Bringing a dog or cat to Taiwan: official requirements

Entering Taiwan

What your pet needs

In the order you do them. Rules marked “Applies when” are only for some pets, origins or routes.

1. Get ready

   Weeks or months ahead: the steps with waiting periods, so start here.

   1. Identification

      Microchip

      Your pet must be microchipped. The microchip number must be on the vaccination certificate and the export certificate, and match the chip in your pet.

      Details and the official words

      If this is missed: A pet without a microchip, or whose chip number is missing from the export certificate or doesn't match, is sent back, destroyed or put in post-entry quarantine (chipped, vaccinated, blood-tested and held 97 days after a passing blood sample).

      “Implanted with a microchip; and”

      “Implanted with a microchip.”

      “will be returned to sender, euthanized and destroyed, or sent to a post-entry quarantine facility if it falls in any of the following circumstances”

   2. Vaccination

      Rabies vaccination (over 90 days old)

      Your pet must be vaccinated against rabies with an inactivated vaccine (or one licensed in Taiwan) when it is over 90 days old.

      Details and the official words

      “Vaccinated with one of the following vaccine against rabies within 30 days to one year prior to importation, and the dog/cat shall be over 90 days of age at vaccination.”

      “The inactivated vaccine.”

   3. Vaccination

      Rabies vaccination 30 days to 1 year before arrival

      Taiwan needs a rabies vaccination given between 1 year and 30 days before your pet arrives. If your pet's last shot will be more than a year old on arrival, give a booster at least 30 days before arrival. The vet's vaccination certificate (Chinese or English) must show the species, sex, age, microchip number, vaccination date and the vaccine's name and maker (or say it is inactivated).

      Details and the official words

      Add the date of your pet's most recent rabies shot to check this.

      If this is missed: If the export certificate doesn't show a vaccination that meets these rules, the pet is vaccinated and held in post-entry quarantine for 30 days after the vaccination.

      “Vaccinated with one of the following vaccines against rabies within 30 days to one year prior to importation”

      “the animal’s species, sex, age, microchip number, vaccination date, name of the vaccine and manufacturer (or state “the vaccine is inactivated”)”

      “the dog/cat shall complete vaccination with vaccine against rabies pursuant to Article 4.2, and be detained in quarantine for 30 days after the vaccination.”

   4. Blood test

      Rabies blood test (at least 0.5 IU/ml)

      Applies when: your pet has been in a country not on Taiwan’s rabies-free list in the last 6 months

      Because your pet comes from (or has stayed in) a place that isn't on Taiwan's rabies-free list, it needs a passing rabies antibody test (at least 0.5 IU/ml at a WOAH reference laboratory or a laboratory designated by Taiwan) on a blood sample taken 90 days to 1 year before arrival. A later sample taken 90 days to 1 year after an earlier passing one also counts if it is within the year before arrival.

      Details and the official words

      The rule doesn't say how long after the vaccination the sample must be taken for a pet tested abroad. When APHIA tests a pet in quarantine, it samples more than 30 days after the vaccination.

      If this is missed: A pet whose passing sample doesn't fit these dates, or that has no passing result, can still be imported but stays in post-entry quarantine until 97 days after the blood sample (or is sampled in quarantine and held 97 days after a passing sample).

      “Passing the rabies test with the blood sampled during any of the following periods:”

      “Within 90 days to one year prior to importation;”

      “Within 90 days to one year subsequent to the previous blood sampling that passed the rabies test, and within one year prior to importation”

      “A dog/cat whose rabies neutralizing antibody titer level is at least 0.5 IU/ml”

      “be detained in post-entry quarantine facility for 97 days after the date of blood sampling”

   5. Permit

      Import quarantine permit

      Apply to APHIA's office at your port of entry for an import quarantine permit at least 20 days before your pet arrives (if your pet is leaving Taiwan to come back, apply before it leaves). Send copies of your ID document and the rabies vaccination certificate. You can change the entry date or port once, at least 10 days before the new date.

      Details and the official words

      “prior to import, importers or their agents shall apply for the issuance of import quarantine permits from the import/export animal quarantine authority”

      “shall submit an application for the import quarantine permit to the import/export animal quarantine authority stationed at the port of entry at least 20 days prior to entering or before exiting the importing country for subsequent re-entry”

      “make reservation for a space at post-entry quarantine facility or arrange relevant procedure at least 20 days”

      “This submission shall occur at least 10 days prior to the new entry date.”

      “Application for such a change can only be requested once.”

2. In the days before you travel

   Paperwork, treatments and stamps that must be recent when your pet travels.

   1. Paperwork

      Export veterinary certificate from the exporting country's quarantine authority

      Your pet must travel with an original veterinary certificate (English or Chinese) issued by the animal quarantine authority of the country it leaves, showing its species, number, sex, age and microchip number, the exporting country and the exporter's name, that it shows no clinical signs of rabies, and its rabies vaccination date and vaccine.

      Details and the official words

      From a rabies-free place, the certificate must also say your pet has been kept there for the 180 days before export, or since birth.

      Taiwan's rule sets no validity period for this certificate. Ask APHIA how recent it must be.

      If this is missed: Without the original certificate, or if it lacks the required statements, the pet is sent back, destroyed or held in post-entry quarantine.

      “shall be accompanied by an original veterinary certificate issued by the veterinarians of the animal quarantine authority of the exporting country”

      “shall be accompanied by an original veterinary certificate issued by the animal quarantine authority of the exporting country”

      “That the animal shows no clinical signs of rabies upon inspection;”

      “That the animal has been kept for 180 days prior to export or since birth in the rabies-free country (zone).”

      “That the dog/cat has passed the rabies test, the date of blood sampling, and the name of the test laboratory.”

3. Travel day and arrival

   How your pet travels and what happens at the border.

   1. On arrival

      Quarantine inspection on arrival

      When your pet arrives, give APHIA's office at the port a copy of the import permit, the original export certificate and a copy of the air waybill, bill of lading or customs declaration. APHIA issues the import certificate once the documents are in order and your pet shows no signs of notifiable diseases.

      Details and the official words

      “Photocopy of the import quarantine permit;”

      “The original export veterinary certificate, and”

      “Photocopy of the bill of lading, airway bill or customs declaration.”

   2. Quarantine

      7 days' post-entry quarantine

      Applies when: your pet has been in a country not on Taiwan’s rabies-free list in the last 6 months

      From a place that isn't rabies-free, your pet is taken by APHIA from the port to the post-entry quarantine facility and stays there for 7 days, at your cost, before the import certificate is issued (see the warning about waiving it).

      Details and the official words

      “shows no suspicious clinical signs of notifiable animal infectious diseases after being detained for 7 days in a post-entry quarantine facility”

      “A dog/cat subject to post-entry quarantine shall be upon arrival at the port of entry escorted to the designated post-entry quarantine facility by the import/export animal quarantine authority.”

Worked out from the rules

How long it takes from each country

For a pet coming from each country: the group Taiwan’s rules put it in, and the least time the official waiting periods allow. Tap a country for the full route.

Money

What it costs to enter Taiwan

Taiwan’s government fees, exactly as the official pages state them, and what the rules make you pay for.

Where your pet comes from matters

Country groups

Taiwan puts every country in a group, and the group decides some of the rules. Our short name comes first; the official name is underneath.

Notes

Good to know

• If your pet changes planes (or ships) in a place that isn't on Taiwan's rabies-free list, it stays 7 days in quarantine on arrival, unless the exporting country's quarantine authority sealed its travel cage (seal number on the export certificate) or you have a document from the transit country's quarantine or customs authority, or the airline, showing it never left the airport and had no contact with animals that can carry rabies.Applies when: your route passes through another country, unless your pet has been in a country not on Taiwan’s rabies-free list in the last 6 months
• The 7-day quarantine can be waived if the blood sample was taken 180 days to 1 year before arrival and either you applied for the permit at least 120 days before entering, or the exporting country's quarantine authority or the laboratory sends the test result directly to APHIA at your port of entry. Ask APHIA when you apply.Applies when: your pet has been in a country not on Taiwan’s rabies-free list in the last 6 months
• Coming back to Taiwan: apply for the import permit before your pet leaves Taiwan, and bring Taiwan's export quarantine document. From a place that isn't rabies-free, a pet whose rabies blood test was taken before it left Taiwan, and that comes back within one year of the sample, can skip the post-entry quarantine. From a rabies-free place, a pet back within 180 days needs a statement on the export certificate that it has never been to a third country.Applies when: it is the trip back
• You pay all costs of detention, transport, check-ups and quarantine (feeding, care, tests, microchip, vaccination), and of sending the pet back or destroying it if it doesn't meet the rules.

Where this comes from

Official sources

Questions owners ask