Bringing Cats to China, and visas.

[aroberts42]

My finacee and I are going to teach English through Buckland in August (yay!) but we want to take our cats with us. I have had a hard time finding straight answers on how to do this. According to Buckland we will need to get Z work visas to go to the China. But according to some websites, we will need a Residency visa to bring in our cats. Then I found a different website that said we would need a Z Residency visa. But a Resident visa is a D visa! I am so confused! This post is actually less about the visas and just more about taking our cats to China with us. If anyone has any information about taking the cats with us, please pass it on!

[roddy]

Ignore the D visa, that's something else entirely. Initially you should get a Z (work) visa while you're still at home. This gets you into China for 30 days. You enter China with that, and once you get to your school you (your school will actually do all the work) use that 30 day period to apply for a residence permit which allows you to live and work in China for a certain period of time - one year, the duration of your contract, whatever.

I don't know about the cats.

[889]

The short answer's here:

http://shenzhen.customs.gov.cn/publish/portal109/tab31263/info75656.htm

Basically, you need a health certificate and a vaccination report from your home country, and your pets will, without exception, be kept in quarantine in China for 30 days.

There seem to be companies that specialize in arranging all of this.

Remember that you'll probably have to repeat the process when returning home (assuming your home country even admits pets from China).

Nothing there about the process being limited to holders of certain types of visa.

And here's the long answer from a US Government website; note that there's a one-pet-per-traveller rule.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/vs/iregs/animals/downloads/ch_cn_checklist.pdf

Edited December 29, 2009 at 09:12 AM by 889

[BrandeX]

I think there is another thread here commenting on issues with pets. It should be no problem bringing it it, but it is important to check with your home country about being allowed to bring an animal that has been living in China back to there.

[aroberts42]

Thank you so much! This really helps easy my worries. Has anyone else taken their cats with them to China while teaching? I'm just wondering how the cats handled the trip and if there were any issus with them adjusting while in the country.

[trisha2766]

Sorry if this sounds OT - but I'm curious about show dogs and cats. Surely they aren't quarantined. Or maybe they don't have have dogs shows in China.

[aroberts42]

Some of the information I have found said that for cats the quarantine varies by location. In beijing there is a 30 day quarantine, in Shanghai 7, and Guangzhou it is same day release. Dogs seems to have a 30 day quarantine everywhere. With an expensive show pet, you might want to go through Guangzhou just to be safe. But according to China Eastern airlines, the cats and dogs can only travel as cargo as excess baggage which can cost $400 for a 20 pound cat, so taking any animal is a huge expense. With so much international travel nowdays, I keep just trying to tell myself that the people at both ends of the flight are used to the animal issues and know what they are doing and will take good care of the animals. *sigh* I'll just have to talk to the airline again and pray for the best.

[imron]

As a previous poster mentioned, make sure you also check quarantine regulations for bringing an animal back from China. These will almost certainly be more strict than bringing an animal in.

[rlinda_yuya]

can people just enter through GZ (1 day quarantine) and travel by train to another city ? do they check for pet inside the train (sleeper one)?

[aroberts42]

That is kind of what we are hoping to do. We have to go wo Guilin for training for a week, so we were hoping to leave the cats at Shanghai then go back by train and get them and then take them back by train to where we live. I haven't looked into whether or not cats will be allowed on the trains, but I don't forsee it being an issue. If we can get them there by plane, through customs, and through a quarantine, surely a train ride will be a cakewalk....right?

[abcdefg]

I'm amazed to just now notice that nobody on this thread thought to remind you that your cats must have visas too. Undocumented alien felines are subject to becoming a key ingredient in "mystery-meat" stew.

Edited January 2, 2010 at 06:01 PM by abcdefg

[889]

You mean a catwalk?

No, you can't carry pets on trains, you'll have to check them, and they'll need proper documentation.

I'm surprised you're not deterred by all the rigamorale and by the risk all this poses to your cats. I'd have thought you'd now be looking for cat-friendly friends to watch over them at home.

There's no problem these days finding new pets in China.

[aroberts42]

Our cats are our children, we really can't leave tem behind and there really is no one I trust to leave them with. They can't just be replaced like shoes when we get there.

What do you mean by visas for the pets? The forms say they need a heath certificate and rabies shots. Do you mean something else or are you joking?

[abcdefg]

What do you mean by visas for the pets? The forms say they need a heath certificate and rabies shots. Do you mean something else or are you joking?

Preferably Very Special Visas in their Diplomatic Passports.

No, I was only joking.

Edited January 3, 2010 at 10:23 PM by abcdefg

[aroberts42]

[BrandeX]

and if there were any issus with them adjusting while in the country.

They should be fine if they are used to living in little apartments, and never going outside.

[aroberts42]

Yeah, I have told the cats that they will never go outside again...ever. Even if they get there all safe and sound, and even if people don't eat cats (which I read in another thread that people don't actually eat cats there), I did read that cats are considered a neusance and people will poison them.

[liuzhou]

I read in another thread that people don't actually eat cats there

Hmmm. Yes, they do - well some do.

[knadolny]

make sure you also check quarantine regulations for bringing an animal back from China.

Yeah this is important. I don't think Japan accepts cats that have lived in China which puts me in a real bind if I move back to China. (I have to check up on this but remember reading it somewhere)

It took me seven months of quarantine (at my own home), and huge amount of paperwork to bring my cat from the US to Japan and yes it was a huge expense, but my cat is family. The quarantine was for a couple hours at the airport while they did some tests.

My cat hated the trip. She peed all over her kennel as it was a long flight from New York to Tokyo. She howled the whole two hour train ride from Narita to our apartment. (Narita is located in the boondocks.) But she cleaned herself up and was happy as can be the next day. I think she actually likes Tokyo better than New York.

[aroberts42]

I checked on coming back to America with the cats and surprisringly America doesn't have any bans on bringing in cats from China.

Did you take your cats from New York to Japan in cargo or was it allowed as a carry on? I have not found a Chinese airline that will let me carry the cats on, they have to be checked baggage.