Hello peeps, this time I'd share some information on how I sort out my animals' permit to Sabah. Googling on how to transport animals to Sabah didn't help me at all when I was looking for some info on it. I had to figure it out myself. So here, hopefully this will help others. I did it from Johor but I think these would be the same procedures even if you are from other states in Peninsular.
1. First of all, you need to put a microchip in each of your animals. You can't get away from it, this is required by any vet departments in the place where you are taking your animals (by air). Here in Johor, you can get it done in any vet clinics. The price is RM85/animal. Make sure you keep the microchip numbers in a safe place because you'll need them for import permit application. You have to make sure your animals are in a pink of health as well. MAS will need your animals' health certs before they take your animals' flight booking. That's easy. Just get your animals checked when you get the microchips done and ask the doctor to issue your animals health cert. However, this could get complicated if you have been neglecting your animals health before. A slight indication that your animals are not healthy (i.e.: mites, ticks, ringworms, worms, ect) will force the doctor not to issue them certs. That could be a trouble.
2. You need an import permit from Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan Sabah. This is very important. Go to www.davetsa.sabah.gov.my, create a profile by signing up and filling in the personal information. After doing that, call the department (088-287400) and ask to be transferred to the person in charge for import permit application. This is to inform them you've registered yourself in the website and need approval to access the whole davetsa system. They will need your user name for approval. Usually approval will only take a couple of hours.
*Note: Keep a copy of your password in case you forget it. They don't keep record of your password. Losing it will give you a lot of troubles. Been there done it.
3. When you get the approval confirmation through email, sign in into the system and start filling in the import permit application form. It might be a little confusing for the first timer so you better call up the department (same number above) and ask for help. The person who helped me out with filling in the form was Azza. Don't worry, they are very friendly and will guide you step by step. I can explain it here but it'll take a long time plus you need to be looking at the system to understand it fully. So, better for you to ring them up and do it together with them. This is the time you need the microchip number. Without it, they won't entertain you. Make sure you key in the correct information of your animals or otherwise, your application will get rejected.
4. Application will get reviewed and approved/rejected in 3 working days. If it get rejected, you need to apply again. You can check your application status online. When your application get approved, you now may present yourself or anybody on your behalf at their counter to make the permit fee payment. It's only RM11/animal. This is the only disadvantage of this system. Everything else is perfect and efficient except the part when you make the payment. They said their programmers are still working on it so we can pay online. So for now, we like it or not, we have to go to:
Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan dan Perusahaan Ternak
Aras 3, Blok B, Wisma Pertanian Sabah
Jalan Tasik, Luyang (Off Jln Maktab Gaya)
If you are still outside Sabah, you can ask your friends or family to do the payment for you. After the payment, they will issue you the import permits. Pretty much you have finished your business with them after you got the permit.
5. Next, you have to take the permits to
4th Floor, Kompleks C25,
Sayap Timur, Nusajaya.
You can call for an appointment first at 07 - 2667501. The person who helped me was Mr. Hood. They are very friendly too, it's very easy to do business with them. Nusajaya is not the housing area in Pasir Gudang, OK? This is one that located near Gelang Patah. You need to fill in the export permit form and pay RM26 for each animals. Approval is after 3 working days so it means you have to make two trips to Nusajaya.
Note: You MUST have import permit from Sabah first before you can apply for export permit from Johor.
6. By this step, you should already have:
- Animals health certs and microchips number
-Import permit
-Export permit
Those are the required papers for when you book your animals' flight. But not yet, there are still a few things to do before you could book it for them. You have to get a good carriers for your animals. MAS is not too fussy if it's only domestic flight. All they need is a strong build carrier and big enough for your animals to stand up, sit down and move around naturally. Note this, carriers can be VERY expensive, depends on the type and manufacturer. As for my animals, I spent about RM650 in carries only. 3 cats and 1 dog. I bought the cheapest carriers, those made from plastic materials. You would want to find the lightest carriers because MAS is charging RM15/kg for the animals, including their carriers. But make sure it is a strong build ones. We don't want to risk our animals to get lost or worst, hurt, by buying the wrong carrier.
When you are ready with the carrier, you need to weight your animals with their carriers and take a record of it. You will need to know what is the exact size of the carriers as well. These are the information you need to provide to MAS besides all those papers when you book your animals' flight. Your animals can have the same flight with you. Just make sure you book it earlier.
7. A few hours before you travel with your animal, you could give them those 'travelling pills' so they could sleep throughout the journey. You can get this pills from your vet. Animals could get stressed from travelling, specially if this is their first time. You need to talk to your vet about this, I'm not qualified to advise more on this. If everything is OK, you should have no problem arriving together with your animals at your destination.
Good Luck!
P/S: Oh, BTW, only MAS is handling animals transportation. Air Asia has not started it yet.
Update:
My animals have arrived safely. However, I faced a few problems at Kastam Diraja Malaysia. I didn't know they must be involved in this process. When you are booking flight for your animals, it will only be approved if Kastam Diraja Msia in the place you are sending them permits. I'm not too sure how much is the fee because my husband did it for me. Therefore, you have to apply to them. However, it is only a small problem. Your cargo agent (there are many agents at MAS Kargo beside MAS itself, you can choose one that you prefer) can do all the documentations for you. It takes three working days for this application to be approved.
When the Kastam in your animals' destination confirmed that they have no problem receiving it, then you should expect a call from MAS Kargo in the animals' destination to inform you the details. Keep all the details because you will need it when you pick up your animals.
In my case, they gave me the a reference number. I went to their office in KK (Terminal 1) to get a copy of the sending document. That's when the reference number is important. They won't entertain you if you just give your name. After I got the copy, I went to the Kastam office (same place, 2nd floor) and get release approval and overtime application (not sure what is that for, I just did what they wanted me to do). Before they could approve it, they needed me to get an a release approval from the Veterinary Department in the airport. The person in charge of this department is En. Abdul Rahman. It is best to contact him first and let him know you have a business with them. On the day my animals arrived, he was on leave. It was a little bit of a hassle but not too much, because I discovered that I can actually get a registered agent in MAS Kargo to handle everything for me. My agent was really good, he was very organized and helpful. I had to come MAS Kargo when the animals arrived, though. I needed to pay for the terminal charges (RM15) and also Veterinary charges (RM10/animal). This can only be done when the animals arrived. Upon the animals' arrival, a driver from Kinarut Quarantine Station will come with his truck to take them. You may follow them to the station and make sure they get into their quarantine 'cage' OK. But it's only optional.
There was a documentation needed to be done at Kastam after the arrival but my agent did it for me. When all completed, he asked me to pay him whatever I am willing to give him. Well, that was not very convenient to me. But I think I did pay him a generous amount.
You may visit your animals at the quarantine station twice a day on working days. 10a.m-12 a.m and 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. You may also bring their favourite food. The staffs there are very friendly and helpful. May god bless them for looking after my animals.
The quarantine will be one month from their arrival. However, if you would like to get them home quickly, you may apply for home quarantine at the head quarters. You may ask the person in charge in the quarantine station to assist you. I just put in my application, I haven't heard any reply yet. Will update again soon when I know.
Oh, you might want to know that they charge a small daily fee for keeping your animals. RM15/day for a dog and RM4/day for a cat. You may pay it upon your animals' release. If you need the agent and person in charge of airport vet department number, please email me. I don't think they are happy if I put their personal number here. That's all for now.
1. First of all, you need to put a microchip in each of your animals. You can't get away from it, this is required by any vet departments in the place where you are taking your animals (by air). Here in Johor, you can get it done in any vet clinics. The price is RM85/animal. Make sure you keep the microchip numbers in a safe place because you'll need them for import permit application. You have to make sure your animals are in a pink of health as well. MAS will need your animals' health certs before they take your animals' flight booking. That's easy. Just get your animals checked when you get the microchips done and ask the doctor to issue your animals health cert. However, this could get complicated if you have been neglecting your animals health before. A slight indication that your animals are not healthy (i.e.: mites, ticks, ringworms, worms, ect) will force the doctor not to issue them certs. That could be a trouble.
2. You need an import permit from Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan Sabah. This is very important. Go to www.davetsa.sabah.gov.my, create a profile by signing up and filling in the personal information. After doing that, call the department (088-287400) and ask to be transferred to the person in charge for import permit application. This is to inform them you've registered yourself in the website and need approval to access the whole davetsa system. They will need your user name for approval. Usually approval will only take a couple of hours.
*Note: Keep a copy of your password in case you forget it. They don't keep record of your password. Losing it will give you a lot of troubles. Been there done it.
3. When you get the approval confirmation through email, sign in into the system and start filling in the import permit application form. It might be a little confusing for the first timer so you better call up the department (same number above) and ask for help. The person who helped me out with filling in the form was Azza. Don't worry, they are very friendly and will guide you step by step. I can explain it here but it'll take a long time plus you need to be looking at the system to understand it fully. So, better for you to ring them up and do it together with them. This is the time you need the microchip number. Without it, they won't entertain you. Make sure you key in the correct information of your animals or otherwise, your application will get rejected.
4. Application will get reviewed and approved/rejected in 3 working days. If it get rejected, you need to apply again. You can check your application status online. When your application get approved, you now may present yourself or anybody on your behalf at their counter to make the permit fee payment. It's only RM11/animal. This is the only disadvantage of this system. Everything else is perfect and efficient except the part when you make the payment. They said their programmers are still working on it so we can pay online. So for now, we like it or not, we have to go to:
Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan dan Perusahaan Ternak
Aras 3, Blok B, Wisma Pertanian Sabah
Jalan Tasik, Luyang (Off Jln Maktab Gaya)
If you are still outside Sabah, you can ask your friends or family to do the payment for you. After the payment, they will issue you the import permits. Pretty much you have finished your business with them after you got the permit.
5. Next, you have to take the permits to
4th Floor, Kompleks C25,
Sayap Timur, Nusajaya.
You can call for an appointment first at 07 - 2667501. The person who helped me was Mr. Hood. They are very friendly too, it's very easy to do business with them. Nusajaya is not the housing area in Pasir Gudang, OK? This is one that located near Gelang Patah. You need to fill in the export permit form and pay RM26 for each animals. Approval is after 3 working days so it means you have to make two trips to Nusajaya.
Note: You MUST have import permit from Sabah first before you can apply for export permit from Johor.
6. By this step, you should already have:
- Animals health certs and microchips number
-Import permit
-Export permit
Those are the required papers for when you book your animals' flight. But not yet, there are still a few things to do before you could book it for them. You have to get a good carriers for your animals. MAS is not too fussy if it's only domestic flight. All they need is a strong build carrier and big enough for your animals to stand up, sit down and move around naturally. Note this, carriers can be VERY expensive, depends on the type and manufacturer. As for my animals, I spent about RM650 in carries only. 3 cats and 1 dog. I bought the cheapest carriers, those made from plastic materials. You would want to find the lightest carriers because MAS is charging RM15/kg for the animals, including their carriers. But make sure it is a strong build ones. We don't want to risk our animals to get lost or worst, hurt, by buying the wrong carrier.
When you are ready with the carrier, you need to weight your animals with their carriers and take a record of it. You will need to know what is the exact size of the carriers as well. These are the information you need to provide to MAS besides all those papers when you book your animals' flight. Your animals can have the same flight with you. Just make sure you book it earlier.
7. A few hours before you travel with your animal, you could give them those 'travelling pills' so they could sleep throughout the journey. You can get this pills from your vet. Animals could get stressed from travelling, specially if this is their first time. You need to talk to your vet about this, I'm not qualified to advise more on this. If everything is OK, you should have no problem arriving together with your animals at your destination.
Good Luck!
P/S: Oh, BTW, only MAS is handling animals transportation. Air Asia has not started it yet.
Update:
My animals have arrived safely. However, I faced a few problems at Kastam Diraja Malaysia. I didn't know they must be involved in this process. When you are booking flight for your animals, it will only be approved if Kastam Diraja Msia in the place you are sending them permits. I'm not too sure how much is the fee because my husband did it for me. Therefore, you have to apply to them. However, it is only a small problem. Your cargo agent (there are many agents at MAS Kargo beside MAS itself, you can choose one that you prefer) can do all the documentations for you. It takes three working days for this application to be approved.
When the Kastam in your animals' destination confirmed that they have no problem receiving it, then you should expect a call from MAS Kargo in the animals' destination to inform you the details. Keep all the details because you will need it when you pick up your animals.
In my case, they gave me the a reference number. I went to their office in KK (Terminal 1) to get a copy of the sending document. That's when the reference number is important. They won't entertain you if you just give your name. After I got the copy, I went to the Kastam office (same place, 2nd floor) and get release approval and overtime application (not sure what is that for, I just did what they wanted me to do). Before they could approve it, they needed me to get an a release approval from the Veterinary Department in the airport. The person in charge of this department is En. Abdul Rahman. It is best to contact him first and let him know you have a business with them. On the day my animals arrived, he was on leave. It was a little bit of a hassle but not too much, because I discovered that I can actually get a registered agent in MAS Kargo to handle everything for me. My agent was really good, he was very organized and helpful. I had to come MAS Kargo when the animals arrived, though. I needed to pay for the terminal charges (RM15) and also Veterinary charges (RM10/animal). This can only be done when the animals arrived. Upon the animals' arrival, a driver from Kinarut Quarantine Station will come with his truck to take them. You may follow them to the station and make sure they get into their quarantine 'cage' OK. But it's only optional.
There was a documentation needed to be done at Kastam after the arrival but my agent did it for me. When all completed, he asked me to pay him whatever I am willing to give him. Well, that was not very convenient to me. But I think I did pay him a generous amount.
You may visit your animals at the quarantine station twice a day on working days. 10a.m-12 a.m and 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. You may also bring their favourite food. The staffs there are very friendly and helpful. May god bless them for looking after my animals.
The quarantine will be one month from their arrival. However, if you would like to get them home quickly, you may apply for home quarantine at the head quarters. You may ask the person in charge in the quarantine station to assist you. I just put in my application, I haven't heard any reply yet. Will update again soon when I know.
Oh, you might want to know that they charge a small daily fee for keeping your animals. RM15/day for a dog and RM4/day for a cat. You may pay it upon your animals' release. If you need the agent and person in charge of airport vet department number, please email me. I don't think they are happy if I put their personal number here. That's all for now.
