Your pet: how to bring your favorite pet to the Philippines?

Are you preparing to retire permanently or temporarily move to the Philippines and want to bring that precious pet with you? What exactly are the requirements and restrictions, if any, regarding that very special love in your life?

The process begins by contacting the Consulate of the Philippines closest to where you live, and the basic process is as follows:

1. All cats and dogs must have an import permit to enter the Philippines. The Animal Industry Bureau, Animal Health Division (AHD) requires that an application or request letter be sent or faxed to import your pet to the AHD in Quezon City, indicating the species, number of animals , sex and age.

2. The permit (“small animal permit”) must be completed by your veterinarian and then sent to the Consulate, who must stamp it and return it to you for forwarding to the AHD. There is a time limit for all of this to happen, so I suggest that you (i) personally deliver the application to the consulate closest to your home country address, or if it is a long distance away, (ii) send your request to the Consulate using a UPS or Fedex express courier service. Be sure to include a prepaid return courier envelope to expedite permit return.

3. Upon returning from the consulate, immediately send the stamped permit to the AHD, who will then send you the import permit and charge an issuance fee (100 pesos) upon the pet’s arrival at the Manila airport.

4. You will also need (in the US) USDA (US Department of Agriculture) approval for the pet to be exported out of the US, so be sure to get an additional copy of your veterinarian’s “small animal certificate” for submission to USDA.

5. Once in Manila, the pet will also be examined for health or vaccination certificates from your veterinarian verifying that your pet is free of communicable diseases such as rabies, distemper, hepatitis and that it received treatment for internal and external parasites.

6. The Office also requires that the animal be accompanied by a health certificate (and in the case of dogs and monkeys, a valid certificate of vaccination against rabies) from a veterinarian, no more than 10 days before the date of shipment. .

7. AHD will also charge a landing permit fee of 150 pesos. There is no quarantine period to deal with on arrival, if regulations have been met. However, if the animal arrives without health or vaccination certificates, or shows signs of a dangerous contagious animal disease, it will be quarantined.

8. To help facilitate entry into the Philippines, it is essential that you designate a customs broker in Manila. The custom requirements establish that pets are subject to the payment of a fee of 50% of the original value of the animal and an additional tax of 10%. Call a customs broker in the large city closest to your home country residence and request a referral in Manila. Clearly, you need to do this early in the process so this doesn’t stop you once you’re ready to ship the pet.

9. You are better off accompanying your pet, so when you arrive in Manila, you will also be there to push things forward in case there is a problem with the procedure or paperwork. In any case, I recommend that you (or the pet, if it is transported alone) schedule your flight so that it does not arrive on weekends or holidays, since customs are closed on weekends and holidays. Most airlines allow pets to travel as excess baggage or cargo.

Make sure to make copies of all your documents, in case something gets lost along the way. You will then have a duplicate copy to fax if necessary.