arrival. The goods exemption applies only if you do not lend, pledge, rent out or transfer the goods within 12 months of import. For a car the consequence is explicit: if you sell, rent out or lend it within 12 months, you pay the bpm after all. Plan to keep what you import for a year.
• Alcohol and tobacco are in the shipment. Products containing alcohol, and tobacco products, are excluded from the exemption. The same goes for commercial vehicles and non-portable materials for professional use. Expect tax on these items.

The pet paperwork and the removal-goods exemption are the two places where preparation directly saves money on the move itself. What the rest of the move costs, from IND fees to the first month of living costs, is worked out in what moving to the Netherlands costs.