🇦🇺 Australia · Very hard · ~6 months minimum (BICON + Mickleham slot + rabies + FAVN window)
Moving a pet from the US to Australia
There's ONE quarantine facility for all of Australia. Slots fill months out. Book the quarantine slot BEFORE the flight.
APHIS source last verified 2026-05-17 · USDA page last modified 2025-07-30
What ruins Australia trips
The specific traps for this destination. Not the generic advice you’ll find on the first 10 Google results.
Microchip must be implanted BEFORE the rabies vaccine
Any rabies vaccination given before the microchip is INVALID — destination will reject it. If your pet was vaccinated first, you'll need to re-vaccinate AFTER microchipping. This is the #3 most common reason trips get reset.
Source →Don't let the rabies vaccine lapse — it invalidates the FAVN
For FAVN destinations, if your rabies vaccine lapses by even 1 day, the prior FAVN becomes invalid. You'd need to re-vaccinate AND restart the 180-day wait (Japan) or 30-day wait (Hawaii). This is the highest-cost failure mode we see.
Source →Australia order: BICON permit → Mickleham slot → flight
"Book flight first" is the #1 unrecoverable Australia error. There's ONE quarantine facility for the entire country (Mickleham, Melbourne); slots fill months out. Permit and quarantine slot before flight, every time.
Australia accepts pets at MEL only
Pets MUST arrive at Melbourne. Landing in Sydney intending to connect to Melbourne does not work — the connection is blocked.
What you have to do
- import permit
BICON import permit
Australian Department of Agriculture import permit via the BICON system. $603 AUD first pet / $288 AUD additional. Processing 20–40 business days.
Source → - quarantine
Mickleham Post-Entry Quarantine slot (PEBS)
Australia has a SINGLE quarantine facility (Mickleham, Melbourne). Book via the Post-Entry Biosecurity System. Slots fill MONTHS in advance. Book the slot BEFORE booking the flight — a slot you can't get matched is unrecoverable.
Source →
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