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Returning to the US with a US-vaccinated dog from a high-risk country

You need exactly two documents: the CDC Dog Import Form receipt, and a Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination form — completed by a USDA-accredited vet and endorsed by USDA BEFORE your dog leaves the United States. It cannot be created after the trip. With it, there is no titer test, no facility reservation, and you can enter at any port.

The single most important fact on this page: the certification form must exist before departure. Owners who travel first and look into paperwork later discover there is no retroactive fix — their dog is treated as foreign-vaccinated and routed through the animal care facility process, titer or 28-day quarantine included.

Your vet completes the form in USDA's VEHCS system once your dog is microchipped and has a valid US rabies vaccination (first vaccination at 12 weeks or older, form completed at least 28 days after it). The endorsed form stays valid for multiple entries for as long as the vaccination is valid — usually 1 or 3 years.

One closing door to know about: CDC also accepts a USDA-endorsed export health certificate in place of the form, but only if it was issued no later than July 31, 2025 and shows age, microchip number and a US vaccination given after the chip. Certificates issued after that date are not accepted.

Related questions

When should I get the form?

CDC's timeline has the USDA-accredited vet completing it about 30 days before you leave the US — and in all cases before departure.

My dog got a booster abroad. Does the US form still work?

What matters is valid documentation of the US-issued vaccination. If that documentation is not valid, CDC treats the dog as foreign-vaccinated.

Do I still need the Dog Import Form?

Yes — one per dog, per return trip. On high-risk routes the receipt is valid for a single entry on the arrival date listed.

✓ Last verified: 2026-11-11

Official sources for this page

We check each rule against the exporting country's official page and the destination country's official page. If the two disagree, we show the disagreement instead of guessing.