The shop and the bags

Can you take your dog or cat to Shenzhen and back?

Updated 28 September 2026

It is a fair question for anyone whose dog hates being left alone on a Saturday, and the answer depends on the direction. Going north is a matter of papers: for a pet already chipped and vaccinated against rabies, in practice a few working days in Hong Kong. Coming south is an animal import, and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) applies the same permit, tests and quarantine to a Hong Kong pet coming home as to one that has never lived here.

For alcohol, tobacco and the rest of the Customs list, see our guide to what you can bring back. This page is only about dogs and cats.

Can a Hong Kong pet go to Shenzhen for the day?

It can go. It cannot come home the same day: on its return the AFCD requires at least 30 days in quarantine.

Hong Kong puts no limit on pets leaving, but the AFCD's Group IIIA FAQ says Hong Kong resident cats and dogs returning from a Group IIIA place "still have to meet all the requirements on the permit terms including microchipping, rabies vaccination, RNATT and 30 days quarantine" (RNATT is the rabies antibody test). Since the Mainland joined Group IIIA on 3 June 2025, that quarantine has been a minimum of 30 days, down from 120. The AFCD's procedure page adds that the permit to bring a pet back must be obtained in advance.

Nothing on the AFCD's pages makes an exception for a short visit to the Mainland; its waiver scheme for pets taken abroad for a holiday or temporary stay covers only Group II places, such as Taiwan and Singapore. The one concession for a Hong Kong pet is about timing: if its antibody blood test was taken while it lived in Hong Kong, it need not wait 90 days after the test before the return trip, because Hong Kong is free of rabies. The quarantine still applies in full.

What happened at the border in September 2026?

On 22 September, Customs officers at the Man Kam To Control Point found a live cat in the belongings of an incoming 33-year-old man from the Mainland. The next day at Heung Yuen Wai they found two cats with a 66-year-old local man. Both were arrested and the cases passed to the AFCD. Both press releases repeat that importing animals without a valid permit is an offence, with a maximum penalty under the Rabies Regulation of a HK$50,000 fine and a year in prison.

These were not one-offs. By our count of Customs releases, officers seized 20 cats at land control points and checkpoints in nine cases between 3 August and 23 September, seven of them from Mainland passengers. Several releases valued two or three cats at HK$20,000 to HK$36,000, which looks more like trade than family pets, but the law draws no such line: a cat without a permit is an illegal import, whoever owns it.

The new Huanggang Port will not offer a way round it. The Shenzhen Port Office's guide to the new port, announced on 22 September, says ordinary pets cannot go through its passenger halls; only trained guide and hearing dogs with a disabled traveller can. It directs pets to Shenzhen Bay or Liantang, the Shenzhen side of Heung Yuen Wai, which it says have pet quarantine cargo channels. Our New Huanggang Port guide covers what else changes there.

What does Hong Kong need before a pet can come back from Shenzhen?

The rules are in the AFCD's permit terms for Group IIIA places and its page on Mainland arrangements. Roughly in the order you meet them:

1. Microchip first. An ISO or AVID compatible chip, implanted before the rabies vaccination and the blood test. If the chip cannot be read on arrival you must provide a reader, or the animal may be sent back.
2. Rabies vaccination. Inactivated or recombinant, given at least 30 days and not more than a year before the animal leaves. A first vaccination must be given at 90 days old or more.
3. Rabies antibody test. By the FAVN or RFFIT method at an AFCD-recognised laboratory, with a result of at least 0.5 IU/ml, from blood taken between 90 days and a year before export. For a Hong Kong pet sampled in Hong Kong, the 90-day wait does not apply.
4. Other vaccinations. Dogs against distemper, infectious canine hepatitis and parvovirus; cats against feline panleucopaenia and the cat flu complex, between 14 days and a year before export.
5. Apply and reserve a quarantine place. Send the AFCD the permit application (form AF301 for dogs and cats from the Mainland), its quarantine booking form and the vaccination and test records. It reserves a place at one of its Animal Management Centres "only after the submitted documents are in order". The alternative is the SPCA's licensed quarantine centre in Tsing Yi, booked directly with the AFCD's reference number.
6. Get the permit. The government told the Legislative Council in May 2026 that once the documents are checked and a quarantine place is confirmed, the permit is issued free within five working days. The AFCD says final travel arrangements "should NOT be made until a permit has been granted".
7. A Mainland health certificate. Dated no more than seven days before the animal leaves, in the format agreed with the General Administration of Customs of China, and issued by a government vet. That means Mainland Customs, not a private clinic.
8. Tell the AFCD. At least 24 hours before arrival, during office hours. For land arrivals, call the Border Office on 2673 4443 or the Urban Office on 2150 7053.
9. Arrive between 9 am and 5 pm. By land, in a proper crate, at the control point named on the application. The AFCD accepts any land control point, though the Shenzhen side sends pets through Shenzhen Bay or Liantang. By air, animals must travel as manifested cargo, not as excess or hand-carried baggage.
10. Quarantine. A minimum of 30 days, which the AFCD's senior vet can extend. You arrange transport from the border to the quarantine centre, and AFCD staff escort the animal.

Step seven is where a Hong Kong owner is most likely to get stuck. Shenzhen Customs vets issued the first certificates in 2025, and a Shenzhen newspaper reported in August 2025 that they served only people living in Shenzhen or Huizhou. Since September 2025 the AFCD has accepted certificates from Mainland Customs vets in every region. We could not confirm whether the residence limit still applies, or how a Hong Kong visitor would get a certificate, so ask Shenzhen Customs before the pet leaves Hong Kong.

Some animals cannot come in at all under these terms: dogs or cats more than four weeks pregnant, and several fighting breeds, including pit bull terriers and Japanese tosas, and their crosses.

How long is the wait, and what does it cost?

The money is manageable. The waiting is not.

At the AFCD's published rates, the 30-day minimum comes to about HK$2,700 for a dog and HK$1,380 for a cat, charged per day or part of a day. The SPCA centre, which has 7 dog places and 14 cat places for Group IIIA and IIIB animals, works out at about HK$10,500 for a dog or HK$9,000 for a cat, before membership and extras such as vet checks at HK$170 each. Then add the antibody test, the vaccinations and the vets' fees in Hong Kong.

If you see a HK$432 fee on the AFCD's Group IIIA page, that is for the Special Permit, form AF240. The AF301 Import Permit used for dogs and cats from the Mainland is free.

Will this get easier? Not soon. In May the government told the Legislative Council that because the rabies incubation period can last up to several months, it was "not appropriate to replace quarantine with 'fast-track quarantine'", though the AFCD would keep the arrangements under review. Few people go through it: 216 applications and 149 permits in 2025 for all dogs and cats from the Mainland, and one permit can cover several animals.

What does the Mainland ask for on the way in?

The northbound side is simpler, and a Hong Kong pet that passes inspection should not be isolated on arrival. The rules come from the General Administration of Customs' Announcement 2019 No. 5, in force since May 2019: one dog or one cat per traveller per entry, with a microchip, a quarantine certificate and a rabies vaccination certificate from the official animal quarantine authority of the place it comes from. Pets are normally isolated for 30 days, but those from designated places are exempt if the chip is valid and they pass inspection at the port. Shanghai Customs, as reported by The Paper in 2019, and two Ningbo Customs officers writing in People's Daily Overseas Edition in 2022 listed Hong Kong among the 19 designated places.

In Hong Kong terms, the AFCD's page on pets going to the Mainland lists the minimum:

• an ISO-compliant microchip;
• a valid rabies vaccination certificate;
• a health certificate from a registered vet, issued within 14 days before entry. It must give at least the breed, scientific name, sex, coat colour and date of birth or age, the chip number with the date and place it was implanted (and the word "implanted"), and the date and result of an examination confirming the animal is free of rabies and other infectious and parasitic diseases. Any alteration makes it invalid;
• the AFCD's endorsement of that certificate, applied for in person at Counter 9, 5/F, Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices, 303 Cheung Sha Wan Road, with the vaccination record and, for a dog, its licence.

Endorsement takes one working day, and the counter opens on weekdays only, 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm to 5:15 pm. In practice, a Saturday crossing means handing the papers in by Thursday and collecting them on Friday.

How would you even get a pet to the border?

MTR trains and franchised buses do not take pets, and the rest is up to the operator or the driver:

• MTR trains. No animals on the heavy rail network, guide dogs and police dogs aside. The MTR's cat and dog carrying scheme covers Light Rail only, at weekends and on public holidays. So the East Rail Line to Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau is out.
• Franchised buses. The government told LegCo in 2022 that passengers may not board franchised buses with pets, guide dogs apart.
• Cross-boundary coaches and minibuses. Each operator sets its own terms, and Trans-Island Chinalink's FAQ lists animals among the things it may refuse. Ask before you book; our luggage rules page covers bag allowances, not animals.
• Taxis. Carrying an animal is at the driver's discretion, and the taxi fare table adds HK$5 for every animal or bird.

On the Shenzhen side the metro bans live animals too, except guide dogs and on-duty military or police dogs. In practice that leaves a taxi, if the driver agrees, to Shenzhen Bay or Heung Yuen Wai, the two crossings the Shenzhen Port Office points pet owners to anyway. A private car can reach Heung Yuen Wai, but the road to Shenzhen Bay is closed to vehicles without a Closed Road Permit, taxis apart. Our crossing picker compares the crossings, and the Didi and taxi guide covers getting a car on the Shenzhen side.

What happens if you just carry a pet through?

Nothing good, on either side. In Hong Kong it is an offence, and Customs arrests people for it. The AFCD adds that animals arriving without proper documents may be put in quarantine for at least four months at the owner's expense, or sent back. Walking through the Green Channel counts as telling Customs you have nothing to declare, as our meat and eggs page explains.

Going north, the 2019 Mainland announcement says pets over the one-per-person limit or without valid certificates are returned within a set period or destroyed, and a pet not collected in time is treated as abandoned.

What about guide dogs and assistance dogs?

Separate rules apply on both sides. The AFCD exempts disability assistance dogs from quarantine, with a Special Permit and a rabies antibody test taken at least six months before entry; emotional support dogs do not qualify. The Mainland exempts guide, hearing and search and rescue dogs from isolation if they have a valid chip, the handler shows their user and training certificates, and they pass inspection at the port. Start with the AFCD's dog and cat import page.

So what should you do with the dog?

For a day trip or a weekend, the honest answer is a sitter or a boarding kennel in Hong Kong. If you are moving to Shenzhen, or staying for many months, start early: get the chip, vaccinations and antibody test done in Hong Kong so the 90-day wait does not apply to the return, then apply to the AFCD, which reserves a quarantine place only once those papers are in order. The test and vaccinations must still be within their one-year limits when the pet comes back, so a long stay means boosters and perhaps a new test. And ask Shenzhen Customs about the export health certificate before the pet crosses at all.

Key facts

• 3 June 2025: the Mainland joined Group IIIA, and quarantine for dogs and cats from the Mainland fell from 120 days to a minimum of 30.
• Waiting time: about 3 months for an AFCD quarantine place for a dog, 6 months for a cat.
• 22 and 23 September 2026: Customs arrested two men with cats at Man Kam To and Heung Yuen Wai.

Pet import rules and fees change. Check with the AFCD (1823) and Shenzhen Customs before you plan any trip with an animal.