Caribbean Cruising with PetsEntry rules for cats & dogs arriving by boat

South America

Colombia

No import permitRabies vaccine neededVet certificate within 10 days of arrivalNo quarantine

Before you sail

  • Rabies vaccine at least 3 weeks before arrival
  • Veterinary health certificate issued within 10 days of arrival, endorsed by the exporting country's veterinary authority
  • Parasite treatment — internal and external
  • Dogs vaccinated against: Rabia (rabies), Enfermedad de Carré / Distemper (canine distemper), Hepatitis canina (canine hepatitis), Leptospirosis (canícola e icterohemorragiae), Parvovirus, Coronavirus, Parainfluenza
  • Cats vaccinated against: Rabia (rabies), Panleucopenia felina (feline panleukopenia), Rino-traqueítis viral felina (feline viral rhinotracheitis), Calicivirus felino (feline calicivirus)
  • Dogs and cats at least 15 weeks old
Not requiredImport permit · Microchip · Quarantine

Not documented Rabies titer test

Fees

Permit

None — no import permit exists for dogs and cats, so nothing is charged for one. Article 4, parágrafo 3 is explicit: "No requerirán Documento Zoosanitario para Importación los animales pertenecientes a las especies Canis familaris y Felis catus."confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

Inspection

ICA charges a published tariff for the inspection and issuance of the CIS, payable in advance of the inspection. Service code 04223 during normal opening hours; service code 04221 for the special out-of-hours service, which also needs 48 hours' written notice to the office of entry. ICA publishes the current amounts on its tarifas page rather than in the resolution, and no figure is recorded in this file.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[21]

Other

Home quarantine under article 6.2 carries ICA service code 04254 (code 25472 when reported through Banco Davivienda), and the traveller separately bears the cost of the vaccinations and private veterinary treatment the quarantine requires. Retention, re-shipment and sanitary slaughter are all stated to be at the owner's cost, with no schedule of charges published for any of them.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[12]

DO NOT USE THE FIGURES IN ICA'S OLDER TRAVELLER PDF. That document still quotes COP 33,400 on weekdays and COP 50,100 on Saturdays, along with bank account numbers, an office address ICA has since left and a fee regime predating Resolución 100164. This note is the only place the page cites it, and citing it here is the point: the document is still served, a reader may well find it first, and nothing else on this page would tell them the figures in it are dead.[6]

At the point of entry, payment is by debit or credit card only — CREDIBANCO, Mastercard, Visa or American Express — and cash is not accepted; travellers paying from a foreign bank account are told to obtain their bank's prior authorisation before arriving.[2]

Timeline

  1. 4 weeks before arrivalHave the US rabies certification form endorsed before you sailGetting home again — a rule of where you sail from, not Colombia's (Leaving from the United States) · See it on the departure countdown

    ONLY NEEDED IF your route touches a country CDC treats as high risk for dog rabies — and it cannot be arranged once you have left. CDC readmits a US-vaccinated dog from a high-risk country on a Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination form, and "The form must be submitted to USDA and endorsed BEFORE the dog leaves the United States". "USDA endorsement of the form may take several weeks", so this is the step to start first. WITHOUT IT, YOUR DOG CANNOT COME HOME ON THE BOAT. It falls under the rules for foreign-vaccinated dogs from a high-risk country, and those close every seaport: such a dog "Can only enter at a U.S. airport with a CDC-registered animal care facility where the dog has a reservation". Land borders are closed to it as well. The only sea exception is a qualifying service dog with a titer, travelling with the person it assists. The alternative CDC used to accept — a USDA-endorsed export health certificate — covers only certificates issued "no later than July 31, 2025", so it is closed to anyone arranging travel now. Eight destinations on this site are on CDC's high-risk list — Belize, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Suriname and Venezuela — and the Dominican Republic is the one most likely to catch an eastern-Caribbean itinerary. The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and the BVI are not on it.

  2. 3 weeks before arrivalRabies vaccine given by now at the latest
  3. 10 days – arrivalVeterinary health certificate issued in this window
  4. ArrivalPresent the certificate; clear the animal before going ashore.

On arrival & aboard

Advance notice
Before arriving: register as an ICA user, then file the request for the Certificado de Inspección Sanitaria (CIS) in SISPAP and pay for it online. Print both the request and the payment receipt — they must be presented on entry. The two ICA sources disagree on how many animals one request covers: the ingreso page says "hasta 10 animales por solicitud", the ABC leaflet says "hasta 5 mascotas de la misma especie". Note also that article 3.4 of the resolución treats five or more animals as destino comercial, which points toward the lower figure mattering — assume five unless ICA says otherwise. A dog and a cat need one request each. No deadline in days is published for filing it. If SISPAP cannot be used, the request may instead be made at the ICA office at the point of entry, presenting the animal and the physical documents and paying there.confidence: Conflicting. Sources disagree — verify before you rely on it.[231]
Ports of entry
Puerto de Cartagena (Bolívar) — ICA PAPF office at the Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Cartagena, barrio Manga; papf.cartagena@ica.gov.co.; Puerto de Santa Marta (Magdalena) — ICA PAPF office inside the Terminal Marítimo, Carrera 1ra No. 10A-12; puerto.santamarta@ica.gov.co.; Puerto de Barranquilla (Atlántico) — ICA PAPF office, puerto.barranquilla1@ica.gov.co.; Puerto Marítimo de San Andrés (Archipiélago de San Andrés y Providencia) — ICA PAPF office at the Muelle Departamental, Av. Francisco Newball.; Embarcadero de Turbo (Antioquia) — ICA PAPF office administered from Carepa/Apartadó.; Puertos Brisa, Nuevo y Bolívar (La Guajira) — covered by the ICA PAPF office at Maicao, which also staffs the Almirante Padilla airport and the Paraguachón crossing; Calle 17 No. 4-03, Barrio los Olivos, Maicao.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[51]
Appointment
Not yet documentedconfidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.
Veterinary inspection
On arrivalconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[23]
Out of hours
Issuing the CIS outside normal office hours is a separate and more expensive service (ICA service code 04221 rather than 04223) and requires a written request to the office of entry at least 48 hours in advance.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[2]
At the dock
UNUSUALLY FOR THIS DATASET, SEA ARRIVAL IS AT LEAST CONTEMPLATED. ICA's inspection points are defined as "PAPF: Puertos, Aeropuertos y Pasos Fronterizos" — ports, airports and land border crossings — and the traveller page tells you to go with the animal "a la oficina del ICA del aeropuerto, puerto o paso de frontera por el cual ingresa". Ports are named in the definition, and ICA's PAPF directory lists staffed maritime offices at Cartagena, Santa Marta, Barranquilla, San Andrés, Turbo and the Guajira ports (Brisa, Nuevo and Bolívar) run out of Maicao — plus Buenaventura and Tumaco on the Pacific, which a Caribbean passage will not use. What none of this establishes is how a YACHT uses them. Every one of those offices sits inside a commercial cargo or cruise terminal, not at Club Náutico, Marina Santa Marta or any anchorage, and nothing published describes how a crew arriving at a marina presents an animal, whether an inspector travels to the vessel, or how the CIS is obtained outside a port terminal's gate. The ports listed above are where ICA has people, not a list of approved yacht entry points — do not read them as the latter. Note also that Providencia has no PAPF office of its own.

Quarantine

Quarantine
None requiredconfidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[1]
Evidence for Quarantine
ARTÍCULO 6. MEDIDAS SANITARIAS PREVENTIVAS. Cuando la revisión documental y/o la inspección física de los animales de compañía no sean satisfactorias, el funcionario del PAPF considerará tomar alguna de las siguientes medidas sanitarias según sea el caso. El motivo y la medida sanitaria tomada se indicará de forma clara en el espacio de observaciones:
Duration
15 days (NOT ROUTINE — THIS IS WHAT A DEFECTIVE ARRIVAL FACES, NOT A COMPLIANT ONE. Article 5 releases the animal with its CIS once documentary review and physical inspection are satisfactory. The home quarantine below sits in Article 6, "MEDIDAS SANITARIAS PREVENTIVAS", which opens "Cuando la revisión documental y/o la inspección física de los animales de compañía no sean satisfactorias" — when the review or the inspection is NOT satisfactory. Article 6.2 names two triggers and no others: no official sanitary certificate from the origin country, or one outside its ten-day window, provided the vaccination certificates are current; or arrival from a country where rabies vaccination is not carried out. A cruiser whose papers are in order does not serve this. Refusing it is itself an option, with a consequence — the animal "deberá ser reembarcada al país de origen, asumiendo los gastos". A minimum, not a fixed term: "un periodo de aislamiento y observación de la mascota en el domicilio dispuesto por el usuario por un mínimo de quince (15) días calendario, durante los cuales el ICA realizará el seguimiento correspondiente" — a period of isolation and observation at an address provided by the traveller, of at least fifteen calendar days, during which ICA carries out follow-up. Nothing states what makes it end or what extends it.)confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Where it is served

"El domicilio dispuesto por el usuario" — an address the traveller nominates. The animal must remain there and may only be removed with ICA's authorisation; if the address does not match the one declared, or the animal is removed without permission, ICA opens a sanctioning process. Whether a yacht lying in a marina berth can be the declared domicilio is not addressed in the resolution or on any ICA page, and it is the single most consequential gap on this file for a liveaboard.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

What it costs, and who pays

The costs of the quarantine — vaccinations and treatment by a private veterinarian — fall on the traveller: "Los gastos que demande la cuarentena (vacunaciones y tratamientos por parte de un MV particular) serán asumidos por el usuario." ICA's own charge for home quarantine carries service code 04254 (reported to Banco Davivienda as code 25472). No amount is published in the resolution.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[12]

If your papers are not in order

THE PROVISION A BOAT IS MOST LIKELY TO MEET. Article 6.2 makes cuarentena domiciliaria — home quarantine — apply in two cases: "(a) Para mascotas que no cuenten con el certificado sanitario emitido o avalado por la entidad sanitaria oficial del país de origen o no se encuentre dentro del tiempo de validez exigido, siempre y cuando cuenten con certificado de vacunas vigentes. (b) Para Mascotas que lleguen de países donde no se realiza vacunación contra la rabia." In English: (a) pets without a sanitary certificate issued or endorsed by the official sanitary authority of the country of origin, OR whose certificate is outside the required validity period, so long as their vaccination certificates are current; and (b) pets arriving from countries where rabies vaccination is not carried out. Limb (a) is precisely the position of a yacht whose ten-day certificate expired on passage. If the traveller accepts the quarantine, ICA issues the CIS and the animal enters; "En caso de no aceptar la cuarentena domiciliaria la mascota deberá ser reembarcada al país de origen, asumiendo los gastos que conlleve este proceso" — refuse it and the animal is re-shipped to the country of origin at the traveller's cost. Note the condition inside limb (a): the vaccination certificates must still be current. An animal that arrives with BOTH an expired health certificate and lapsed vaccines is not offered quarantine by this article at all, and falls to retention, re-shipment or, on evidence of exotic or transmissible disease, humane sanitary slaughter under article 6.4.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

If the animal stays aboard

Import rules apply
Not yet documentedconfidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.
Permit required
Not requiredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[14]
Note
THERE IS A TRANSIT ARTICLE, AND IT IS SHORT. Article 9: "Para los perros y gatos en tránsito, al momento de ingreso al país, el interesado deberá presentar al funcionario ICA ubicado en el PAPF el certificado sanitario emitido por el servicio veterinario oficial del país de origen, especificando el país de destino final. El ICA procederá a autorizar el tránsito mediante la refrendación del certificado sanitario con firma y sello oficial. Para la salida de dichos animales del territorio nacional, no se requerirá la expedición del CIS... La duración máxima de transito de un perro o gato no podrá ser superior a tres (3) días contados a partir de su ingreso al país." In English: for dogs and cats in transit, on entry the traveller presents the ICA officer at the port, airport or border crossing with the sanitary certificate issued by the official veterinary service of the country of origin, stating the final destination country; ICA authorises the transit by endorsing that certificate with an official signature and seal; no CIS is required for the animals to leave the country; and transit may not exceed three days counted from entry. Beyond three days the animal must meet the EXPORT requirements of article 7 and obtain an exit CIS. THREE DAYS IS THE NUMBER THAT MATTERS TO A BOAT — it is a fuel-and-provisions stop, not a weather window, and nothing suspends the clock for a vessel waiting out a norther. Note also what article 9 does not say: it does not state whether the ten-day certificate validity of article 4.1 applies to the certificate presented in transit, it does not mention the vaccination list, and it says nothing about an animal that stays aboard and never lands. Do not read this as a lighter route for a cruising yacht until ICA confirms it is one.

Open questions

High priority

  1. HIGH PRIORITY — the ten-day certificate window is counted to ARRIVAL, not departure, and no sea allowance exists. A yacht on a passage longer than ten days from the port where the official veterinarian signed cannot present a valid certificate. Ask ICA's Dirección Técnica de Cuarentena directly how a vessel is expected to satisfy article 4.1, whether any discretion exists for time spent on passage, and whether an endorsement obtained en route at an intermediate port restarts the clock.
  2. HIGH PRIORITY — can a yacht be the "domicilio"? The documented consequence of an expired certificate is cuarentena domiciliaria, minimum fifteen calendar days at an address the traveller nominates, from which the animal may not be removed without ICA's authorisation and where ICA carries out follow-up. Nothing says whether a vessel in a marina berth qualifies, what happens if the boat must move, or who inspects. For a liveaboard this decides whether the fifteen days are an inconvenience or a hotel bill, and leaving the declared address without permission triggers a sanctioning process.
  3. HIGH PRIORITY — "país de origen" is undefined for an animal that lives aboard. The certificate must be issued or endorsed by the official sanitary authority of the country of origin. Whose authority is that for a boat: the last port cleared out of, the animal's country of residence, or the vessel's flag state? And which countries' official services will endorse a certificate for an animal that is not resident there? Establish this before departure — it cannot be fixed on arrival.

Also open

  1. The breed prohibition is statutory and absolute, and ICA cites it wrongly. ICA's traveller PDF attributes it to Ley 746 de 2002, article 108-E, which was derogated in full by article 242 of Ley 1801 de 2016 with effect from 29 January 2017, and lists only four breeds. The operative text is article 132 of Ley 1801 de 2016 as modified by article 7 of Ley 2054 de 2020, which lists five — it adds Bull Terrier. Confirm which list ICA inspectors work from in practice, how breed is assessed for a mixed dog, whether a veterinary or breed declaration is expected, and what becomes of a dog judged to be a cross on arrival. Resolución 100164 does not mention breeds at all, so this will not be found in the sanitary paperwork.
  2. A clinical examination within eight days of shipment is widely reported as a Colombian entry requirement. It was looked for and is not in Resolución 100164, on ICA's traveller page or in the ABC leaflet, and it is therefore NOT recorded here. The only clinical-examination requirement in the resolution is article 7.1.4, which governs animals LEAVING Colombia and carries a five-day certificate window. Confirm whether any exam window applies on entry; the absence of one is not an exemption from the certificate's fitness-to-travel attestation.
  3. ICA's own publications disagree on the vaccination list. Resolución 100164 and the traveller page require, for dogs, rabies plus distemper, canine hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus, coronavirus and parainfluenza, and for cats rabies plus panleukopenia, viral rhinotracheitis and calicivirus. The ABC leaflet drops leptospirosis from the dog list and both rhinotracheitis and calicivirus from the cat list. The resolution is treated as governing here. Confirm before relying on the shorter list.
  4. The 15-week minimum entry age appears only on ICA's traveller page and in the ABC leaflet, which qualifies it as "aproximadamente". Resolución 100164 sets no minimum age. Confirm whether it is a hard bar on entry or a practical consequence of the 21-day post-vaccination interval, and how "approximately" is applied at the dock.
  5. ICA's "Requerimientos para el ingreso y salida del país de mascotas y otros animales" PDF is SUPERSEDED and is still published. It states a 60-day vaccination validity, a 48-hour rabies observation, EU Regulation 998/2003, fees of COP 33,400 and COP 50,100, bank account numbers and an ICA address the institute has left. None of that survives Resolución 100164 and none of it is recorded here — only the breed prohibition is taken from it. Ask ICA to confirm the document is withdrawn, and do not let a port official work from it.
  6. Establish how a yacht actually clears an animal. ICA's inspection points include ports by definition, and it has staffed maritime offices at Cartagena, Santa Marta, Barranquilla, San Andrés and Turbo — but every one of them sits inside a commercial terminal, not at Club Náutico, Marina Santa Marta or an anchorage. Nothing published describes how a crew arriving at a marina presents the animal, whether an inspector will attend the vessel, how the printed SISPAP request and receipt are handed over outside a terminal's gate, or what happens in Providencia, which has no PAPF office at all.
  7. No fee amount is recorded. ICA publishes its tariff for the inspection and issuance of the CIS on a separate page under service codes 04223 and 04221, and home quarantine under 04254, but the resolution names no figure and the only amounts in ICA's older PDF are years out of date. Confirm the current tariff when filing the SISPAP request, and note that payment at the point of entry is by card only.
  8. Nothing addresses an animal that stays aboard and never lands. Colombia is unusual in this dataset in having a written transit regime at all — article 9, reproduced in the transit section — but that article governs an animal moving through the country to a named third destination, presented to an ICA officer at the port on entry and out again within three days. It does not say whether the article 4 entry conditions, including the ten-day certificate window, apply to a transiting animal, and it does not contemplate an animal that never leaves the vessel. Ask ICA whether a yacht that clears in for a few days with an animal aboard that never goes ashore is in transit, is importing, or is neither.

Page status

South America · Sovereign republicDataset status Inferredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.Last checked 2026-08-12 Recently checkedfreshness: Recently checked. Sources were last re-read 61 days ago, well inside the 180-day window. Recent is not reviewed — this page is still an unreviewed draft.

Evidence

Import permit

Permit
Not requiredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
What it costs

No permit fee, because there is no permit. What is charged is ICA's tariff for the inspection and issuance of the Certificado de Inspección Sanitaria (CIS), payable in advance of the inspection. ICA publishes the amount on its tarifas page rather than in the resolution, and no figure is recorded here — see the fees section for the service codes and for why the COP 33,400 still printed in ICA's older traveller PDF must not be relied on.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[126]

Phone
+57 601 794 4492

Rabies

Vaccination
Requiredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Min. age at vaccination
Not documented as a vaccination age. Resolución 100164 sets no minimum age for the rabies vaccination itself. The 15-week figure that ICA's traveller page and ABC leaflet publish is a minimum age for the ANIMAL to enter the country, not for the vaccine, and it is recorded under age_restrictions for that reason.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.
Min. before travel
21 days (FIRST VACCINATION ONLY, and counted to embarkation rather than arrival. "Para animales vacunados por primera vez contra la rabia esta deberá haber sido aplicada con una antelación mínimo de 21 días a la fecha de embarque" — for animals vaccinated against rabies for the first time, the vaccination must have been given at least 21 days before the date of shipment. The resolution imposes no interval on a booster given to an animal already covered.)confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[123]
Max. before travel
No outer limit is published. Article 4.2 requires the vaccination certificate to carry the product name, batch number, date of administration and the date of revaccination or expiry, so the vaccine's own stated validity governs and ICA publishes no ceiling in months or years. A three-year vaccine still inside its stated validity therefore appears to qualify on the face of the text, but that reading is not confirmed anywhere.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.
Boosters, and what the certificate must show

The vaccination certificate must state the product name, batch number, date of administration and date of revaccination or validity — a bare "rabies, in date" line does not satisfy article 4.2. The resolution names no approved vaccine type or manufacturer for entry, and does not require the vaccine to be inactivated. Where the country of origin does not vaccinate against rabies at all, the owner must produce official certification from that country's sanitary service saying so; entry is then conditional on home quarantine, during which the animal must be vaccinated in Colombia by a licensed veterinarian using a product registered with ICA.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

Rabies titer test

A blood test that measures rabies antibodies, to show the vaccination actually took. The sample has to be drawn a set time after the jab, and some places then make you wait months more before the animal may land — so this is the requirement most worth checking before you plan a route, not after.

Blood titer
Not yet documentedconfidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.
Required level
Colombia sets no rabies antibody titre requirement for entry: Resolución 100164 names no threshold, laboratory or waiting period. What ICA does publish points the other way, at animals leaving again — "Se recomienda para las mascotas que retornan a países miembros de la Unión Europea u otros países que exijan la prueba serológica de anticuerpos para la rabia, realizarla antes de su desplazamiento a Colombia", meaning: for pets returning to EU member states or other countries that require rabies serology, ICA recommends doing the test BEFORE travelling to Colombia. For a boat working westward that advice is the whole ballgame, because the titre's clock and the onward destination's waiting period both start from the blood draw.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[23]

Veterinary health certificate

Certificate
Requiredconfidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[12]
Evidence for Certificate
4.1 Presentar original del certificado sanitario, expedido o avalado por la entidad
Completed within
10 days (THE FIGURE THAT DECIDES MOST CRUISING CASES. Ten calendar days, and they are counted to ARRIVAL: "con fecha de expedición no mayor a diez (10) días calendario previos al ingreso de los animales a Colombia" — dated no more than ten calendar days before the animals enter Colombia. A passage longer than ten days from the port where the official veterinarian signed cannot produce a valid certificate on arrival, and the resolution offers no sea allowance of any kind. The documented consequence is not refusal but home quarantine of at least fifteen calendar days under article 6.2(a), provided the vaccination certificates are current — see the quarantine section, which is where the real cost of missing this window sits.)confidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[123]
Evidence for Completed within
a diez (10) días calendario previos al ingreso de los animales a Colombia, en
Gov. endorsement
Requiredconfidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[12]
Evidence for Gov. endorsement
Expedido o avalado por la entidad sanitaria oficial del país de origen (con sello y firma original o electrónica) con fecha de expedición no mayor a diez (10) días calendario previo al ingreso de las mascotas
Arriving by sea

None. The resolution contains no exception, extension or allowance for time spent on passage, and the ten-day clock is expressly tied to entry into Colombia rather than to departure. Nothing distinguishes a yacht from any other means of arrival.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

What the certificate must say

Artículo 4.1: "Presentar original del certificado sanitario, expedido o avalado por la entidad sanitaria oficial del país de origen con sello y firma original o electrónica para los países que cuenten con este sistema, con fecha de expedición no mayor a diez (10) días calendario previos al ingreso de los animales a Colombia, en el cual se certifique: 4.1.1 La especie, raza, sexo, edad, color del pelaje, identificación electrónica (microchip en caso de contar con este) y otras señas particulares. 4.1.2 Que el o los animales haya(n) recibido un tratamiento antiparasitario interno y externo, dentro de los 60 días previos al embarque, con productos cuyo uso esté debidamente autorizado en el país de origen, indicando nombre del producto, principio activo y la fecha de administración del mismo. 4.1.3 Que el animal se encuentra en condiciones sanitarias aptas para ser transportado." — In English: present the original sanitary certificate, issued or endorsed by the official sanitary authority of the country of origin with an original or electronic seal and signature, dated no more than ten calendar days before the animals enter Colombia, certifying the species, breed, sex, age, coat colour, electronic identification (microchip if it has one) and other distinguishing marks; that the animal has received internal and external antiparasitic treatment within the 60 days before shipment, with products duly authorised in the country of origin, naming the product, the active principle and the date given; and that the animal is in a fit sanitary condition to be transported. ICA'S OWN ENTRY PAGE ASKS FOR ONE ATTESTATION THE RESOLUTION DOES NOT: that the animal "se encuentra libre de enfermedades infecto contagiosas transmisibles y parasitarias" — is free of transmissible infectious, contagious and parasitic diseases. It also counts the antiparasitic window "dentro de los 60 días previos al viaje", to the journey, where the resolution says "al embarque". Ask the certifying vet to include the disease statement; an inspector working from the page will look for it.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[12]

Parasite treatment

Internal

Internal antiparasitic treatment within the 60 days before shipment, with a product whose use is duly authorised in the country of origin. The certificate must name the product, its active principle and the date it was administered.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[12]

External

External antiparasitic treatment on the same terms and in the same window — the resolution treats the two as one requirement, "un tratamiento antiparasitario interno y externo". No minimum persistence or efficacy period is imposed on the product.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[12]

Timing

Within the 60 days before shipment ("dentro de los 60 días previos al embarque"). Note the contrast with the health certificate: this window is unusually generous by the standards of the region, where fourteen days is the norm, AND it is counted to embarkation rather than to arrival. A treatment given before a long passage therefore stays valid across it, while the certificate signed on the same day does not.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[12]

ICA's traveller page and the ABC leaflet add an attestation the resolution does not contain: that the animal "se encuentra libre de enfermedades infecto contagiosas transmisibles y parasitarias" — free of transmissible infectious and parasitic diseases. Article 4.1 of the resolution asks only for the identifying details, the antiparasitic treatment and fitness to travel. A certificate drafted to the web page's list satisfies both readings; one drafted to the resolution alone may not satisfy an inspector working from the page.[123]

The three ICA sources word the deadline differently without changing it. Article 4.1.2 of the resolution counts the sixty days "previos al embarque", before shipment; the traveller page and the ABC leaflet both say "previos al viaje", before the trip. Neither phrase counts to arrival, which is the distinction that matters on a passage.[123]

Identification

Microchip
Not requiredconfidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[1]
Evidence for Microchip
La especie, raza, sexo, edad, color del pelaje, identificación electrónica (microchip en caso de contar con este) y otras señas particulares.
Standard
None specified for entry. Article 4.1.1 asks the certificate to record "identificación electrónica (microchip en caso de contar con este)" — electronic identification, microchip if the animal has one — which makes the chip a detail to be transcribed, not a requirement to be met. The only ISO-style specification in the resolution runs the other way: article 7.1.3, reinforced by the transitional article 11, requires every dog under twelve months EXPORTED from Colombia to carry a 15-digit microchip readable by an HDX or FDX-B compatible reader. That is an exit rule and does not govern arrival.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Chip before rabies
No ordering requirement statedconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

No microchip is required to bring a dog or cat into Colombia, and no chip-before-vaccination ordering is imposed. This is unusual for the region and worth confirming rather than relying on, particularly since almost every onward destination in this dataset does require a chip — arriving in Colombia without one may satisfy ICA and still strand the animal at the next border.[123]

Animals & vaccinations

Dogs

Min. age
105 days (Fifteen weeks. "La edad mínima para el ingreso de la mascota al país es de 15 semanas" — the minimum age for a pet to enter the country is 15 weeks. This is stated by ICA's traveller page and by the ABC leaflet, which softens it to "15 semanas aproximadamente". It does NOT appear in Resolución 100164, which sets no minimum age at all, so the figure is official but not statutory and its edges are undefined.)confidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[23]
Evidence for Min. age
La edad mínima para el ingreso de la mascota al país es de 15 semanas.
Commercial threshold
5confidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[1]
Evidence for Commercial threshold
3.4 DESTINO COMERCIAL. Corresponde a la solicitud de importación o exportación de cinco (5) o más perros (Canis familiaris) o gatos (Felis catus) a nombre de un mismo usuario.

Vaccinesconfidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[12]

  • Rabia (rabies)
  • Enfermedad de Carré / Distemper (canine distemper)
  • Hepatitis canina (canine hepatitis)
  • Leptospirosis (canícola e icterohemorragiae)
  • Parvovirus
  • Coronavirus
  • Parainfluenza

Breed restrictionsconfidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[7]

  • Staffordshire terrier and crosses or hybrids (prohibited)
  • American Staffordshire terrier and crosses or hybrids (prohibited)
  • Bull Terrier and crosses or hybrids (prohibited)
  • Pit Bull Terrier and crosses or hybrids (prohibited)
  • American Pit Bull Terrier and crosses or hybrids (prohibited)

Cats

Min. age
105 days (Fifteen weeks. "La edad mínima para el ingreso de la mascota al país es de 15 semanas" — the minimum age for a pet to enter the country is 15 weeks. This is stated by ICA's traveller page and by the ABC leaflet, which softens it to "15 semanas aproximadamente". It does NOT appear in Resolución 100164, which sets no minimum age at all, so the figure is official but not statutory and its edges are undefined.)confidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[23]
Evidence for Min. age
La edad mínima para el ingreso de la mascota al país es de 15 semanas.
Commercial threshold
5confidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[1]
Evidence for Commercial threshold
3.4 DESTINO COMERCIAL. Corresponde a la solicitud de importación o exportación de cinco (5) o más perros (Canis familiaris) o gatos (Felis catus) a nombre de un mismo usuario.

Vaccinesconfidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote.[12]

  • Rabia (rabies)
  • Panleucopenia felina (feline panleukopenia)
  • Rino-traqueítis viral felina (feline viral rhinotracheitis)
  • Calicivirus felino (feline calicivirus)

Other health requirements

Note
WHERE THE REST OF IT IS GRADED. Beyond the vaccinations listed per species, the health requirements are the certificate (veterinary_certificate), the antiparasitic treatment (parasite_treatments) and the animal's condition on the day, which is the second item above. The rabies titre is the one test worth naming separately and it is not repeated as an absence here: Colombia requires none, and the only serology ICA mentions at all runs the other way — advice to test before coming if the animal will later return to the EU — both of which are recorded under rabies_titer. The RABIES limb of the missing-vaccination concession is the expensive one and is recorded under rabies.booster_rules and quarantine.conditional: where the country of origin does not vaccinate against rabies, entry is conditional on home quarantine and vaccination in Colombia with an ICA-registered product. BREEDS: the import prohibition on five terrier breeds and their crosses is statutory, not ICA's, and is recorded under animals.dogs.breed_restrictions. It carries one exception, and it is not one a cruiser can use: article 132's parágrafo exempts animals used in licensed private security work and in the security duties of the public forces.
Dogs
  • NO DISEASE TESTING OF ANY KIND is required for entry — no serology, no heartworm, leishmania or brucella test. Article 4 of Resolución 100164 lists what must be presented and certified, exhaustively and by number, and no test appears in it; neither ICA traveller publication adds one. This is an absence read off an exhaustive instrument, not a published exemption, which is why it carries no source: no document says Colombia requires no tests.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.
  • Arrive without recent wounds or acute-phase lesions. Article 5: "Los animales deberán llegar sin presencia de heridas recientes o lesiones en fase aguda." The article puts this alongside the documentary review as part of the physical inspection ICA carries out at the PAPF before entry, so it is a standard an animal can fail on the dock however good its paperwork, and the CIS issues only "si la revisión documental y la inspección física de los animales es satisfactoria".confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
  • Where a vaccine on the species list is simply not administered in the country of origin, the owner presents official certification from that country's sanitary service saying so. For every disease on the list other than rabies that is the whole of it — article 4.2 parágrafo 2: "se permitirá el ingreso de la mascota sin necesidad de realizar cuarentena domiciliaria", the pet is admitted without home quarantine.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Cats
  • NO DISEASE TESTING OF ANY KIND is required for entry — no serology, no heartworm, leishmania or brucella test. Article 4 of Resolución 100164 lists what must be presented and certified, exhaustively and by number, and no test appears in it; neither ICA traveller publication adds one. This is an absence read off an exhaustive instrument, not a published exemption, which is why it carries no source: no document says Colombia requires no tests.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.
  • Arrive without recent wounds or acute-phase lesions. Article 5: "Los animales deberán llegar sin presencia de heridas recientes o lesiones en fase aguda." The article puts this alongside the documentary review as part of the physical inspection ICA carries out at the PAPF before entry, so it is a standard an animal can fail on the dock however good its paperwork, and the CIS issues only "si la revisión documental y la inspección física de los animales es satisfactoria".confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
  • Where a vaccine on the species list is simply not administered in the country of origin, the owner presents official certification from that country's sanitary service saying so. For every disease on the list other than rabies that is the whole of it — article 4.2 parágrafo 2: "se permitirá el ingreso de la mascota sin necesidad de realizar cuarentena domiciliaria", the pet is admitted without home quarantine.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

Sources

  1. 1

    Resolución No. 100164 (07/07/2021) — Por la cual se establecen los requisitos sanitarios para el ingreso y salida del país de perros y gatos como animales de compañía o con destino comercial — Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA)

    legalAccessed 2026-08-12Published 2021-07-07in ES — translated herearchived copy

  2. 2

    INGRESO DE PERROS Y GATOS A COLOMBIA — Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA) — Dirección Técnica de Cuarentena

    agricultureAccessed 2026-08-12in ES — translated herearchived copy

  3. 3

    ABC para entrar a Colombia con tu mascota — Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA)

    agricultureAccessed 2026-08-12in ES — translated herearchived copy

  4. 4

    TRANSITO DE MASCOTAS — Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA) — Dirección Técnica de Cuarentena

    agricultureAccessed 2026-08-12in ES — translated herearchived copy

  5. 5

    Directorio de Puertos, Aeropuertos y Pasos de Frontera - PAPF — Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA) — Subgerencia de Protección Fronteriza

    agricultureAccessed 2026-08-12in ES — translated herearchived copy

  6. 6

    Requerimientos para el ingreso y salida del país de mascotas y otros animales (superseded except for the breed prohibition) — Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA)

    agricultureAccessed 2026-08-12in ES — translated herearchived copy

  7. 7

    Ley 1801 de 2016 (Código Nacional de Seguridad y Convivencia Ciudadana), artículo 132 — Prohibición de la importación y crianza de caninos de manejo especial, as modified by artículo 7 de la Ley 2054 de 2020 — Congreso de Colombia — consolidated text published by the Senado de la República (Secretaría General)

    legalAccessed 2026-08-12Published 2016-07-29in ES — translated herearchived copy

Last checked August 2026 · 3 high-priority open questions · Sources & questions

What the dots mean

confidence: AI-vetted. An AI read the cited document and quoted the text it found; where the wording differed from ours, an AI judged the two equivalent. Not yet checked by a human — read the quote. AI read the source and judged the match, awaiting human reviewconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer. official-backed, awaiting human reviewconfidence: Conflicting. Sources disagree — verify before you rely on it. sources disagreeconfidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet. not yet documented· How we grade