Moving a pet to the United States involves two federal agencies, a set of requirements that depend on your pet’s species and travel history, and a handful of decisions — like whether to hire a professional mover — that shape everything else. This guide walks through the entire process at a high level, in order, and links to a dedicated guide for each step where you need the full detail.
Estimated reading time: 15 minutes.
Current as of 2026: Pet import requirements can change. This guide reflects current CDC and USDA APHIS guidance as of this writing — always confirm current rules directly with CDC and USDA APHIS before you travel, and check your airline’s specific pet policy before booking.
Who This Guide Is For
This guide covers the general federal process for bringing a personal pet into the United States. It applies whether you’re:
- Moving a dog or a cat.
- Relocating permanently or returning to the U.S. after living abroad.
- Traveling with your pet in the cabin, as checked baggage, or as air cargo.
- Handling the process yourself or hiring a professional pet relocation company.
It does not cover commercial animal imports, imports by rescue or shelter organizations, or breeders importing animals for resale — those situations involve additional USDA regulations beyond the scope of a personal pet move and aren’t addressed here.
The Process at a Glance
Every pet move to the U.S. follows the same basic sequence, even though the specifics differ by pet and route:
- Confirm your pet’s federal requirements (dog vs. cat, and — for dogs — which CDC pathway applies).
- Get microchipping and vaccination done in the correct order.
- Line up your health certificate and origin-country export paperwork.
- Budget for the real cost of the move.
- Build a realistic timeline around your pet’s specific pathway.
- Choose an airline and transportation method that actually accepts your pet.
- Decide whether to hire a professional pet relocation company.
- Prepare your pet for the flight itself.
- Arrive and clear entry with your documentation ready.
The sections below walk through each of these in order.
Why Moving a Dog Is Different From Moving a Cat
This is usually the first real fork in the process, and it’s worth understanding before anything else, because a dog owner and a cat owner are, in practical terms, following different rules from step one.
Dogs are subject to the CDC’s rabies-focused pathway system. Every dog’s requirements fall into one of three situations, based on where the dog has been in the last 6 months and where it was vaccinated: rabies-free/low-risk countries only (CDC Dog Import Form only), a high-risk country with U.S. vaccination (Form plus a Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination), or a high-risk country with foreign vaccination (Form plus a Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip, plus a reservation at a CDC-registered animal care facility, with a possible 28-day quarantine). See Bringing a Dog to the United States and CDC Dog Import Requirements for the full pathway breakdown.
Cats have no federal CDC or USDA rabies-vaccination requirement at all — CDC only requires that a cat appear healthy on arrival. See Bringing a Cat to the United States for the complete picture, including state-level exceptions like Hawaii and Guam.
In practice, this means a cat move can often be planned around practical logistics alone, while a dog move needs to start with a specific regulatory question: which of the three CDC pathways applies to my dog?
Step 1: Confirm Which Federal Rules Apply to Your Pet
Two U.S. federal agencies are involved in bringing a pet into the country, and they don’t cover the same ground.
- The CDC is the primary authority for every pet entering the U.S. Its rules exist to prevent rabies and other zoonotic diseases from re-entering the country, and they apply no matter which airline or route you use.
- USDA APHIS only adds requirements for dogs coming from a country affected by foot-and-mouth disease or screwworm. It has no general import-health requirement for cats at all.
Which specific rules apply to you is determined by the dog/cat split described above — start there before doing anything else.
Documents You’ll Probably Need
Before diving into cost and timeline, it helps to see the document list in one place. The exact combination depends on your pet’s pathway, but here’s the general range:
- CDC Dog Import Form receipt (dogs only) — free, completed online.
- A pathway-specific CDC certification form, if your dog is coming from a high-risk country (see the dog pathways above).
- A pet health certificate from a veterinarian in your origin country.
- Your origin country’s own export paperwork, if its government requires one.
- Proof of microchip and rabies vaccination, if applicable to your pet’s pathway.
- Any documents your specific airline requires — these vary by carrier, so confirm directly.
Step 2: Get the Order of Operations Right
Some of the requirements above depend on doing things in a specific sequence, and getting the order wrong can force you to restart part of the process.
- If your dog needs a rabies vaccine, its microchip must be implanted before the vaccine is given — CDC will not accept a vaccine administered first, on any pathway. The dog must also be at least 12 weeks old for its first rabies vaccine. See Dog Microchip Requirements for International Travel and Rabies Vaccination Requirements for International Pet Travel.
- If you’re pursuing a rabies serology titer test to avoid the 28-day quarantine (only relevant for foreign-vaccinated dogs from high-risk countries), the blood sample can’t be drawn until at least 30 days after vaccination, and the result must be in hand at least 28 days before travel — a hard floor of 58 days between vaccination and travel, before lab processing time. This is the single biggest driver of a long timeline, and it’s worth knowing about early even if it doesn’t apply to your specific pet.
Step 3: Line Up Your Documents
Beyond the CDC/USDA pathway paperwork above, most pet moves involve a health certificate and, depending on your origin country, export paperwork from that country’s own government.
A pet health certificate — also called a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection — is completed by a veterinarian and confirms your pet has been examined and meets entry requirements. The U.S. federal government doesn’t generally require one for entry, but airlines commonly do, usually dated within 10 days of travel, and your destination U.S. state may have its own requirement too. Importantly, your certificate comes from a vet in your origin country — USDA’s own certificate-endorsement system is for pets leaving the U.S., not entering it, which is a common point of confusion.
Your origin country’s own export requirements vary enormously — some require only a routine vet visit, others a formal government certificate process. This varies by country, so check your specific route’s guide for what applies to you.
Step 4: Know What It Will Cost
There’s no single “total cost” figure for moving a pet to the U.S. — it’s a sum of several components that vary by pet, route, and how much you handle yourself versus hiring help.
- Government forms: the CDC Dog Import Form is free; no USDA fee applies to pets entering the U.S. (a similar-sounding USDA fee exists, but only for the opposite direction — pets leaving the U.S.).
- Veterinary costs: microchipping typically runs $35–$60, a rabies vaccine $20–$75 plus an exam fee, and a health certificate exam $100–$350 in a U.S. context (pricing abroad varies by country).
- An IATA-compliant travel crate typically runs $50–$300 depending on size.
- Airline fees: cabin travel commonly runs $150–$200 per kennel each way; cargo is far less standardized, commonly $500–$3,000 or more, and several major carriers now restrict cargo pet shipping to military and State Department personnel only.
- A full-service pet relocation company typically charges $2,000–$8,000 or more in total, depending on route complexity.
See How Much Does International Pet Relocation Cost? for the full breakdown and sourcing behind each figure.
Step 5: Know How Long It Will Take
How long your move takes depends entirely on your pet’s pathway, not a single fixed number.
A cat, or a dog from a rabies-free or low-risk country, can realistically be ready to travel with as little as one to two weeks of practical preparation — there’s no hard regulatory minimum for either. A foreign-vaccinated dog from a high-risk country pursuing a rabies titer to avoid quarantine faces the slowest realistic timeline: a hard floor of 58 days between vaccination and travel, and CDC itself recommends starting at least 60 days out. See International Pet Travel Timeline for the full scenario-by-scenario breakdown, and International Pet Travel Checklist for a bucketed, week-by-week task list.
Step 6: Choose Your Airline and Transportation Method
Not every airline accepts pets, and policies on cabin versus cargo travel vary significantly and change often — several major U.S. carriers have recently tightened or restricted cargo pet shipping.
Before you book anything: confirm your pet’s CDC pathway, that your specific airline accepts pets on your specific route, your health certificate and export-paperwork timing, and that your crate meets your airline’s requirements. Booking a flight before checking these is one of the most common — and most expensive — mistakes in this process.
Start with Airlines That Allow Pets to Fly to the United States for a survey of current carrier policies, and Choosing Cabin vs. Cargo for International Pet Travel to understand which option fits your pet’s size and your route. If you’ve already settled on a specific carrier, this site also covers individual airline policies in depth, including American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
Step 7: Decide Whether to Hire a Professional Mover
Some owners handle every step of a pet move themselves. Others hire a professional international pet mover to manage some or all of it — a real tradeoff between cost and your own time and risk tolerance, not a formality.
| DIY | Professional Mover | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Lower — you pay only the direct government, veterinary, and airline fees | Higher — direct costs plus a service fee, commonly a couple thousand dollars or more |
| Your time and effort | You manage every step yourself | The company manages most or all of the process on your behalf |
| Best fit | Simpler pathways (a cat, or a dog from a low-risk country) and owners comfortable handling the paperwork | Complex pathways (a foreign-vaccinated dog from a high-risk country) or owners who’d rather not manage it directly |
If you do hire a mover, verify their credentials yourself rather than taking their website’s word for it — checking IPATA membership and USDA licensing status directly are the two most useful checks. See How to Choose an International Pet Mover for the full vetting checklist and scam warning signs. And whichever path you choose, remember that even a reputable mover is there to execute your pet’s requirements, not to replace your own understanding of them.
Step 8: Prepare Your Pet for the Flight
However you travel, your pet needs to actually be ready for the trip itself — crate acclimation, a health exam timed correctly before travel, and, for flat-faced breeds, extra precautions around heat and breathing risk.
See Preparing Your Pet for a Long Flight for the full pre-flight checklist.
Step 9: Arrive and Clear Entry
At arrival, your pet needs to appear healthy, and you’ll need your documentation ready for review — the CDC Dog Import Form receipt and any pathway-specific certificates for dogs, or a general health check for cats. Foreign-vaccinated dogs from high-risk countries must arrive by air at one of six specific airports with a CDC-registered animal care facility: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (JFK), Philadelphia, or Washington Dulles. Every other pathway can enter at any airport, seaport, or land crossing.
Avoid These Common Mistakes
A few mistakes come up repeatedly across pet moves to the U.S., and most of them are avoidable with a little earlier planning:
- Booking flights before confirming your airline’s specific pet policy — cabin size limits, breed restrictions, and temperature embargoes can all rule out a flight you’ve already paid for.
- Assuming every dog follows the same CDC rules. The pathway depends on your specific dog’s travel history and where it was vaccinated — there isn’t one universal dog rule.
- Waiting too long to start, especially if the rabies titer pathway applies. The 58-day floor is a hard regulatory minimum, not a suggestion.
- Forgetting your origin country’s own export paperwork, which is separate from anything the U.S. requires and varies by country.
- Buying a crate that doesn’t meet your airline’s size and construction requirements — confirm the specifics before you buy, not after.
- Sedating a pet for the flight, against the American Veterinary Medical Association’s explicit recommendation.
- Assuming a professional mover automatically handles every legal requirement for you — verify exactly what’s included in your contract.
Where to Go Next
If you’re ready to keep going, here’s a natural next step depending on where you are in the process:
- Confirm your dog’s CDC pathway, or confirm your cat’s (much shorter) requirements.
- Check your specific origin country’s export requirements in its dedicated route guide.
- Confirm your airline’s current pet policy before booking.
- Build your personal timeline using the Timeline guide and the Checklist.
Related Guides
- Bringing a Dog to the United States
- Bringing a Cat to the United States
- CDC Dog Import Requirements
- Pet Health Certificates for International Travel
- How Much Does International Pet Relocation Cost?
- International Pet Travel Timeline
- International Pet Travel Checklist
- Airlines That Allow Pets to Fly to the United States
- Choosing Cabin vs. Cargo for International Pet Travel
- How to Choose an International Pet Mover
- Preparing Your Pet for a Long Flight
- Rabies Vaccination Requirements for International Pet Travel
- Dog Microchip Requirements for International Travel
