Bringing your cat or dog to Australia: what your country's group means

If you’re moving from the UK, Ireland, Canada, South Africa or mainland USA, your cat or dog is in Group 3, which means it can’t travel until at least 180 days after its rabies blood sample reaches the lab, then spends at least 10 days in quarantine at Mickleham in Victoria (Department of Agriculture). From New Zealand it’s far simpler: Group 1, with no import permit and no quarantine if your pet meets the standard conditions. Either way, the Department’s rules are the ones that count, so read its step-by-step guide for your country before you book anything.

Your country’s group

Hawaii and Guam aren’t part of “mainland USA” for this purpose. They’re in Group 2, which has different rules, so check the Department’s guide if you’re moving from either.

What Group 3 means, step by step

1. Import permit from the Department of Agriculture.
2. Rabies vaccination, then a rabies antibody blood test (RNATT).
3. Wait at least 180 days from when the blood sample reaches the lab. There are no exceptions, and the Department stresses this is not a quarantine period: your pet stays at home with you.
4. Quarantine at Mickleham, Victoria: at least 10 days. It’s 30 days unless an official government vet verified your pet’s identity before the blood sample was taken, so arrange that check before the test.

The Department says to allow at least six months. In practice that means starting before you’ve signed a contract, not after.

What quarantine costs

Mickleham charges A$53 a day per cat or dog, so a 10-day stay is A$530 plus any additional fees. Fees are reviewed every year; check the current fee page. Flights, vet work, the blood test and the permit are separate costs.

New Zealand: Group 1 in more detail

• No import permit and no quarantine, as long as your pet meets the standard health certificate conditions.
• It needs a veterinary health certificate from a vet at an NZ MPI-listed practice (some cases need an MPI official vet certificate).
• It must be cleared at its first point of entry in Australia.
• If it has ever lived outside Australia or NZ, it must have lived only in NZ for at least 180 days immediately before export. Again, that’s not quarantine.

The New Zealand move guide covers the rest of the move.

Why the timing matters when you’re starting a job

The 180-day wait runs on its own clock, and it doesn’t care when your job starts. If your start date is closer than six months away, you’ll arrive before a Group 3 pet can, so plan for someone at home to look after it and fly it over later.

• OTs and physios: your Ahpra registration (and for physios, the Australian Physiotherapy Council step first) sets your earliest start date. Begin the pet paperwork as soon as you’re serious about moving, not once registration comes through.
• Speech pathologists: your SPA assessment usually sets your timeline, and SPA strongly discourages travelling to work before it’s complete. That gives you a natural window to start the rabies test early.

Where I come in

I run a paediatric allied health practice in South East Queensland, and several of our clinicians came to us from overseas. I’d rather you plan the whole thing, pets included, before you commit to a start date.

Your next step

• OTs: check whether your degree is on the OT Board’s recognised list for your country. That decides whether you go straight to Ahpra general registration (A$250 application plus A$138 registration) or through a portfolio assessment (A$688). OT routes by country.
• Speech pathologists: you aren’t registered with Ahpra; SPA assesses you. Check whether you can use SPA’s mutual recognition agreement (A$825; Canadian S-LPs can’t currently use it) or need the longer OSQCA (A$2,000). Speech routes by country.
• Physios: check which Australian Physiotherapy Council route your country is on (Express FLYR A$1,742, FLYR A$3,490 or APEP A$8,321), then Ahpra registration (A$452 application plus A$220 registration).
• Pay, for all three: the award minimum for a first-year health professional (AQF 7) is A$1,308.80 a week, and Queensland Health’s HP3 grade starts at A$83,824.

The pathway check works out your route and rough timeline, so you can line up the pet paperwork against it. It also tells you whether an info session or a call with me is the right next step.