If you’re planning to bring a dog into the United States, you’ve probably run into the term “CDC high-risk country” without a clear explanation of what actually makes a country high risk for dog rabies. This guide explains the classification itself — what it is, how CDC decides it, and what changes for your dog if a country you’ve visited is on the list. For the actual step-by-step paperwork once you know your dog’s pathway, see Rabies Vaccination Requirements for International Pet Travel and CDC Dog Import Requirements.
Current as of 2026: CDC’s high-risk country list is reviewed and can change. Always check the current list directly before you travel rather than relying on a list you saw elsewhere, even on this site.
What Does “High-Risk” Actually Mean?
CDC’s high-risk classification is specifically about canine rabies — not general travel health risk, and not rabies in wildlife. A country or political unit on this list is considered high-risk for dog-to-dog transmission of rabies, based on CDC’s assessment of the disease’s presence there and the strength of the country’s surveillance and vaccination programs.
Being on the list is about dogs specifically. It has no bearing on cats at all — cats face no CDC rabies-related import requirement regardless of which countries they’ve visited.
How CDC Decides Which Countries Are High-Risk
CDC sorts countries into three tiers as part of a broader rabies assessment:
- CRVV-free → No canine rabies virus variant present, based on internationally accepted standards.
- CRVV low-risk → Present but localized, with adequate surveillance and vaccination programs in place.
- CRVV high-risk → Widespread presence, or low confidence in the country’s surveillance and vaccination-control programs.
For the specific list that affects dog imports, CDC only publishes the high-risk tier. Because countries that aren’t on the published high-risk list are already treated the same for import purposes, CDC doesn’t maintain a separate public low-risk list — see CDC Low-Risk Countries Explained for what that means in practice.
CDC bases these assessments on publicly available data and treats them as living, not permanent — a country’s status can change as new data comes in.
The Current List
As of the list’s last update (April 2026), 114 countries and political units are classified as high-risk for dog rabies, spanning much of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Some examples: Brazil, China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), Colombia, Egypt, India, Kenya, Morocco, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Notably absent from the list: all of Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and most of the Caribbean and Pacific Islands. Don’t assume a country’s general reputation or region predicts its status — Mexico surprises a lot of readers by not being on this list at all.
The examples above are illustrative, not exhaustive. Always confirm your specific country against the current CDC list directly — CDC’s own page is the authoritative, up-to-date source, and this guide describes the framework rather than substituting for it.
What Changes for a Dog From a High-Risk Country
If your dog has been in a high-risk country within the 6 months before entering the U.S., which requirements apply depends on where your dog was vaccinated, not just where it’s traveled:
- Vaccinated in the U.S.: you’ll need a CDC Dog Import Form plus a Certification of U.S.-Issued Rabies Vaccination form, arranged with a USDA-accredited veterinarian before your dog leaves the U.S.
- Vaccinated outside the U.S. (“foreign-vaccinated”): the strictest pathway — a foreign vaccination certificate endorsed by an official government veterinarian, plus either a passing rabies titer test or a 28-day quarantine at a CDC-registered facility.
- Not vaccinated at all: an unvaccinated dog that’s been in a high-risk country in the last 6 months isn’t permitted to enter the U.S.
For the full walkthrough of either pathway — forms, timing, facilities — see Rabies Vaccination Requirements for International Pet Travel.
Common Mistakes
Assuming geography or reputation predicts the list
Mexico isn’t on the high-risk list. Some countries readers assume are “safe” are. Always check the actual list rather than guessing.
Treating the list as permanent
CDC updates this classification as new data comes in. A country checked six months ago could have changed status since.
Not realizing the pathway depends on where the dog was vaccinated
Two dogs from the same high-risk country can face completely different paperwork, depending on whether each was vaccinated in the U.S. or abroad.
Assuming this affects cats
The high-risk classification is dog-specific. Cats have no CDC rabies-related import requirement regardless of a country’s status.
