Coming home with a dog

Bringing your dog into the US, and the rule that catches returning owners.

Since 1 August 2024 the CDC rules apply to every dog arriving in the United States, and that includes your own dog flying home from a trip, no matter how short and no matter that you are a citizen. The good news: if your dog has spent the last six months only in rabies-free or low-risk countries, which covers most places we cover, the whole thing is one free form. Here is what you actually need, the official site for it, and the traps that trip people up.

What every dog needs

Four things, for any dog, from anywhere.

Whatever country your dog is arriving from, the CDC asks for the same four things. This is the floor, and for most travelers it is also the ceiling.

• Appear healthy on arrival. A dog that looks ill can be held for examination at the importer's expense, so a sick dog is a real problem at the border.
• Be at least six months old. There is no way around this one, and it is the requirement that catches people bringing home a puppy.
• Have an ISO microchip. It must be readable by a universal scanner, and it must have been implanted before any required rabies vaccination.
• Carry a CDC Dog Import Form receipt. You submit the form online, it is free, and a receipt lands in your inbox within minutes. Fill it out ideally two to ten days before you travel, though you can do it right up to the border if you have internet. The receipt is good for six months and covers multiple entries.

The form is completed by the owner or the person bringing the dog in, not by the veterinarian. Travel with a copy on your phone and a printout, and arrive at the port of entry you named on the form.

The easy path

Dogs from rabies-free or low-risk countries.

This is the path that covers most of the trips we write about. If your dog has been only in dog-rabies-free or low-risk countries in the six months before entry, the CDC Dog Import Form receipt is the only documentation you need. That set includes the places Americans most often travel and move with a pet: the whole of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and many more.

You still need the microchip, the six-month age, and a healthy dog. But there is no rabies titer, no CDC-registered facility, and no quarantine on this path. The CDC keeps the current country risk list on its site, so check where your dog has been rather than where you are flying from.

Check your dog's path and start the form at CDC we earn nothing

The harder path

Dogs coming from a high-risk rabies country.

If your dog spent any of the last six months in a country the CDC classes as high-risk for dog rabies, the bar rises sharply, and the exact route depends on where the dog was vaccinated.

A dog vaccinated in the US that is returning from a high-risk country needs a Certification of US-Issued Rabies Vaccination, completed by a USDA-accredited veterinarian and endorsed by USDA APHIS before you leave. A dog vaccinated abroad faces the most: a valid rabies vaccination, a rabies antibody titer from a CDC-approved laboratory, and either a reservation at a CDC-registered animal care facility at one of a small number of US airports, or a longer quarantine route. The CDC also revised its list of approved titer laboratories in January 2026, with a transition window, so the lab that was fine last year may not be now.

Because this path is both the strictest and the most likely to change, do not plan it from memory, ours or anyone's. Start on the CDC and USDA pages and confirm every step for your dog's specific history.

USDA APHIS on bringing a dog into the US we earn nothing

The Mexico twist

Coming back from Mexico? There is a screwworm step.

This one is easy to miss because it sits on the USDA side, not the CDC side. Since 22 November 2024, Mexico is treated as affected by New World screwworm, and any dog returning to the US from Mexico must carry a screwworm freedom certification, on top of the CDC Dog Import Form. The certificate is issued by a veterinarian in Mexico authorized by the Mexican authority, and states the dog was inspected and found free of screwworm within five days before it crosses.

This is a live situation: screwworm has been moving north, the rules around it have shifted more than once in 2026, and there was even a brief spell when pet dogs were caught up in a wider export freeze before that was reversed. For a driving trip to Mexico, which is otherwise one of the cheapest pet trips there is, treat the return as the part to double-check.

USDA APHIS on pet travel and Mexico we earn nothing

Cats, briefly

The CDC dog rules do not cover cats.

The CDC does not require a general import document for cats arriving in the US, and there is no CDC rabies rule for them at the federal level. That does not mean nothing applies: your airline will have its own rules, some states ask for a rabies vaccination or a health certificate, and a rabies shot is simply good sense. If you are moving a cat, the outbound country's rules are usually the harder part, and those live on the destination's page and, for the EU, on our EU certificate guide.