Bringing Your Pet to Costa Rica: SENASA Rules, Vets and Costs

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Most of what you will read online about this is out of date, and the parts people pay for are the parts Costa Rica does not ask for.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 almost everything else you will find online contradicts them. SENASA is the national animal health service, and its sheets are free and bilingual. This guide follows them line by line and says plainly where a figure could not be confirmed. Colón amounts convert at ¢450 (about US$1), the Banco Central reference rate 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. People are still paying for both. 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, no fresh wounds and no wounds in the process of healing, and free of external parasites.

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 are not on the list, whatever a shipping company may tell you.

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 before the animal arrives, and SENASA resolves it within 24 working hours.

The permit is line C.01 in SENASA’s 2026 tariff, which runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 January 2027. It costs ¢10,653 (about US$23.67) and is exempt from value-added tax. Blogs quote US$35, US$50 or nothing. The broker’s fee is separate and 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. One line in the tariff is unexplained. Supervised home quarantine for imported animals costs ¢100,750 (about US$223.89) per shipment, and what triggers it for a dog or cat could not be confirmed.

From the United States, and from Europe

For American owners the certificate must be issued by an accredited veterinarian and then endorsed by a federal Veterinary Services vet. That digital endorsement is mandatory. The endorsed certificate prints from the federal system and must travel with the animal, so allow several business days.

The agency’s Costa Rica page, updated on 6 February 2026, repeats that a 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, and requires larger crates for French bulldogs, Boston terriers, boxers and pugs. American Airlines Cargo prohibits all snub-nosed breeds.

Both refuse pets when the temperature at any airport on the route is above 85°F (29°C) or below 45°F (7°C). San José sits at roughly 900 metres and rarely breaches the ceiling, so your departure airport is the problem.

A cat or small dog in the cabin from the United States comes to roughly US$400 to US$800. That is the US$125 fee, US$150 to US$400 for the vet and certificate, and US$50 to US$150 for a carrier. The federal endorsement fee is charged separately and could not be confirmed. Full service is quoted at US$2,495 to US$6,495. No credible published range exists for Europe.

Costa Rica has no breed-specific ban. SENASA said so directly in 2023: no law here defines any breed as dangerous. Liability sits with the owner under the companion animal regulation. The restrictions you will actually hit are the airlines’.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error