The APHIA export veterinary certificate is Taiwan's own government health document for a dog or cat leaving the island. You apply at an APHIA branch or inspection station within seven days of departure, with the pet physically present. It is the last document in the chain, not the first. Malaysia's import permit must already exist before APHIA will write it.
Introduction: the document people apply for far too early
Most owners leaving Taipei or Kaohsiung treat the APHIA export veterinary certificate as step one of the move. It is closer to step eight. Taiwan writes the certificate against the destination’s rules, so the destination has to speak first.
Ask around expat groups in Taiwan and the same question surfaces every few weeks. How do I get the government certificate for my dog, and what does it cost? Both halves are reasonable, and both have answers that surprise people. The certificate is cheap and quick. Reaching the point where APHIA will issue one is neither.
This piece walks the document from application to arrival at KLIA. It sits inside our Taiwan and Malaysia pet import and export guidance at My Pet Mover.
Before the mechanics, a reminder of how much of an international move is paperwork rather than logistics.
What the APHIA export veterinary certificate actually is
It is an official animal quarantine certificate issued by Taiwan’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency after a government officer inspects your pet. It states the animal’s health and vaccination position on the day it is signed, in the format the destination country asked for.
APHIA took its current name on 1 August 2023, when the former Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine was restructured alongside Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture. Older guides still say BAPHIQ. Same body, older name.
Three features of the document catch people out:
- Head office does not issue it. APHIA’s export guidance states that head office does not handle export animal quarantine. Branch offices and inspection stations do.
- It carries no expiry date. The certificate can only speak to the animal’s condition before and on the day of issue, so it has no validity period of its own.
- Its contents are written to order. The certificate reflects what the importing authority demanded, which is why that authority has to be heard from first.
That last point is the shape of the whole process. Taiwan is not certifying your dog against a Taiwanese standard. It is certifying your dog against Malaysia’s standard, on Malaysia’s form where one exists. The relationship running the other way is covered in our explainer on Taiwan’s supposed ban on pets from Malaysia.
Not sure which document comes first?
Send us your departure month and your pet’s vaccination dates and we will map the sequence backwards from the flight. See our international pet transport routes →
Where the certificate sits in the Taiwan to Malaysia sequence
The export certificate is the second-to-last step, sitting between the seven-day health examination and the flight itself. Everything ahead of it, from microchip to import permit, has to be finished and documented before the APHIA officer will look at the file.
Taiwan To Malaysia Pet Move Sequence
| Order | Step | Owner | If it slips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ISO microchip implanted | Taiwanese vet | Every later document loses its anchor |
| 2 | Rabies vaccination, after the chip | Taiwanese vet | A 30-day wait restarts |
| 3 | Breed clearance, if restricted | MAQIS Director General | No permit can be applied for |
| 4 | Malaysian import permit issued | MAQIS | APHIA has nothing to certify against |
| 5 | Flight and crate confirmed | Airline cargo desk | The seven-day window has no end point |
| 6 | Pre-export health examination | Vet, within 7 days | Malaysia’s certification clause fails |
| 7 | Export quarantine appointment | APHIA branch or station | No slot, no certificate, no flight |
| 8 | Export certificate issued | APHIA officer | Airline will not accept the animal |
| 9 | Arrival and quarantine at KLIA | MAQIS and DVS | Detention beyond the minimum stay |
Compiled by My Pet Mover from APHIA’s export requirement for dogs and cats and Malaysia’s non-scheduled country regulations. Position as published August 2026.
Steps one and two are the long poles. Steps six through eight all happen inside a single week. Owners who plan that week and ignore the months arrive at the counter with a file nobody can sign.
The order of operations APHIA insists on
APHIA’s published guidance is explicit. The applicant must obtain the import permit or conditions from the destination authority first, then arrange export quarantine according to the requirements written into that permit. The permit governs the certificate, never the reverse.
That instruction sits in a Chinese-language notice, which is why so few English guides carry it. Walk in without Malaysia’s MAQIS import permit for your pet already granted and the officer has no specification to certify against.
How to apply for the APHIA export veterinary certificate
Four ordered steps, in the sequence APHIA and the destination authority between them require.
- Get the Malaysian import permit first. Apply through MAQIS or an authorised agent, and read the conditions on the granted permit rather than the general regulations.
- Book the APHIA appointment by phone. Contact the branch or inspection station ahead so an officer is available on your date.
- Complete the pre-export examination inside the seven-day window. The vet records that the animal is healthy and free of clinical signs of rabies and other contagious disease.
- Attend with the pet and the full file. The officer inspects the animal, checks the documents against the permit conditions, and issues the certificate.
Which office to use. Four regional branches cover Taiwan, at Keelung, Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung, supported by inspection stations. APHIA points owners to the branch nearest their home rather than the one nearest the airport, which surprises people flying out of Taoyuan. Anyone sending an agent needs a letter of authorisation and identification for both parties, the same principle behind why you cannot lodge a MAQIS permit yourself. Transit cases follow different rules, as our piece on whether a pet can transit Taoyuan on the way from KL sets out.
What you carry to the APHIA counter
The pet itself, the rabies vaccination certificate, your passport or Taiwanese identification, proof of the booked flight, and every document Malaysia demanded. Missing any one of them turns the appointment into a scheduling problem rather than a paperwork problem.
Documents Required At The APHIA Appointment
| Item | Issued by | What it must show |
|---|---|---|
| The animal | Not applicable | Present for inspection and chip scan |
| Rabies vaccination certificate | Animal hospital or local authority | Date, vaccine type, manufacturer, lot number, microchip number |
| Owner identification | Home government | Passport or Taiwanese identity card, as a copy |
| Travel proof | Airline or cargo agent | Aircraft booking record or air waybill details |
| Malaysian import permit | MAQIS | Valid permit naming the animal and its microchip |
| Certificate template | Importing authority | The blank form APHIA is expected to complete, where one exists |
| Letter of authorisation | Owner, if using an agent | The mandate plus both parties’ identification |
Compiled by My Pet Mover from APHIA’s export quarantine FAQ and its notes on exporting dogs and cats. Requirements vary by destination; confirm with the branch handling your case.
The Malaysian half of the same file is set out in our guide to the documents your pet needs for Malaysia. Read the two lists together and the overlaps are obvious.
The seven-day window, and why the certificate never expires
Apply within one week of departure. APHIA states the export certificate carries no validity period, because it can only describe the animal before and on the issue date. What limits it is the destination’s timing rule, not Taiwan’s.
A document with no expiry sounds generous. It is the opposite, because responsibility for timing shifts entirely onto the importing country.
Malaysia’s non-scheduled country regulations require the exporting government vet to certify that the animal was examined and found healthy within seven days immediately before export, and showed no clinical signs on shipment day. That clause, not any Taiwanese rule, makes seven days the working window here.
Taiwan sets no expiry on the certificate. Malaysia sets a seven-day examination window. The tighter of the two always wins.
APHIA does allow early issue in narrow cases, such as a returning animal needing paperwork lodged ahead of time. For a one-way move to Kuala Lumpur, the week before the flight is the window. Permit timing works differently, as our note on how long a MAQIS import permit lasts explains.
The rabies clause Malaysia asks Taiwan to sign
Malaysia’s published template for non-scheduled countries asks the exporting government vet to certify that no rabies case has been reported in that country in the preceding six months. Taiwan’s own agency describes Taiwan as a rabies-infected country. Confirm the wording MAQIS will accept before you book anything.
Malaysia’s Certification Clauses Read Against Taiwan
| Clause | What Malaysia asks the exporting vet to certify | Reading for Taiwan |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | Animal examined, healthy, no clinical sign of rabies or contagious disease | Routine |
| 3.2 | No rabies case reported in that country in the preceding six months | Needs confirming with MAQIS in writing |
| 3.3 | Animal not itself imported into that country in the preceding six months | Blocks a quick staging stopover |
| 3.4 | Vaccinated against rabies with an approved vaccine before export | Standard Taiwanese practice |
| 3.5 | Other core vaccines given within twelve months before export | Check the booster dates early |
| 3.6 | Vaccination history, treatments and health status up to date | Routine |
| 3.7 | Examined within seven days before export, no signs on shipment day | Sets the whole appointment window |
Clause text from Malaysia’s regulations for importing dogs and cats from non-scheduled countries, revised 13 December 2013, read with the country-list notice of 11 December 2025. Readings are My Pet Mover’s, not MAQIS rulings.
Clause 3.2 is the one to raise before anything else. Taiwan’s Kaohsiung branch states in its own English guidance that Taiwan has become a rabies-infected country, which is why several destinations tightened their rules on Taiwanese pets. A government vet cannot sign a clause that contradicts their own agency’s published position.
What this means in practice. MAQIS enforces the condition set written onto your permit, not the general template. Ask for the exact certificate wording it will accept from Taiwan for your consignment, in writing, then hand APHIA that wording.
Want that clause settled before you commit?
We put the certificate wording to MAQIS in writing and hand APHIA a specification it can actually sign. See how our Malaysian import service works →
What the certificate costs, and what actually costs money
APHIA does not publish a headline per-pet figure in English. Its fees sit under Taiwan’s animal and plant quarantine fee regulations, and the branch office quotes the amount when you enquire. Against the rest of the move, the certificate is the cheapest line on the invoice.
Where The Money Goes On A Taiwan Departure
| Cost block | Charged by | Rate published? | Share of a typical move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air cargo and handling | Airline | By quotation |
Largest |
| Malaysian quarantine stay | MAQIS and DVS | Yes |
Substantial |
| IATA-compliant crate | Supplier | Retail pricing |
Moderate |
| Vet visits and vaccines | Taiwanese clinic | Per clinic |
Modest |
| MAQIS import permit | MAQIS | Yes |
Small |
| APHIA export certificate | APHIA branch | On enquiry |
Smallest |
Compiled by My Pet Mover from quoted moves on this corridor, 2024 to 2026. Bar widths are illustrative, not currency. APHIA fees are set under Taiwan’s animal and plant quarantine fee regulations; ask your branch for the current figure.
The pattern holds on every corridor we quote. Government paperwork is the small money, freight and quarantine the real money, which is why our breakdown of MAQIS fees and permit costs and our transparent pet relocation pricing both start with the flight.
What Malaysia does with the certificate on arrival
Taiwan does not appear on Malaysia’s scheduled country list, so a pet arriving from Taipei enters as a non-scheduled import. That means compulsory quarantine of not less than seven days on arrival, extendable up to six months where a risk assessment calls for it.
A DVS notice dated 11 December 2025 last updated the scheduled list. It names the United Kingdom, Ireland, Northern Ireland, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, Brunei, Singapore and a group of European states. Taiwan is not among them, so three things follow:
- A minimum seven-day stay. The animal is detained on arrival and released once found free of any evidence of infection, as covered in our note on whether Malaysian quarantine runs seven days or fourteen.
- Possible vaccination on arrival. The regulations allow an approved anti-rabies vaccine to be given at the quarantine station.
- Breed screening. Seven breeds are banned outright and six restricted, which we cover alongside Taiwan’s own list in Taiwan’s pit bull import ban and cat generation rules.
The receiving facility is described in our guide to pet quarantine at KLIA, and the category question in scheduled versus non-scheduled countries explained.
Where the certificate quietly fails
Almost every refused or delayed consignment traces back to a date or a number rather than an animal’s health. Five failure modes account for most of them, and each is visible weeks earlier if anyone thinks to check.
- A microchip digit that does not match. The chip number appears on the vaccination certificate, the permit and the export certificate. One transposed digit and the documents describe different animals.
- A rabies shot outside the window. Kaohsiung Branch places the vaccination more than 30 days but not more than a year before the certificate. Too fresh fails as surely as too old.
- An appointment booked before the permit lands. An absent permit stops the process at the counter.
- A restricted breed without prior approval. Malaysia requires written clearance from the MAQIS Director General before a restricted-breed permit application is lodged.
- An examination outside seven days. Malaysia’s clause runs against the export date, not the certificate date, so a flight change can quietly break it.
Nothing there is exotic. Each row is a date someone did not check, and every one is cheap to prevent. Assistance animals face the same list, as our piece on whether guide dogs are exempt from Taiwan’s pet rules makes clear.
If the pet might come back to Taiwan
APHIA warns that an animal exported from Taiwan and later brought back counts as a foreign import and must go through import quarantine. For that reason it advises applying for the export certificate even when the destination does not ask for one.
This is the most-missed line in APHIA’s guidance, and it costs the most when it is missed. A posting to Kuala Lumpur that turns into a return to Taipei two years later is not a homecoming in quarantine terms. It is an import, with an import’s permit, waiting periods and conditions.
The export certificate creates the record that the animal left Taiwan in a documented state. Apply for it even on a one-way ticket, because one-way tickets have a habit of becoming return ones. Malaysia’s neighbours take the same view, as our guide to Singapore’s 30-day quarantine for Malaysian pets explains.
Conclusion
The APHIA export veterinary certificate is a short appointment at the end of a long preparation. Get the Malaysian permit first, settle the certificate wording with MAQIS, book the branch by phone, and the visit itself is uneventful.
Almost every problem on this corridor is a sequencing problem wearing a paperwork costume. The certificate cannot fix a permit that does not exist, a vaccine given at the wrong time, or a clause nobody thought to query. Worked in the right order it is undramatic: a few months of quiet preparation, one busy week of appointments, and a dog that clears KLIA on schedule.
One caveat worth repeating. Rules here change without much warning, Malaysia’s country list was last revised in December 2025, and the certification template still carries wording that deserves a direct question to MAQIS. Confirm the position with both authorities close to your travel date, not at the start of planning.
Moving a pet from Taiwan to Malaysia?
Send us your pet’s breed, age, microchip and vaccination dates plus your target month. We will lodge the MAQIS permit, confirm the certificate wording APHIA needs to sign, book the branch appointment inside the window, and quote the whole move upfront.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the APHIA export veterinary certificate?
It is Taiwan’s official animal quarantine certificate for a dog or cat leaving the country, issued by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency after a government officer inspects the animal. It records the pet’s health and vaccination position on the day of issue, in the form the destination authority requires.
How long is the APHIA export veterinary certificate valid for?
It has no validity period of its own, because it can only describe the animal before and on the issue date. APHIA recommends applying within one week of export. In practice the destination sets the deadline, and Malaysia’s seven-day pre-export examination clause governs this corridor.
Do I need the Malaysian import permit before APHIA will issue the certificate?
Yes. APHIA’s guidance states that the applicant must first obtain the import permit or conditions from the destination authority, then arrange export quarantine according to what that permit specifies. Booking the appointment earlier usually means attending twice.
How much does the APHIA export veterinary certificate cost?
APHIA does not publish a headline per-pet figure in its English guidance. Fees sit under Taiwan’s animal and plant quarantine fee regulations, and the branch office quotes the amount on enquiry. Against air cargo and a week of Malaysian quarantine, it is the smallest line in the budget.
Does my pet have to be at the APHIA office in person?
Yes. Bring the dog or cat along with the vaccination certificate, your identification and the destination’s documents. The officer scans the microchip and inspects the animal, so the appointment cannot be handled by post. An agent may attend in your place with a letter of authorisation.
