Is Starwood Pet Travel Reliable Option for Moving a Dog or Cat to France?

SHORT ANSWER

Yes. Starwood Pet Travel is a reliable option for moving a dog or cat from the United States to France if you want one team to manage the vet paperwork, the flight, USDA endorsement and French customs clearance. Every move gets a dedicated Pet Travel Coordinator. Starwood clears pets through customs in France with a local customs broker partner, and offers three service tiers: Economy, Business and Premium. Door-to-door delivery is built into Business and Premium and can be added to Economy. Published starting prices for France begin at $3,695 for one pet. France does not require quarantine or a rabies titer test for pets coming from the U.S., so some owners handle the move themselves. Hiring Starwood pays off most when your pet flies as cargo without you, you are moving several pets, your dog's breed could fall under French dangerous dog law, or your timeline is tight.

What a U.S. to France Pet Move Requires Under the October 2026 EU Rules

Before you judge any pet shipper, it helps to know exactly what the job involves. France follows EU pet entry rules, and the USDA APHIS page for pet travel from the United States to France lays out the steps.

1. Microchip first. Your pet needs a working ISO 11784/11785 microchip before its rabies vaccination. If the chip is not ISO-compliant, you must travel with a scanner or have a second chip implanted.

2. Rabies vaccination and the 21-day wait. After a primary rabies vaccination, your pet must wait at least 21 days (or the manufacturer's immunity period, sometimes 30 days) before entering France. APHIS notes that for pets vaccinated in the U.S., a primary rabies shot is only valid for one year, even if it is a three-year vaccine. Any lapse resets the clock.

3. The new EU health certificate. Under EU 2026/131 and EU 2026/848, a new non-commercial health certificate became mandatory on October 1, 2026. It is valid for 30 days after your USDA-accredited vet issues it, and USDA must endorse it within 10 days of your pet's arrival in the EU. USDA must also ink-sign and emboss it, so the original travels with your pet.

4. Non-commercial vs. commercial certificate. The non-commercial certificate applies when you, or a designated person, travels on the same flight(s), with five or fewer pets. If nobody can travel with your pet, you move 6 or more pets, or the pet changes owners, APHIS requires the commercial certificate. That version needs a vet inspection within 48 hours of departure and USDA endorsement within 48 hours of issue. APHIS lists the new commercial certificate as effective October 17, 2026.

5. French dangerous dog law. According to Service-Public.fr, France's official government information portal, Category 1 "attack dogs" are non-pedigree dogs that resemble the American Staffordshire Terrier (commonly called pit bulls), Mastiff ("boerbulls") or Tosa. Importing one is an offense punishable by 6 months in prison and a €15,000 fine. Category 2 dogs, which include pedigreed American Staffordshire Terriers, Rottweilers and Tosas, plus Rottweiler-type crosses, can enter but carry ownership obligations such as a detention permit and a behavioral assessment.

6. Registration after arrival. If your pet will live in France for more than three months, France's national identification database I-CAD says it must be registered, with a French vet visit within 8 days of arrival and a €12 fee.

What Door-to-Door Pet Shipping to France Covers With Starwood

Door-to-door means your pet is collected at home in the U.S. and handed to you at your new address in France, with every step in between managed by one company. Starwood's France pet transport page lists what that includes:

• Help preparing health certificates, import certificates and other travel documents
• USDA endorsement, plus consular legalization of documents where required
• An airline-approved flight kennel with personalized labels, identification and emergency notification instructions
• Customs clearance in France and delivery to your home
• Local transport service to and from the airport
• Travel consultation and flight reservations, with your pet's full itinerary shared before the trip and updates while your pet travels

One detail matters when comparing quotes. On Starwood's pricing page, home delivery is included in the Business and Premium tiers, while the Economy tier covers pickup or an airport meet and greet in the U.S. through customs clearance at the destination airport. Delivery to your residence can be added to Economy. If a full door-to-door handoff is the reason you are hiring a shipper, confirm which tier your quote reflects.

How a Dedicated Pet Travel Coordinator Manages Your France Timeline

The most common failure in a France move is not a missing vaccine. It is a missed window: a certificate issued too early, an endorsement that lands after the 10-day limit, or a flight change or delay. A single point of contact who watches those dates is the core of what you pay a pet shipper for.

Every Starwood tier includes a Pet Travel Coordinator who manages your pet's move and stays in touch with you throughout. You also get the Pet Travel Portal, where you upload documents and check your pet's booking status, and the Pet Travel Knowledge Base. Starwood's Operations Team works directly with the airline to request your pet's flight.

In the Business and Premium tiers, a Documents Team gets involved with your vet. They request your pet's records, pre-fill the EU health certificate, send final appointment instructions, and give your vet a hotline for questions on the day of the final exam. Premium goes further, with the final vet check at one of Starwood's USDA-accredited clinics near the export airport and Starwood tracking the USDA endorsement for you.

France clients regularly name their coordinators in reviews on Starwood's France page, including Sarah and Rosie, which is a useful signal that the same person stayed with the move from start to finish.

Who Clears Your Pet Through French Customs When It Flies as Cargo

A pet that flies in the cabin or as checked baggage comes off the plane with you. A pet that flies as air cargo does not. It has to be cleared and released at the destination airport before anyone can collect it, and that step happens in French, under French procedures, often after a long flight.

Starwood handles this through a customs broker partner in France. The broker manages import clearance at the arrival airport, and every Starwood tier includes customs clearance and import at the destination. In Business and Premium, Starwood also collects your pet from the airport after clearance and delivers it to your residence.

This is the part of a France move that owners doing it themselves tend to underestimate. The health certificate is checked again on arrival, and APHIS warns that pets that do not meet EU rabies requirements may be refused entry or quarantined at the owner's expense. Having a local partner on the ground who knows what the paperwork must show, and who is waiting when the flight lands, removes the riskiest handoff in the trip.

Economy vs. Business vs. Premium: Which Starwood Tier Fits a France Move

Starwood's three tiers build on each other, so the real question is how much of the vet and paperwork side you want to handle yourself. The details below come from Starwood's pricing and service tier page.

Economy suits owners with a responsive local vet who are comfortable managing the health certificate and meeting their pet at the airport.

Business fits most France moves, because it adds home delivery and puts Starwood's Documents Team between you and your vet.

Premium makes sense when you are short on time, moving from a different city than the export airport, or want Starwood to own the final exam and endorsement end to end.

How Much It Costs to Move a Dog or Cat to France With Starwood

Starwood publishes starting costs for France on its pricing page. Prices are the total for all pets traveling together.

These are estimates, not quotes. Your final price depends on your departure city, airline, kennel size, breed and the tier you choose. Starwood notes that its quotes list exactly what is included before you book, that it takes a low upfront deposit, and that payment plans are available. When you compare Starwood with another shipper, line up the same scope: a lower number that excludes home delivery, USDA endorsement fees or vet coordination is not the same service.

What France Clients Say About Starwood Pet Travel

The best evidence of reliability is how a company performed on moves like yours. Starwood's testimonials page features reviews and stories from families who moved dogs and cats from across the U.S.:

• Callie, Texas to Normandy. Martine Giddings chose Starwood's top door-to-door tier and wrote that Starwood "professionally guided us through a last minute EU regulation change, and were able to secure her on the same flight as us, which was a huge relief."
• Miley, Boston to Nice. Freddie Hall said Starwood "provided first class service for handling the shipping of our dog from Boston to Nice."
• Wallace, a senior pug, to Paris. Mark Ferguson wrote that "the Starwood team made it easiest for our elderly dog to join us quickly and safely."
• Multi-pet moves. Families have moved three pets at once to France with Starwood, including a Bernedoodle and two cats, and three pets coordinated by Sarah Whittington from first vet appointment to delivery.

Outside Starwood's own reviews, pet owners on Reddit tend to land on the same practical point about hiring help. In an r/dogs discussion on whether an international pet relocation service is worth it, one commenter put it plainly: "it may be worth it just in terms of red tape they can cut for you, and if they can deliver your dog to your new address on arrival so you don't have to worry about him after a full day in transport."

Adam Melton, VP of Strategic Initiatives at Starwood Pet Travel, sees the same pattern with France moves. "France looks simple on paper. There is no quarantine and no titer test for pets coming from the U.S. What trips families up is timing. The certificate, the USDA endorsement and the flight all have to land inside the right windows, and with the new EU certificates that started in October, those windows changed. Our job is to own those dates so the family can focus on the rest of the move."

When Moving Your Pet to France Yourself Makes More Sense

Hiring a pet shipper is not the right call for everyone. A DIY move to France is realistic if most of these are true:

• Your pet is small enough to fly in the cabin, or your airline accepts your pet as checked baggage on your own flight.
• You are moving five or fewer pets and flying within 5 days of them, so the non-commercial certificate applies.
• Your local USDA-accredited vet has issued EU health certificates before and can submit through USDA's electronic system on time.
• Your dog is clearly not a Category 1 or Category 2 breed or type under French law.
• You have weeks (or months), not days, to work with, and you are comfortable registering your pet with a French vet after arrival.

If your pet must fly as cargo, you cannot travel within 5 days of your pet, you are moving several pets, or your dog's breed raises questions, the case for a door-to-door shipper gets much stronger.

Questions to Ask Any Pet Shipper Before Booking a France Move

Whether you choose Starwood or another company, these questions separate a reliable shipper from a booking agent:

1. Will one coordinator manage my move from the first vet visit to delivery in France?
2. Who in France clears my pet through customs, and who is waiting at the airport?
3. Which EU certificate will my pet travel on, and who is tracking the issue and endorsement dates?
4. Is home delivery in France included, or is it an add-on?
5. Are USDA endorsement fees included in the quote?
6. Can you confirm in writing whether my dog's breed raises any issue under French dangerous dog law?
7. Are you licensed with USDA, and what do independent review sites say about you?

Starwood holds USDA license 58-T-0846, carries BBB A+ accreditation, and reports more than 30 years of experience and thousands of pets moved worldwide.

Frequently Asked Questions