Overstamping a foreign passport

If a horse is imported to the UK permanently (90 days or more) and holds a passport issued outside the UK (including Ireland), the horse’s data will need to be uploaded to the UK Central Equine Database by a UK based Passport Issuing Organisation. This process is known as ‘overstamping’. 

The BHS offers overstamping services to ID only (breeding and production) passports, which do not contain details of the horse’s lineage. 

For non-UK passports that do contain details of the horse's lineage, owners should apply to a UK based studbook for an overstamp. A list of such organisations can be found on the gov.uk website. 

For advice as to which UK based studbook would be most appropriate to overstamp your passport, please contact the BHS passport office: 02476 840517 / passport@bhs.org.uk. 

Once the passport has been overstamped by a UK PIO it is then administered by that organisation, who have the authority to make future changes to the passport such as changes of ownership. The issuing PIO is informed of this by the UK PIO. 

TO APPLY:

In order to apply for an overstamp with the BHS, owners must submit their horse’s passport to the office along with the overstamp form filled out. 

Owners with passports which are non-compliant or have pages missing will need to apply for a replacement passport with the PIO that overstamps the passport. The original passport will be invalidated and destroyed unless the owner wishes to retain the original for their records (e.g. for vaccinations). 

To be deemed compliant the passport must contain the following:

• A Unique Equine Life Number (UELN). This is sometimes referred to as the passport number and can be a combination of numbers and letters up to 15 characters/digits long (if the UELN is not 15 digits long, the BHS may precede it with our PIO registration number)

• A completed silhouette of the horse in red ink and certified by an accredited vet as opposed to a photograph (silhouettes drawn in black ink remain compliant under current UK legislation)

• A section confirming whether the horse is intended for slaughter for human consumption
• A vaccination record bound within the pages of the passport

The passport must be registered in the name of the owner applying for the overstamp by the original issuing PIO prior to applying for the overstamp. (There are some circumstances under which this does not apply; for example, if the original issuing PIO does not require for a change of ownership to be completed once the passport is issued. For further information, contact the BHS passport office).