Most destinations hand you a form. Türkiye does not. The certificate your pet travels on is a Turkish document, the Veterinary Health and Origin Certificate, and it is obtained from Türkiye’s own competent veterinary authority rather than from the CFIA. Your veterinarian completes it twice, because the Turkish form carries a single signature block and that block belongs to the CFIA official veterinarian.
Both copies then go to a CFIA District Office. So a Canadian move to Turkey begins with a document you have to go and get, running alongside a rabies titre clock that is 3 months long on its own.
Different destinations, different routes, different challenges.
Because the Turkish certificate has to be sourced before anyone can sign it, we start a Canadian move to Turkey with two things at once: the document request and the blood draw.
Two authorities set the terms on this route: Türkiye’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the CFIA at the Canadian end. We read both, so your plan runs on the dates those two actually enforce.
We help choose practical routes and travel windows. Not every Turkish airport can receive an animal, so the arrival airport is checked against the Ministry list before a seat is held.
One coordinator owns your file, from the certificate request through to the endorsed copy coming back from the District Office. You are not chasing three parties yourself.
Think of a Canadian move to Turkey as two clocks running side by side. The first belongs to the rabies titre. That is a laboratory test on a blood sample, and what it establishes is whether the vaccination actually took, not merely that it was given. Türkiye will not admit your pet until 3 months after the sample is drawn, and the sample cannot be drawn until at least 30 days after a rabies vaccination.
The second clock belongs to the certificate. It has to come from Türkiye’s veterinary authority, be completed in duplicate by your veterinarian, and be endorsed at a CFIA District Office by appointment. Start them together and the route is comfortable. Start them one after the other and it is not.
To keep everything clear, we break the process into steps:
We confirm the rabies history and start the certificate request early, because the Turkish form is not one the CFIA issues.
We set the earliest arrival date from the blood draw, then place the CFIA appointment and the flight inside it.
Your veterinarian handles the chip, the vaccination and the draw. We make sure those dates fall in a sequence Türkiye will accept, and that the sample reaches an approved laboratory outside Canada without losing days in transit.
We check both copies of the Turkish certificate against the microchip number and the vaccination record before the District Office appointment.
Crate sizing is done against your animal’s own measurements, and the routing is checked against the airports Türkiye will actually accept an animal at.
We brief you on what happens at the veterinary border control unit, so landing day holds no surprises.
On most routes the Canadian sequence is simple. The CFIA publishes the certificate, your veterinarian fills it in, an official veterinarian endorses it. Türkiye works the other way round.
The CFIA’s own guidance says the Veterinary Health and Origin Certificate has to be obtained from Türkiye’s competent veterinary authority, and that the Turkish certificate contains a signature block only for the official CFIA veterinarian. So a licensed Canadian veterinarian completes two copies. Both certificates, with all supporting documentation, are brought to a CFIA District Office, where the official veterinarian reviews everything, assigns a health certificate reference number and endorses the second certificate.
The CFIA adds a warning worth taking literally: Türkiye may change these import requirements without notifying the CFIA. That is why the requirements get confirmed with the Turkish authority before travel rather than carried over from the last time someone did this route.
There is no fixed quarantine on this route for a pet whose file is in order. What the Turkish regulation provides is narrower, and worth reading closely: where necessary, animals are held in quarantine for as long as it takes to establish whether they meet the required health conditions. No ceiling is stated in the text.
A passing titre result is what keeps that clause from ever being applied to your pet. It is the single most valuable thing in the file.
Animals under 3 months old that have not been vaccinated are a separate case. The regulation allows their entry only on conditions the Ministry sets, judged against the rabies situation in the country the animal comes from. For most Canadian families that means waiting until the animal is old enough to vaccinate and test.
Before any appointment is booked, we confirm two eligibility questions, because both can end a plan before it starts.
Türkiye’s diplomatic missions state that a traveller may bring 2 pets. And Turkish law names six dog breeds whose entry into the country is prohibited outright: the American Pitbull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro and Japanese Tosa. That is a legal bar rather than an airline policy, so it gets settled first.
The order is fixed, and the middle of it happens outside Canada. Microchip first, so every later document ties to that number. Then the rabies vaccination, using an inactivated vaccine rather than a modified live one. At least 30 days after that, the blood is drawn. Because no rabies titre laboratory operates in Canada, the sample travels to a laboratory approved by the European Union for rabies testing. Then the 3 month wait runs.
The certificate is the last step and the one with an appointment attached. CFIA endorsement is by appointment only, walk-ins are refused, the fee is calculated by the officer and paid online at least 3 days ahead, and it is not refundable.
| Requirement | Turkey, from Canada |
|---|---|
| Animals per traveller | 2 pets per traveller, per Türkiye’s diplomatic missions |
| Microchip | An ISO 11784 chip, HDX or FDX-B, that an ISO 11785 reader can pick up. It has to go in ahead of the rabies shot, or the dates will not line up |
| Rabies vaccine | Current on the day of travel, using an inactivated vaccine. Modified live vaccines are not accepted |
| Rabies titre test | 0.5 IU/ml or higher. The laboratory has to be one the European Union has approved for rabies testing |
| Where the sample is tested | No rabies titre laboratory operates in Canada. Samples are sent to an approved laboratory outside the country, which adds shipping time to the schedule |
| Titre timing | The draw sits a minimum of 30 days past the vaccination. Entry sits a minimum of 3 months past the draw |
| Titre validity | Good for life, provided no gap ever opens in the rabies vaccination after the test date |
| Certificate | Veterinary Health and Origin Certificate, obtained from Türkiye’s competent veterinary authority. The CFIA does not issue this form |
| Copies required | Two. A licensed Canadian veterinarian completes both, because the Turkish certificate carries a signature block only for the official CFIA veterinarian |
| Certificate validity | 4 months from signature or endorsement, or until the rabies vaccination expires, whichever comes first |
| CFIA endorsement | Both certificates and all supporting documentation are brought to a CFIA District Office. The official veterinarian assigns a reference number and endorses the second certificate |
| CFIA appointment and fee | Set by the CFIA at the endorsement appointment |
| Treatments | The Turkish certificate records tick and Echinococcus treatment where these are required. The regulation itself sets no fixed pre-entry interval |
| Quarantine | None with a valid titre result. Otherwise the regulation allows animals to be held for as long as it takes to confirm the health conditions |
| Breeds barred from entry | Türkiye is closed to the American Pitbull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro and Japanese Tosa |
| Accompanied travel | The regulation covers pets entering with a passenger, through an entry point designated by the Ministry. An animal not travelling with its owner falls outside it |
| Lead time in practice | 4 to 6 months from a standing start, or about 3.5 months if the rabies vaccination is already current |
A Canadian move to Turkey is measured in seasons. Where the rabies vaccination has lapsed, allow 4 to 6 months. Where it is current and a vet can draw blood this week, roughly 3.5 months. The wait itself is not negotiable, so the schedule gets built outward from the draw date.
What we are doing while that clock runs:
There is no Turkey route in our pet shipping cost calculator at present. Request a quote instead and we will price it against your two airports. Planning a nearby move as well? Our Greece page sets out a route where the paperwork works completely differently.
Our Canadian cost breakdown goes through the fees line by line. Two more reads before you book: our guide to the rabies titre test, and our breed restrictions guide, since Türkiye bars six breeds. Egypt and Israel are two other routes in the region with their own Canadian pages.
No, provided the titre result is valid. Where the file is complete the animal clears and travels on with you. What the Turkish regulation reserves is a power to detain: an animal may be held for however long it takes to establish that it meets the health conditions, and the text sets no outer limit on that. A passing titre is the reason that power never has to be exercised.
Türkiye is on the CFIA list, but not in the usual way. The certificate is a Turkish document, the Veterinary Health and Origin Certificate, obtained from Türkiye’s competent veterinary authority rather than issued by the CFIA. A licensed Canadian veterinarian completes two copies, because the Turkish form carries a signature block only for the official CFIA veterinarian. Both copies and all supporting documentation go to a CFIA District Office, where the official veterinarian assigns a health certificate reference number and endorses the second copy.
Yes. Türkiye requires a rabies antibody titration test showing 0.5 IU/ml or more, from a laboratory approved by the European Union for rabies testing. No such laboratory operates in Canada, so the sample is sent outside the country and that shipping time counts against your schedule. The blood has to be drawn at least 30 days after a rabies vaccination, and your pet cannot enter until 3 months after the draw. Once it passes, you do not repeat it: the result holds for the rest of the animal’s life so long as no gap ever opens in the vaccination record.
Roughly 4 to 6 months where the rabies vaccination has lapsed, and around 3.5 months where it is current and a draw can be booked immediately. What makes it long is a single fixed wait of 3 months after the sample is taken. Sourcing the Turkish certificate and securing a District Office slot both happen during that wait, not after it.
Türkiye’s diplomatic missions state that a traveller may bring 2 pets. A household moving three animals needs to plan around that limit rather than expect it to be waived on arrival, and each animal needs its own certificate.
Six of them. Under Turkish law the American Pitbull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro and Japanese Tosa may not be brought into the country at all. The ban arrived with Law 7332 in July 2021, which amended Law 5199, and it reaches ownership, breeding and sale as well as entry. Identification is made on appearance rather than on papers, so a dog that resembles one of these types is worth raising with us at the outset.
There is no single figure, because the variables are yours: the animal’s size and crate, the two airports, cabin against baggage against cargo, and how much veterinary work the file still needs. Turkey adds two line items many destinations do not: the titre laboratory fee, and the courier cost of getting the sample out of Canada. Send us the route, the breed and the weight and we will quote it properly.
By keeping both clocks moving at once instead of one after the other. The certificate request goes to the Turkish authority in week one. The vaccination record gets checked, the draw is booked for the earliest date that qualifies, and the sample goes out to an approved laboratory. From there we hold the 3 month wait against the flight you want, proof both copies of the certificate against the chip number and the vaccination history, and secure a District Office slot with the fee settled in time. The arrival airport is verified against the Ministry list before any seat is booked.
Last updated 7 September 2026
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