Do You Need a Relocation Consultant and a Pet Shipper to Move to France with a Pet?

SHORT ANSWER

French law doesn’t require you to hire either one. Most families moving permanently from the U.S. to France with a dog or cat still benefit from both, because each covers a different half of the move. A relocation consultant handles the human side on the ground in France. That includes housing, visa follow-up, administration, banking, insurance and local services. A pet shipper handles your pet’s side, from coordinating the USDA-accredited vet paperwork and USDA APHIS endorsement to booking the airline and clearing customs on arrival. Neither one replaces the other. The real risk is hiring both and never connecting them, because your pet affects the home you rent, the dates you travel and even which health certificate your pet qualifies for.

What a Relocation Consultant Does When You Move to France

A relocation consultant focuses on the people. For Americans moving to France, that usually means help finding long-term housing, setting up utilities, opening a French bank account, arranging insurance and getting through French administration after you land.

That administrative work comes with deadlines of its own. According to Service-Public.fr, France’s official government information site, holders of a long-stay visa that serves as a residence permit (VLS-TS) must validate it within 3 months of arriving in France and pay an associated tax. The visa application itself goes through the official France-Visas portal. A consultant who knows these steps can keep you on schedule while you’re also trying to find a vet, a grocery store and a dog-friendly park.

What a relocation consultant typically doesn’t do is manage the regulated side of moving an animal across borders. That work involves U.S. federal endorsement, EU entry rules and airline live animal policies. It falls to a different kind of specialist.

What a Pet Shipper Handles Between Your U.S. Vet and French Customs

A pet shipper manages the chain of steps that gets your dog or cat from your home in the U.S. to your new address in France. In practice, that includes:

• Coordinating with your USDA-accredited veterinarian on the microchip, rabies vaccination and EU health certificate.
• Making sure the certificate goes to USDA for endorsement through APHIS’s Veterinary Export Health Certification System (VEHCS).
• Booking your pet’s flight under the right airline program and confirming the crate meets the airline’s requirements.
• Preparing for arrival, where the European Commission requires pets entering from outside the EU to pass through a designated Travellers’ Point of Entry for document and identity checks.
• Clearing customs and delivering your pet to you.

It’s worth being precise about who is responsible for what. The USDA APHIS page for pet travel from the U.S. to France states that “It is the responsibility of the veterinarian to make sure the pet has met all health requirements of the destination country before issuing a health certificate.” APHIS also notes that airlines set their own pet transport policies. A pet shipper’s value comes from keeping the vet, USDA and the airline working on the same timeline, and from catching errors before they reach the border.

For the step-by-step order of the veterinary requirements, see our guide on why sequencing matters when relocating to France with a pet.

Where Relocation Consultants and Pet Shippers Overlap: Housing, Timing and Temporary Stays

This is where families get caught. They hire both specialists, and each one assumes the other has the pet covered.

Cécile GALLET, founder and CEO of Haven in France, put it this way on our Pet Travel Insider podcast:

“I would say that the pet isn’t a separate part of the move, because it affects the home you choose, the timing, the temporary accommodation and the life you’re building in France. So it needs to be part of the relocation strategy from day one. That’s the most important thing.”

French housing law shows why she starts with the home. According to Service-Public.fr, a tenant who rents a home as their primary residence, furnished or unfurnished, may keep one or more pets as long as they don’t disturb the neighbors. A landlord may still write a ban on Category 1 dogs into the lease. Short-term furnished tourist rentals follow a different rule: the owner can prohibit any animal at all.

That distinction matters for many American families, who spend their first weeks in France in a short-term rental while they look for something permanent. If your consultant books a temporary stay that bans pets, your pet’s arrival date has to move, or you need a different plan for those first weeks. If your shipper books a flight before the long-term lease starts, you may have a pet arriving with nowhere to stay. For more on the long-term search, see our guide to finding a pet-friendly rental in France.

Why Your Travel Dates Decide Which Health Certificate Your Pet Uses

The second big overlap is timing. Families sometimes plan for one adult to fly ahead, sign the lease and set up the apartment, with the pet following later. That can work, but only inside specific limits.

According to USDA APHIS, your pet can travel on the non-commercial EU health certificate when:

• The pet owner flies with the pet on the same flight, or
• A designated person travels with the pet no later than 5 days after the owner, and
• Five or fewer pets are moving together.

APHIS defines a designated person as “a family member, friend, or other person authorized by the owner to travel with the pet.” The certificate also includes a Declaration that the owner or designated person must sign, and that Declaration must travel with the pet.

If neither the owner nor a designated person can travel with the pet, or if six or more pets are moving, APHIS says the commercial health certificate applies instead. That route adds tighter deadlines. The pet must be inspected by a USDA-accredited veterinarian within 48 hours of departure, and USDA must endorse the certificate within 48 hours of the vet issuing it.

So a relocation decision that sounds simple, like “I’ll go first and get the keys,” can change your pet’s paperwork. That’s the clearest case for your consultant and your shipper to compare calendars early.

Here’s how I explain the handoff to families: “The relocation consultant and the pet shipper are each holding one end of the same rope. Your consultant knows when the apartment is ready and when you need to be at the prefecture. We know when the rabies vaccine clears, when the vet can issue the certificate and which flights accept your pet that week. When those two calendars never meet, someone ends up rebooking a flight or paying for an extra month in a rental. When they meet in the first planning call, the move usually goes the way it should.”

How the Handoff Works in a Typical U.S. to France Move

Every move is different, but a coordinated plan usually follows this outline:

1. Early planning. You share your target move window with both specialists. The consultant starts the housing search with your pet in mind. The shipper reviews your pet’s microchip and vaccine history and checks breed eligibility and airline options.
2. Housing decision. The consultant confirms whether your first weeks will be in a pet-friendly temporary rental or a long-term lease. The shipper uses that date to plan your pet’s flight.
3. Travel plan. Together, you decide who flies with the pet. That choice determines whether the non-commercial or commercial certificate applies.
4. Final paperwork. Your USDA-accredited vet issues the EU health certificate, and USDA endorses it. Under the non-commercial certificate, APHIS requires endorsement within 10 days of your pet’s arrival in the EU.
5. Arrival. The shipper manages customs clearance and delivery. The consultant takes over local setup, including connecting you with a French veterinarian, who can register your pet in France’s I-CAD identification database. Our guide on registering your pet with I-CAD walks through that step.

What Other Pet Owners Say About Professional Help

In an r/AmerExit thread about moving dogs from the USA to France, one commenter recommended professional pet transport for families who can budget for it: “They can handle all of the vetting and paperwork and flight arrangements” (r/AmerExit discussion). That matches the division of labor above. The pet shipper owns the vet, paperwork and flight chain. Everything about your life in France on the other side of customs belongs to your relocation team.

When One Specialist May Be Enough

Some families don’t need both:

• You’re comfortable with French administration. If you speak French, already have housing lined up or have lived in France before, you may skip the consultant and hire only a pet shipper.
• Your employer provides relocation support. Corporate moves often include a relocation consultant through the company. Ask whether pets are covered. If they aren’t, a pet shipper fills that gap.
• You plan to handle the pet side yourself. Some owners manage the vet and airline steps on their own. Read the APHIS France page closely if you go this route, because the certificate type, endorsement timing and airline rules all depend on your exact travel plan.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring Either One

Ask a relocation consultant:

• Have you placed families with dogs or cats in this city before?
• Will you confirm in writing that any temporary rental allows pets?
• Can you share the housing timeline with my pet shipper?

Ask a pet shipper:

• Who will coordinate with my USDA-accredited vet and track the APHIS endorsement?
• How will my travel plan affect which EU health certificate my pet needs?
• Who meets my pet on arrival, and how does delivery to my new address work?

If you’d like help planning your pet’s side of a move, our team can work alongside your relocation consultant. Start with our pet transport to France page.

Frequently Asked Questions