Immigration - dogs

[shiestand 47]

Does anyone have any experience or advice on bringing your dog over to the USA from the UK? My fiance (in progress K1) has a 2yr boarder collie and we will be bringing him over during the final move.

 

Questions for anyone with experience:

-Was there any delays due to the visa that made it difficult for the dog? Could I pick the pup up at the final destination if my fiance got held up with immigration?

-Is there an airline you'd recommend that's pet friendly?

-We plan on getting the pup's passport early with jabs records and we know to have a final checkup 10 days prior to his flight. Any other steps I should be thinking about?

 

From what I can tell, it's going to be a lot easier to bring my dog over than my fiance. 😂

 

[JFH 12,189]

This company has been recommended by others before:

 

https://www.petairuk.com/

[NikLR 13,220]

You can try these guys too

https://www.airanimal.com

[shiestand 47]

Thanks! I'll look into them both. Has anyone ever done it themselves without a company?

[trudi 1,317]

14 minutes ago, shiestand said:

Thanks! I'll look into them both. Has anyone ever done it themselves without a company?

London airports won't let you do it yourself you have to use a pet transporter.

I brought my boxer dog with me, his travel cost double what mine did, was worth every penny

[Wuozopo 4,285]

From what I remember in previous years in this forum, it's not like you show up at the terminal and check in the dogs. They are on a different schedule at a separate building at the airport for check in.  You most likely pick up at an area not in the terminal depending on the arrival airport. They aren't around the corner in baggage claim waiting on your fiancé to finish POE. That's why you need a company arranging their care that handles it efficiently for you, the airline, and the pet. 

Edited December 30, 2018 by Wuozopo

[Zoeeeeeee 795]

I flew with my dog last year - he was 12 at the time and came with me to California for 6 months. 

 

We booked with PBS Pet Travel and they were really good (as mentioned above, you have to use a pet travel agent to fly from UK to US). 

 

To my understanding, there are only two airlines that can do the trip - United or Virgin (that certainly was the case when we travelled in 2017).

 

My boy is a beagle, but he’s an abnormally long and tall one - probably not dissimilar in size to a collie (he weighs 21kg). We flew with United and it cost around £1050 (that included the price of his travel crate) one way, London to LA.

 

Unfortunately, my boy is now nearly 14 and has been diagnosed with a heart murmur, so cannot fly anymore 😢. As such, we will be emigrating by the Queen Mary 2 cruise, which takes 7 nights from Southampton to New York - and then driving for 7 days from NY to LA. The cruise costs $1000 for my dog and £1500 for me and my fiancé (the English office books the human tickets and the US office books the dog tickets!).

 

There’s generally a wait of around 18 months for a free kennel on the QM2, so I’ve already booked our places on there, leaving on 19th November 2019. My visa application was submitted on 5th December this year, so we’re praying it gets completed in time! We don’t have criminal records, we both earn a good amount of money, so won’t need third party sponsorship, we see each other often, so have loads of photos etc and evidence of time spent together and I don’t have any mental health or communicable diseases (I do have type 1 diabetes though) - so I’m really hoping it goes through smoothly. We’re getting married on 7th February 2020, so the plan is, if my visa isn’t ready by November, to fly back after taking my dog over and then hopefully sort my visa out in time for February.  

 

If you need any advice re flying with your dog, feel free to ask 🙃.

 

Zoe

Edited December 30, 2018 by Zoeeeeeee

[trudi 1,317]

The other thing to consider is that not all US airports can take pets as cargo, the smaller regional airports don't have the airplanes with the correct cargo hold for animals so you may find your dog goes a different route to you.

I went from Heathrow - Atlanta - Asheville my dog went Heathrow - Chicago - Charlotte.

Also the airline won't take animals as cargo during certain times of the year because of the temperatures - the pet transporter is familiar with all of the variances and really does make it stress free

[NikLR 13,220]

Pet transporter companies also make sure they have all the required vet items signed with the i's dotted and t's crossed.  The one I suggested has flown animals to the UK and it was quite stringent about when rabies titer testing had to be done etc... I"m sure flying to mainland USA is easier.  I do know my ex-inlaws that to let their dog do 6 months in quarantine to fly to Hawaii and then both had several month quarantine on the way back (they acquired a new dog while in Hawaii.)