Costa Rica Pet Import Rules: Two Veterinary Deadlines, No Rabies Blood Test, Few Owners Need a Permit

Guides · Costa Rica

Most of what you will read online about this is out of date, and the parts people pay for are the parts Costa Rica does not ask for.

Bringing your pet to Costa Rica is governed by two short documents, and much of what circulates online contradicts them. SENASA is the national animal health service, and its requirement sheets are free and bilingual. This guide follows them line by line. Colón amounts use the Banco Central sell reference rate of 450 to the US dollar on 22 September 2026.

What bringing your pet to Costa Rica actually requires

You need an International Veterinary Certificate from the official veterinary service of the country of origin. It must be numbered, and every page signed and stamped with the official stamp. Electronic certificates are accepted where the issuing authority runs an online system to verify them.

It must be in Spanish or English, or carry an official certified translation into Spanish. It must state the animal’s breed, sex, colour and date of birth, and its microchip number if it has one. It must also name the exporter, the consignee, the means of transport, the official veterinarian, the authority’s stamp and the date.

Two things are explicitly not required, and both sheets say so. You do not need a notary public’s seal, and you do not need any stamp from a Costa Rican consulate. SENASA also warns that requirements can change without notice, so download the sheet again shortly before you fly.

The two timing windows, and the vaccines

Only two clocks matter, and both run backwards from your departure date. The clinical examination must fall within two weeks, meaning 14 days, of departure. The vet certifies the animal is healthy, with no tumours and no fresh or healing wounds. It must also be free of external parasites and of signs of transmissible disease.

The second clock is treatment against internal and external parasites, within 15 days of export, with approved drugs and ensuring freedom from ticks. The certificate must record the date, the brand name, the lot number and the active ingredient.

Dogs need distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus and leptospirosis. Cats need feline viral rhinotracheitis, calicivirus and panleukopenia. Bordetella and parainfluenza appear nowhere in either sheet.

Rabies is the one people get wrong. Dogs and cats over three months old must be vaccinated, and the vaccine must be valid on the day the animal enters. There is no waiting period in the SENASA text, neither 21 days nor 30. Puppies and kittens under three months must not be given a rabies shot; the age-appropriate plan is certified instead.

The titre test is not Costa Rica’s requirement

Costa Rica does not require a rabies antibody titration test to import a dog or a cat. The single mention of one applies to pets from the European Union, the United Kingdom and EFTA states that will return home. Those must carry a valid result of 0.5 international units per millilitre or higher.

That line exists because Europe demands the test on re-entry. So a European moving permanently needs no titre test, while one coming for a season should do it before departure. An American needs it in neither direction.

Permits, fees and the arrival inspection

This is where most guides overcharge you. If the pet travels in the cabin, or as checked baggage with its owner, the sheets require only the health certificate at the border inspection post. No import permit. No customs broker. No prior application.

If the animal travels as cargo, or arrives without its owner, the importer must hire a Costa Rican customs broker. The broker applies for the import permit, the Sanitary Requirements Form, before the animal arrives, and SENASA resolves it within 24 working hours.

The permit is line C.01 in SENASA’s 2026 tariff, set by resolution DG-R-00005-2026 and in force from 1 April 2026 to 31 January 2027. It costs ¢10,653 (about US$23.67) and carries no value-added tax. The broker’s fee is separate and is not set by SENASA.

Neither sheet imposes routine quarantine on dogs or cats. A healthy, compliant, accompanied animal clears and goes home with you. The only stated grounds for refusal at the port are tumours, fresh or healing wounds, and external parasites. The same tariff does carry a separate line, G.02, for SENASA supervision of home quarantine of imported animals, at ¢100,750 (about US$223.89) per shipment.

From the United States, and from Europe

For American owners the certificate must be issued by a veterinarian accredited by the United States Department of Agriculture. It must then be endorsed by that department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, known as APHIS. The agency does this digitally, through its own online system. The endorsed certificate must travel with the animal, so allow several business days.

The APHIS page for Costa Rica, last modified on 6 February 2026, states that an import permit is required for unaccompanied pets. Europe has no equivalent portal. There the state or national veterinary authority issues and stamps the certificate, not your local practice.

The airline is the real obstacle, and the cost

Copa Airlines, the hub carrier via Panama City, allows a pet plus carrier of up to 10 kilos in the cabin. The soft carrier may be no larger than 18 by 11 by 11 inches. Minimum age is 16 weeks and the international fee is US$125. Copa does not accept animals as checked baggage at all.

Copa cargo runs Monday to Thursday only. It bans pit bulls, American Staffordshire terriers, dogos argentinos, fila brasileiros, cane corsos and English bulldogs outright. French bulldogs, Boston terriers, boxers and pugs need larger crates.

Copa refuses pets when the temperature at any airport on the route is above 85°F (29°C) or below 45°F (7°C). American Airlines Cargo applies the same 85°F ceiling. It also ships no pets at all out of Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tucson or Palm Springs between 1 May and 30 September.

Juan Santamaría International Airport, which serves San José from neighbouring Alajuela, sits at 921 metres above sea level. The limits bite hardest at the hot end of the route, which is why those four desert cities are embargoed all summer.

Costs are easier to pin at the Costa Rican end than the American one. The cabin fee is US$125 and no permit is due. APHIS sets its endorsement fee by the animals covered and the tests or vaccinations it verifies. Service dogs belonging to people with disabilities are exempt from that fee.

Tailwind Global Pet, a company that ships animals for a living, tells customers to expect at least US$1,200. That is the shipper’s own estimate, covering flights, documents, vet visits and a crate. It puts airline fees at US$125 to US$500 per leg.

Costa Rica has no breed-specific ban. SENASA keeps no register of dangerous breeds. Its veterinarian Iliana Céspedes told Teletica on 16 May 2026 that no gene marks a dog as a biter. Responsibility sits with the owner, who must leash the animal in public and keep it from harming others. The restrictions you will actually hit are the airlines’.

More: Costa Rica news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions