How to Bring a Dog to USA Part I- Navigating CDC and AQCS Requirements

(Part II deals with informations on flight to the USA and the layover. Click here if you want to jump to that)

We moved to the USA a few months ago for work. Kamla, our family dog, is a part of every milestone and journey of our life and relocated with us.

I spent many man-hours online scouting for information and on calls and emails with a gazillion pet transport companies to learn about pet travel and how to bring a dog to the USA. 

My case was a little different from the usual in that Kamla was traveling alone and before us, and the state we needed her to be in (CO) did not have a CDC-approved airport, meaning she had to arrive at a different state airport and then be transported to CO.

The paperwork involved for pet travel is mindboggling, making it a long and stressful process, and I hope this post can answer some questions on pet travel and how to bring a dog to USA to make the process for pet parents easier. Please ping me with any queries you may have.

* CDC- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
AQCS- Animal and Quarantine Certification Services.

* Requirements and procedures by the various authorities involved can change anytime. My post may be redundant when you need to transport your pet- do your due diligence as a pet parent, and don’t just rely on what is written here.

* Part I covers the process in India, and Part II, covers the process in the USA.

* I had initially contracted a pet relocation company in Mumbai to help my pet travel. I, however, used them only for getting a crate and rabies titer (both of which I later realized I could do myself) as I found them giving me advice that contradicted what the CDC was telling me and, thus, did not work with them further as I could not trust them to provide me with the correct information.

The Rundown

• To enter the USA, your pet will need the CDC Permit, and to exit India, a pet dog export permit will be required from the local AQCS.
• The airline will also need paperwork, mostly a mix of the documentation you do for the CDC and the AQCS.
• Your pet dog can travel alone on a different flight or with you on the same flight.

When to start the process?

• For the USA, a dog from a high-risk rabies country like India must be at least 6 months old to travel.
• The CDC webpage states that application processing will take 40 working days or 8 weeks. Where vaccination and microchipping can be done in even one day, the rabies serology titer report takes about 2 weeks to arrive.
  Also, the blood for the titer is to be drawn at least 30 days after the rabies vaccination. Without these, you cannot apply with the CDC. So, time things accordingly.
• I applied 4 months in advance, considering that if my first application got rejected, I would have time to file another application and hear back from them.
• Once granted, the permit is valid from 14 days before planned entry to 90 days after this planned entry.
• CDC does not ask for proof of travel, like tickets for the pet or the owner or the owner’s visa status. In the pet permit application, an approximate date suffices if you do not have the exact travel date.
• I found dealing with the CDC the easiest thing to do!
• Read more on how to bring a dog to USA- CDC webpage on Bringing a Dog into the United States.

CDC Requirements & Permit

• Your pet will need a CDC permit to enter the USA.
• The permit is emailed to you. Check and recheck that you have filled in your email address correctly.
• This page by the CDC describes the steps you must take for it- How To Apply For a CDC Dog Import Permit.
  The above post is straightforward.
• Check and recheck every entry. The CDC will take 40 working days (for the USA, Monday – Friday) or 8 weeks to process. Any mistake in your paperwork means filing another application and a delay.
  (I received my permit in 4 working days! However, I have read of people missing or filing wrong entries, which delays the process.)
• ISO-compatible chip: My vet office knew which chip to use once I told them the dog had to travel to the USA. You need a specific type of chip for pet travel to the USA. Here is more information from the CDC on this- Dog Microchip for CDC
  The dog’s microchip is an essential cog in this system. Ensure the microchip number is correct in every paperwork you file.
• It is a standard protocol to embed the microchip between the shoulder blades. It took just seconds, and Kamal did not seem to be in any discomfort.
  Be aware the microchip can migrate or even extrude without you knowing it.
  For this reason, I strongly recommend you get it read at your vet’s office a few days before the travel. In case the chip is extruded, it can be inserted again.
  The airlines also scan for it before boarding, but it will be too late to seek remedial measures at that point in time.
• Rabies Serology Titre: My vet office knew how to draw and store. The dog relocation company picked it up from the vet and sent it to a CDC-approved lab in the UK. (The vet office also provided this service).
• The dog can land only in one of the approved 18 airports with a CDC Port Health Station. Colorado, my final destination, was not on the list, and thus, Kamla could not land there—more on how I managed this in the next post. It was further complicated because she was traveling alone, and we would not be there to receive her in the US.
  (The pet relocation company I had initially contracted kept insisting that as long as an airline ferries the dog at an airport, they have to process it and let it out. This was gross misinformation on their part, and I recommend that you, the pet parent, do your homework)
• After receiving my permit, I had a few questions and emailed the CDC about them. I found them to be responsive.

Local AQCS Requirements

• You must contact the local AQCS office from where the dog departs. In my case, it was Mumbai.
• The process for Mumbai is to email them with a request for a ‘pet export permit.’
• They will send you the form that needs to be filled, a document checklist, and an appointment of your choice as per availability.
• The documents they requested were:
  • Fit to travel certificate of the dog (within 15 days of the date of travel)
  • Microchip record.
  • One year vaccination record.
  • Passport copy of owner.
  • Air ticket copy of owner.
  • Airway bill if pet traveling as cargo.
  • An authority letter is needed in case someone else besides the owner accompanies the dog to the ACQS.
  • Papers relating to specific requirements of the importing country (the CDC permit in this case)
• On the day of the appointment, you (or the person you have authorized) must go with your dog for the checkup.
• The permit is valid for 15 days from the issue date, so time your travel accordingly.
• The pet relocation company was billing me a neat sum for this service. I decided to do it myself, and it only cost me the petrol fee for my car.
• The certificate is issued free of cost!

I was very impressed with the doctors and all the staff members there. They were very professional and prompt in answering all my emails and phone calls.

Here is the contact information for AQCS Mumbai

* If you are traveling from Mumbai, Google Maps will show you two listings of the AQCS- one in Sector 12 and the other in Sector 11. Do not navigate to Sector 12, which I believe is the animal clinic of the AQCS. The place to go for the certificate is Sector 11.

Airline Requirements

(I found the airline requirements the most tedious!)

• After some online research, I zeroed in on Emirates and contacted their agent directly to book the ticket.
  The agent I finally picked was Daga Connect.
  I found them very knowledgeable about pet export to the US, and they guided me through the formalities I needed to complete.
• Kamla went as a cargo. We were told that the option of extra luggage (provided you are traveling with the dog), which is much cheaper, is no longer being offered post-COVID.
  Her tickets were more expensive than business-class tickets for humans!
• The airlines needed the following paperwork:
  • CDC permit.
  • Front and profile pictures of Kamla and her photographs next to the crate, inside the crate, video of her entering and moving inside the crate….so on…!
  • Certificates from the doctors dated within 5 days of travel: screw-worm treatment, internal and external parasites, fit to travel certificate.
  • A government-issued ID of the person dropping Kamla at the airport.
• The representative of Daga Connect was at the airport to facilitate Kamla’s check-in process.

* If your dog is being met by someone else besides you at the destination airport, ensure that the person’s name is in the airline AWB with his contact details so the airline can release your pet to him. Emirates will also need a confirmation email from this person stating that he will be at the destination to receive the dog.

Process at the Airport

• We had to report 6 hours before the scheduled flight!
• A representative from Daga Connect met us at the cargo terminal of the international airport He helped us with the check-in and customs clearance.
• They checked Kamla’s papers, read her microchip, and taped her papers and the food I got for her on her crate.
• The process here was straightforward, and since we had all the correct paperwork, we were done quickly and started the long wait for her flight.
• I tagged her crate with an Apple AirTag and a Samsung SmartTag to track her journey. Click here for more information on how you can use these devices for the same.

Choosing a crate for the dog

• It is recommended you choose IATA (International Air Transport Association) approved crates as my travel agent told me that if the crate does not meet the requirement, the dog will not be allowed to board.
  Here is the crate size guidelines link: IATA Traveler’s Pet Corner
• The Daga Connect representative worked with me to ensure I had the correct crate size.
• Other points for the crate that the airlines wanted me to fulfill:
  (I was required to send relevant videos and images to the airline agent)
  • The dog should be able to stand upright without hunching.
  • She should easily do a 360° turn in the crate.
  • The size of the squares in the grill should be at most 25x25mm (double mesh on the cage door to be fixed in case it is larger).
  • The casters of the crate should be removable.
• You must train your dog to be comfortable inside a crate. Kamla had a 32-hour journey from Mumbai to the USA, including a 15-hour layover in Dubai! This long travel would have been horrifying for her unless she saw the crate as a safe place.
  How I, a person with no experience in training dogs, pulled this feat is a story for a future blog post.