Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

I thought it worth sharing info just learnt from KAR re valid pet passports. This follows my checking to ensure that, if in the future, I wished to go back to UK, my two dogs were compliant with regulations for entry to UK.
It transpires that UK issued (blue) pet passports are null and void due to having TRNC Vets stamps and signatures in it, following the normal annual etc jabs. You cannot have TRNC vets stamps in an EU/UK pet passport - everything in the passport is therefore not valid for return to UK! Also, despite checking with Vets here (not KAR, which I now realised I should have done) the Rabies booster has to be done every year - not every other year as I was told. So I have two dogs each of which has now to be re-vaccinated against Rabies and blood tests sent away to Scotland for the certificate needed. A new pet passport of course will have to be made up and all vacs redone to comply. Since one cannot transport the dog/dogs until 3 mths have elapsed since vaccination, I hope that this info will help others to get things right well before the need arises - always hoping most folks would take their pets home and not just abandon them.

Sadly sammydavis, you have fallen foul of the misinformation given to you by some of the Vets here. who for one reason or another are not conversant with the latest UK regulations. Anyone who thinks they may be in the same boat, I do urge you to speak to Kim in the KAR Pet Transportation department.

Thank you for posting this information I now have only one dog with a UK/EU passport the other 9!!! Have their rabies est all passport from here but do have their injections including rabies done yearly I hope this meets the requirement but will check next week. Not planning on going anywhere yet but do want to know that if the need arose we could all travel.

Just to clarify things (although this is not the total picture as each pets vet records, dates etc may differ and need to be looked at individually) ... If your pet has a UK/EU passport (issued in an EU Country) then there must not be ANYTHING entered in that passport by any non EU vet EXCEPT the echinococcus worming table which is given no more than 5 ays before entry to UK (and some other EU Countires).
If there are entries made by vets here then the passport can only be used for return to the EU/UK WITH additional paperwork and it will then need completely renewing (at additional costs - up to£200 we have heard !!) for further EU travel. So it is effectively null and void.
All rabies vaccines given here should be yearly ones - hence the need for annual rabies boosters. There have been instances where vets have assured owners that it is a 2 or 3 year vaccine - they may be confusing the validity of the actual vaccine (best before date) or it may be a vaccine that has not come into the TRNC legally. They are not valid for export purposes. Some of the vets here are not really sure on the process for pets travelling to EU - they may not be aware of the importance of timings and dates or of the very strict requirements and consequences for failing to meet each and every requirement. It is not something that be can passed off with the all too familiar "cyprus" shrug !!! There are other vets here though who are very experienced and know exactly what to do. Choose carefully.
As i have said this is just part of the picture - please if you are in any doubt do as "sammydavis" did and call into KAR to check things out with their Pet Travel service - don't leave it until you need to go back quickly - if anything is wrong then it can take 4 months to rectify !!!

I should add - it is best to ring KAR 0533 8694098 to make an appointment as Kim/Margaret ( KAR Pet Travel) are not there every day and even if they are there they may already be booked with other owners wanting to move pets.

Hopefully sometime in the future there may be changes here in the TRNC which will enable costs to come down as well.
I believe it is something like an average of £1200.00p depending on the size of the animal to fly from Ercan into Heathrow.
This is not all down to the flights as Heathrow charges are expensive and I believe at this moment in time it is the only airport that you can fly your animal into from here.
If you flew them in from the south you would be able to fly them into most airports in England and the cost would be only a few hundred pounds.
Unfortunately we cannot do it this way as we would be breaking the law and putting the animal in jeopardy.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

BBB's other half - hoping for a change in the laws.

I stand to be corrected BBB, but I suspect the £1200 you quote would probably include the Vets bills and purpose made container as well. I'm not sure how much of the £1200 is actually Turkish Airlines fee. I do know that there is a difference in costing dependant upon the weight of the animal and hence size of container.