Central America and Mexico

Costa Rica

No import permitRabies vaccine neededNo titer testVet certificate needed

Before you sail

Rabies vaccine; at least 3 months old when vaccinated
Veterinary health certificate, endorsed by the exporting country's veterinary authority
Parasite treatment — internal and external
Microchip — sources disagree whether it is required
Dogs vaccinated against: Distemper (canine distemper), Hepatitis (canine hepatitis), Parvovirus (parvovirus), Leptospirosis (leptospirosis), Rabia (rabies) — only if over three months of age
Cats vaccinated against: Rinotraqueítis viral felina (feline viral rhinotracheitis), Calicivirus (calicivirus), Panleucopenia (panleukopenia), Rabia (rabies) — only if over three months of age

Not requiredImport permit · Rabies titer test

Not documented Quarantine

Fees

Permit

C.01, AUTORIZACIÓN PREVIA PARA IMPORTACIÓN — ₡10,653, 0% VAT. This is the permiso previo / Formulario de Requisitos Sanitarios, and on the face of IN-006 it is payable only where the cargo or unaccompanied limb (§6.3) applies, not for an owner-accompanied animal. It does not include the customs broker's own charge, which is not a SENASA tariff and is not published.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[6,1]

Inspection

C.11, CONSTANCIA DE INSPECCIÓN CUARENTENARIA DE ANIMALES EN IMPORTACIÓN, EXPORTACIÓN Y TRÁNSITO — ₡4,265, 0% VAT, a rate the catalogue marks as carrying a partial exoneration of 43.78% under Resolución DG-R-0014-2021. That line names animals specifically and is the closest thing in the catalogue to a charge for clearing a pet, but no SENASA document states that it is the code applied to a dog or cat at a PIF. Neighbouring lines: C.09, the general constancia de inspección cuarentenaria in import, export and transit, ₡20,270; C.12, constancia for other animal species, ₡7,981.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[6]

Veterinary

Nothing. SENASA does not publish a fee for the veterinary examination itself — that is the private veterinarian's charge in the country of origin, made before departure and outside Costa Rican control.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[6,1]

After hours

A.02 professional services in non-working hours, ₡18,510 per hour; A.04 the same on public holidays, ₡31,814 per hour; A.03 technical services in non-working hours, ₡11,859 per hour; A.05 on public holidays, ₡18,510 per hour. Feriados are excluded from the ordinary out-of-hours rates and priced separately, so a holiday arrival is the expensive one.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[6]

Other

THE LINE THAT MATTERS MOST TO THIS AUDIENCE IS ABOUT THE BOAT, NOT THE ANIMAL. C.08.01, "INSPECCIÓN CUARENTENARIA A YATES, VELEROS Y OTROS DE RECREO" — quarantine inspection of yachts, sailing vessels and other pleasure craft — ₡55,823, 0% VAT. For comparison the catalogue charges ₡31,464 for a foreign-flagged fishing vessel or one with an international zarpe (C.07) and ₡111,642 for cruise ships and merchant vessels (C.08.02). Also relevant: C.18, marchamo o sello oficial de cuarentena animal, ₡4,622. No document states when a pleasure-craft quarantine inspection is triggered, whether having an animal aboard triggers it, or whether it is charged in addition to any per-animal constancia.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[6]

LEGAL BASIS AND SHELF LIFE. The amounts above are taken from SENASA's "Listado Tarifario", catalogue version V6 1-2026, issued under Resolución N° SENASA DG-R-00005-2026, which takes its authority from the original tariff decree N° 27763-MAG of 10 March 1999 and its amendments. The catalogue states on its face that it runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 January 2027 — so these figures have a stated expiry and will be restated for the following period. All are in Costa Rican colones. THE IMPORTANT CAVEAT: neither IN-006 nor IN-007 mentions a fee at all, and no SENASA document maps any of these codes onto the arrival of a pet dog or cat on a private vessel. The codes are reproduced because they are published and specific, not because SENASA has said which of them you will be charged. Confirm the applicable codes with the Dirección de Cuarentena Animal before arrival rather than budgeting from this list.^[6,1,2]

Timeline

No dated steps are documented for this destination — see Before you sail.

ArrivalPresent the certificate; clear the animal before going ashore.

On arrival & aboard

At the dock: THE CARIBBEAN COAST IS STAFFED — AND THAT IS THE FINDING, BECAUSE THE OPPOSITE WAS THE REASONABLE EXPECTATION. Costa Rica's yachting is overwhelmingly Pacific, so the natural assumption is that SENASA's inspection points would be the Pacific ports and the international airports and that a boat on the Caribbean side would have no route to compliance at all. SENASA's own staff directory says otherwise: there is a Puesto de Ingreso Fronterizo at Muelle Alemán–Moín with a jefe and a médico asistente, a separate Oficina de Cuarentena in Limón, and a PIF at Sixaola on the Caribbean land border. The asymmetry that survives is one of depth, not presence — Caldera, the Pacific seaport post, carries a médico veterinario on its establishment where Moín's veterinary listing is a médico asistente. WHAT IS NOT ESTABLISHED IS HOW A YACHT USES ANY OF IT. Both Caribbean posts are named for and sited at commercial facilities — a PIF at the Muelle Alemán is a working dock — and nothing published describes how a crew arriving at an anchorage presents an animal, whether an officer will attend the vessel, or where the inspection happens if there is no terminal gate to walk through. Read the list above as where SENASA has people, which is what the directory records; it is NOT a list of approved yacht entry points and must not be used as one. The one genuine encouragement is financial: SENASA's tariff catalogue prices a quarantine inspection of "YATES, VELEROS Y OTROS DE RECREO" — yachts, sailing vessels and other pleasure craft — at code C.08.01, which means the service is contemplated somewhere even though no instruction describes it.

Quarantine

Not yet documented

What it costs, and who pays

None published for the holding of a pet. SENASA's tariff catalogue carries two quarantine lines and neither is a boarding charge: C.18 "MARCHAMO O SELLO OFICIAL CUARENTENA (CUARENTENA ANIMAL)" at ₡4,622, which is a seal on a document, and C.19 "MEDIDA CUARENTENARIA APLICADA A LAS PERSONAS VIAJERAS QUE INGRESAN O SALEN DEL PAIS" at $1.00, which is applied to the TRAVELLER and not to the animal. Nothing in the catalogue prices the detention or holding of a dog or cat, and neither import instruction mentions a charge for it.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[6,1,2]

If your papers are not in order

NO QUARANTINE ROUTE IS PUBLISHED, AND THAT IS NOT THE MERCY IT SOUNDS LIKE. Neither instruction provides for quarantine, home isolation or observation of any kind — there is no equivalent of the cuarentena domiciliaria that Colombia offers an animal whose paperwork has failed. What the sources describe instead is refusal. MAG: "En caso de incumplir con los requisitos sanitarios, el ingreso será denegado y se procederá con la devolución de la mascota al país de origen como medida sanitaria" — where the sanitary requirements are not met, entry will be denied and the pet returned to the country of origin as a sanitary measure. IN-006 §7.1 adds a physical ground for the same outcome: animals found at the border inspection post with fresh or healing wounds, or ectoparasites, "se denegará el ingreso" — will be refused. Note the divergence between SENASA's two editions of its own text: the Spanish names only "heridas frescas o en proceso de cicatrización y ectoparásitos", while SENASA's English adds tumours. This file treats the Spanish as governing, so tumours are not listed here as a refusal ground — but SENASA's own English says otherwise, so do not rely on the narrower reading if your animal has a visible growth. For a yacht that is a harder landing than a quarantine order, because "devolución al país de origen" for an animal that arrived on your own keel means you take it back. Nothing states who bears the cost, whether the vessel may remain while the animal is refused, or whether the animal may stay aboard in the interim. The graded value is `unknown` rather than `false`: no source says quarantine cannot happen, only that none is provided for.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.^[4,1,2]

Open questions

High priority

HIGH PRIORITY — how does a yacht on the CARIBBEAN coast actually present an animal? SENASA's staff directory establishes real presence: a PIF at Muelle Alemán–Moín with a jefe and a médico asistente, a separate Oficina de Cuarentena in Limón, and a PIF at Sixaola. What it does not establish is access. Both Limón-area posts sit at commercial port facilities. Ask whether an officer will attend a vessel at anchor or on a mooring, where the inspection is performed if there is no terminal to enter, what notice is wanted, and whether the Caribbean posts handle live companion animals at all in practice or only cargo.
HIGH PRIORITY — what does the pleasure-craft quarantine inspection tariff actually buy? Code C.08.01, "INSPECCIÓN CUARENTENARIA A YATES, VELEROS Y OTROS DE RECREO", ₡55,823, is published in the 2026 catalogue, which proves SENASA contemplates inspecting sailing vessels even though no instruction describes the service. Ask when it is triggered, whether carrying a dog or cat triggers it, whether it is charged instead of or in addition to the per-animal constancia under C.11, at which ports it is available, and whether an inspection under it can discharge the animal's entry requirements.

Also open

HIGHEST PRIORITY — does the antiparasitic clock stop at departure or at arrival? IN-006 and IN-007 both say "dentro de los quince (15) días previos a la exportación" / "within the fifteen (15) days prior to exportation". MAG's release of 18 December 2025 says "dentro de los 15 días previos a su llegada a Costa Rica" — before ARRIVAL. For an aircraft the two collapse into one afternoon; for a yacht they are different requirements and MAG's version is impossible to satisfy on any passage longer than fifteen days. Ask the Dirección de Cuarentena Animal which text a PIF officer applies, and whether re-treatment aboard during the passage would be accepted as curing the shorter reading.
HIGHEST PRIORITY — is a microchip required or not? IN-006 §4.1 and IN-007 §4.1 both say "microchip o transpondedor SI LO POSEEN" / "if available", making the chip optional. MAG's December 2025 release says pets being imported "DEBEN estar identificados con microchip". This file sets microchip_required to true on the safe side and says so, but the contradiction is unresolved and both sources are official. Ask SENASA which governs, and whether an unchipped animal has ever been refused on that ground.
HIGHEST PRIORITY — which of IN-006's two operational limbs covers a private yacht? §6.2 covers an animal carried in the cabin as hand or checked baggage and accompanied by its owner, and needs nothing but the certificate at the PIF. §6.3 covers manifested cargo or an animal arriving without its owner, and needs a Costa Rican customs broker and a prior import permit before arrival. A dog on a yacht is accompanied but is not air baggage, and is not cargo. Both limbs were written for an aeroplane. This determines whether the arrival costs a signature or a broker's engagement, and SENASA has published nothing on it.
No fee has been confirmed as applicable to a pet. Every amount recorded on this page comes from SENASA's published tariff catalogue, but neither import instruction mentions a fee and no document maps a code onto a dog or cat arriving by sea. Confirm the applicable codes, the payment method accepted at a PIF, and whether payment must be made in advance, before relying on any figure here. Note also that the catalogue states its own expiry: it runs only to 31 January 2027.
No rabies waiting period is published anywhere, which is unusual for the region and was specifically searched for. The only condition on the vaccine is that it be valid on the day of entry. Confirm with SENASA that an animal vaccinated shortly before departure is genuinely admissible, and that a first vaccination is treated no differently from a booster — the absence of a stated interval is recorded here as unknown, not as an exemption.
No breed prohibition appears in either instruction, and none was found published elsewhere. That is an absence of evidence rather than a documented permission. Confirm with SENASA whether any Costa Rican instrument outside the sanitary instructions restricts the import of particular breeds, since a sanitary document would not be where such a ban lived.
Origin affects the paperwork in exactly two documented ways and both should be re-checked as versions change. The United States has its own instruction, IN-007 v09, which requires a USDA-accredited veterinarian's certificate endorsed by USDA Veterinary Services on a named form, and which omits the rabies-titre clause entirely. The European Union, United Kingdom and EFTA states trigger IN-006 §5.7 where the animal will return home. For Panama, Nicaragua and Colombia — the origins that matter to a boat on this coast — SENASA publishes no country-specific instruction at all and IN-006 applies unchanged; confirm that no unpublished bilateral condition applies to arrivals from those countries.
There is no published quarantine or remediation route. The documented consequence of non-compliance is refusal and return to the country of origin as a sanitary measure, and §7.1 allows refusal on physical grounds — fresh or healing wounds, tumours, ectoparasites — that a perfect file cannot cure. Establish what "devolución al país de origen" means for an animal that arrived on its owner's own keel: who bears the cost, whether the vessel may remain while the animal is refused, whether the animal may stay aboard in the meantime, and whether any correction of paperwork on the spot is entertained.
Nothing in the sources addresses an animal that stays aboard and never lands, so no transit section is authored here. Note that SENASA's tariff catalogue does price a constancia de inspección cuarentenaria de animales "en importación, exportación y tránsito" (C.11), so a transit charge exists even though no transit rule is published — ask SENASA what regime that code is billed under and whether an animal remaining aboard a vessel in a Costa Rican port falls within it.

Page status

Central America and Mexico · Sovereign republicDataset status Inferredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.Last checked 2026-08-13 Recently checkedfreshness: Recently checked. Sources were last re-read 60 days ago, well inside the 180-day window. Recent is not reviewed — this page is still an unreviewed draft.

Evidence

Import permit

Permit

Not required^[1,2,4]

What it costs

READ THE GRADED VALUE NARROWLY. "No permit required" is established only for the case IN-006 §6.2 describes — an animal carried in the cabin as hand or checked baggage and accompanied by its owner, for which "únicamente se debe presentar, en el puesto de inspección fronterizo, el certificado sanitario" (only the health certificate must be presented at the border inspection post). Where §6.3 applies instead — "mascotas que son transportadas como carga manifiesta o ingresan al país sin el dueño", manifested cargo or arriving without the owner — the importer must engage a Costa Rican customs broker to obtain the permiso previo de importación, the Formulario de Requisitos Sanitarios, BEFORE the animal arrives, and SENASA resolves the request within a maximum of twenty-four working hours from receipt of the original document (§6.4). MAG's release says the same. The tariff line for that permit is C.01, AUTORIZACIÓN PREVIA PARA IMPORTACIÓN, ₡10,653 with no VAT. A dog aboard a private yacht is accompanied by its owner but is not air baggage, and is not manifested cargo either; neither limb was written with a vessel in mind, and SENASA has published nothing saying which applies. Budget for the permit and the broker until SENASA tells you otherwise.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,4,6]

Official page: https://www.senasa.go.cr/informacion/centro-de-informacion/informacion/sgc/dca/mascotas/requisitos-para-importar-a-costa-rica

Rabies

Vaccination

Required^[1,2,4]

Min. age at vaccination

90 days (Three months, expressed by SENASA as an age and not as a day count: "Los perros y gatos mayores de tres meses deben haber sido vacunados contra rabia" — dogs and cats over 3 months of age must be vaccinated against rabies. Ninety days is this file's arithmetic for "tres meses" and the boundary is not defined more precisely anywhere. Note that this is a threshold in BOTH directions: §5.6 says animals under three months "no deben ser vacunados contra la rabia" — should NOT be vaccinated against rabies — so vaccinating a young puppy early does not buy compliance, it creates a discrepancy with the instruction.)^[1,2]

Min. before travel

NOT DOCUMENTED, AND SPECIFICALLY LOOKED FOR. Neither instruction imposes any interval between the rabies vaccination and embarkation or arrival — no 21 days, no 30 days, no distinction between a first vaccination and a booster. The only condition attached to the vaccine is that it be in force on the day of entry. This is a real and unusual gap by the standards of the region and it is recorded as unknown rather than as zero-in-fact: absence of a stated waiting period is not a documented exemption from one, and an animal vaccinated the day before it sails is untested ground.

Max. before travel

same day (No fixed ceiling in months or years — the vaccine's own stated validity governs. "Esta vacuna debe estar vigente el día del ingreso de la mascota al país" (this vaccine must be valid the day of entry of the pet into the country), and §5.5 requires the certificate to record the date of vaccination, brand name, manufacturing laboratory, lot number and period of validity of the vaccine, so the period of validity is a declared field an inspector can read off the page. A three-year product still inside its declared validity therefore appears to qualify on the face of the text, and MAG's release agrees that the vaccines "deben estar vigentes al momento de ingresar al país". Zero days is recorded because no maximum exists, not because none was found.)^[1,2,4]

Boosters, and what the certificate must show

A bare "rabies, in date" line will not do. §5.5 requires the certificate to state the date of vaccination, the brand name, the manufacturing laboratory, the lot number and the vaccine's period of validity. Neither instruction names an approved vaccine type, manufacturer or country list, requires the product to be inactivated, or treats a first vaccination differently from a booster. For animals under three months the rule inverts: they must not be vaccinated against rabies at all, and the certificate must instead attest the vaccination plan appropriate to their age and species.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]

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 required^[1,2]

Required level

COSTA RICA IMPOSES NO TITRE FOR ENTRY IN GENERAL, BUT IT IMPOSES ONE ON A NARROW CLASS AND THE CLASS IS DEFINED BY ORIGIN. IN-006 §5.7: "Las mascotas que procedan de la Unión Europea, Reino Unido y países miembro de EFTA (Suiza, Islandia, Noruega y Liechtenstein) y que retornarán a su país de origen, adicional al Certificado Veterinario Internacional, deben traer la prueba válida de títulos de anticuerpos neutralizantes contra rabia con resultado igual o superior a 0.5 UI." SENASA's own English: pets coming from the European Union, United Kingdom and EFTA member countries (Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) that will return to their country of origin must bring, in addition to the International Veterinary Certificate, a valid rabies antibody titration test with a result equal to or greater than 0.5 IU/ml. Two things follow. First, it bites on ORIGIN and INTENT together — a European-flagged boat whose animal will eventually go home is inside it; a boat out of Panama, Nicaragua or Colombia is not. Second, the requirement exists for the RETURN leg's benefit, and MAG's release makes that explicit: the owner must carry the document "para el posterior trámite para exportación" — for the later export formality. Get the blood drawn before you leave Europe, because the titre's clock and the destination's waiting period both start at the draw and neither can be wound back once you are in the tropics. IN-007, the United States instruction, contains no equivalent clause at all.^[1,2,4]

Veterinary health certificate

Certificate

Required^[1,2,4]

Evidence for Certificate

At the border inspection post of entry, the user must present the original and copy of the sanitary certificate issued or endorsed

Completed within

NO VALIDITY WINDOW IS PUBLISHED, AND THIS WAS SPECIFICALLY LOOKED FOR. Neither IN-006 nor IN-007 imposes any expiry on the International Veterinary Certificate itself. §4.5 requires the certificate to carry the official veterinarian's name and signature, the Competent Authority's stamp and the date of issue, but nothing limits how old that date may be on arrival. The dated obligations are the examination (two weeks before embarkation), the antiparasitic treatment (fifteen days before export) and the rabies vaccine (valid on the day of entry) — the certificate is the vehicle for those attestations and carries no separate clock. Do not read the absence as licence: an inspector who thinks a document is stale still has §7.1 and the physical animal in front of him.

Gov. endorsement

Required^[1,2]

Evidence for Gov. endorsement

It must be issued by the Official Veterinary Services or by the Competent Authority of the country of origin.

Arriving by sea

None, and none is needed for the certificate itself, because no clock is attached to it. The examination and antiparasitic windows are both counted to embarkation or export rather than to arrival, so time on passage does not consume them — subject to the MAG contradiction recorded under parasite_treatments, which would count the antiparasitic window to arrival instead. What has no sea allowance is the rabies vaccine, which must be valid on the day of entry: a vaccine that expires mid-ocean expires. Nothing in either instruction contemplates a vessel, and §§6.2 and 6.3 divide the world into air baggage and manifested cargo.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]

Endorsement timing

None published. SENASA sets no interval between the veterinarian's examination and the official authority's endorsement, and no deadline for presenting the endorsed certificate. §6.6 removes two steps travellers often expect: "El certificado de salud no tiene que ser refrendado por un notario público ni necesita ser sellado por la Oficina Consular de Costa Rica" — the health certificate does not need to be notarised, nor stamped by a Costa Rican consulate. For the United States only, IN-007 §6.1 is stricter about who signs: the certificate must be issued by a veterinarian accredited by the USDA and endorsed by USDA Veterinary Services, on the specific form SENASA names ("Veterinary Health Certificate for the Export of Dogs and Cats from the United States of America to Costa Rica").confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]

What the certificate must say

IN-006 is published bilingually and the English below is SENASA'S OWN, not this file's rendering. §5.1: "El perro / gato fue sometido a examen clínico por parte de un médico veterinario autorizado, quien determinó que el animal estaba sano, que no mostraba tumoraciones, ni heridas frescas o en proceso de cicatrización, y que se encontró libre de ectoparásitos, así como de signos de enfermedad transmisible que afecte a la especie. Este examen debe realizarse en un plazo de dos semanas antes del embarque." / "The dog / cat was examined by a licensed veterinarian, who determined that the animal was healthy, that it did not show tumors nor fresh wounds or wounds in the process of healing, and that it was free of ectoparasites as well as signs of transmissible diseases pertaining to the species. This examination should be conducted within 2 weeks of the departure date." §5.2: "Los animales fueron tratados dentro de los quince (15) días previos a la exportación con medicamentos contra parásitos externos e internos, asegurando que se encuentran libres de garrapatas y otros parásitos externos e internos. Se debe indicar la fecha de aplicación, marca comercial, el número de lote, y el principio activo de los tratamientos." / "The animals were treated within the fifteen (15) days prior to exportation with approved veterinary drugs for ecto and endoparasites, ensuring that animals are free of ticks and other external and internal parasites. This shall include date of treatment, brand name, lot number, and the active ingredient of the veterinary drug." §5.5: "Los perros y gatos mayores de tres meses deben haber sido vacunados contra rabia; esta vacuna debe estar vigente el día del ingreso de la mascota al país." / "Dogs and cats over 3 months of age must be vaccinated against rabies; this vaccine must be valid the day of entry of the pet into the country." Form requirements, §3: the certificate must be issued by the Official Veterinary Services or Competent Authority of the country of origin, must be numbered, and every page must be signed and stamped with the official stamp; electronic certificates are accepted only where the issuing authority operates an online system for verifying authenticity; annexes must be declared, numbered, signed and stamped; and the certificate must be in Spanish or English, failing which an original official translation into Spanish certified by the Competent Authority must accompany it.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]

Parasite treatment

Internal

Treatment against internal parasites within the window below, with veterinary medicines described by SENASA's English as "approved" (IN-007 §5.2 says "medicamentos autorizados"; IN-006 §5.2 says only "medicamentos", without naming an approving authority or a product list). The certificate must state the date of application, the brand name, the lot number and the active principle.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]

External

Treatment against external parasites on the same terms, in the same window and in the same sentence — the instruction treats the two as one obligation and requires the result to be attested, not merely the act: "asegurando que se encuentran libres de garrapatas y otros parásitos externos e internos", ensuring that the animals are free of ticks and other external and internal parasites. That attestation is backed at the dock by §7.1, under which ectoparasites found on inspection are a ground of refusal, so a tick picked up after treatment is a live risk however good the paperwork.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]

Timing

⚠️ THE HEADLINE CONFLICT ON THIS PAGE, AND IT IS ARITHMETIC A BOAT CANNOT ARGUE WITH. IN-006 and IN-007 both say the treatment falls "dentro de los quince (15) días previos a la exportación" — SENASA's own English, "within the fifteen (15) days prior to exportation". Counted to DEPARTURE. MAG's December 2025 release says the treatment falls "dentro de los 15 días previos a su llegada a Costa Rica" — within the 15 days before ARRIVAL in Costa Rica. For an aircraft the two are the same afternoon. For a yacht they are different requirements: on the instruction's reading a treatment given the day before you sail stays good across an ocean, while on MAG's reading any passage longer than fifteen days is impossible to comply with, since the animal is at sea for the whole of the window. The instruction is the operative document and is what the graded fields on this page follow. The practical advice is to treat as late as the departure port allows and, if the passage runs long, to be ready to show the inspector the instruction's own wording — and, if the boat carries the products and a vet's instructions, to consider re-treating aboard so that both readings are satisfied on the day you arrive.confidence: Conflicting. Sources disagree — verify before you rely on it.^[1,2,4]

No minimum persistence, efficacy period or product class is specified, and no approved-medication list is published for either treatment. Separately, §6.1 of IN-006 (§6.2 of IN-007) governs the medicine chest rather than the animal: "Si las mascotas viajan acompañadas de medicamentos dispensados bajo prescripción médica, los medicamentos deberán venir acompañados de la receta correspondiente" — prescription medicines travelling with the pet must be accompanied by the corresponding prescription. A liveaboard animal on long-term medication should carry the script, not just the bottles.^[1,2]

Identification

Microchip

Required^[1,2,4]

Standard

NONE IS SPECIFIED. The instructions say "microchip o transpondedor" and nowhere cite ISO 11784/11785, a digit count, or a reader standard, and they do not require the owner to supply a reader. Nor is any chip-before- vaccination ordering imposed: nothing requires the microchip to predate the rabies vaccination, which is a condition most onward destinations in this dataset do impose.^[1,2]

Chip before rabies

No ordering requirement stated^[1,2]

⚠️ THE TWO OFFICIAL SOURCES CONFLICT AND THE FLAG ABOVE IS SET TO THE SAFE SIDE. The operative instruction makes the chip optional: IN-006 §4.1 asks the certificate to record "raza, sexo, color, fecha de nacimiento y número de identificación de los animales (MICROCHIP O TRANSPONDEDOR SI LO POSEEN)" — SENASA's own English, "microchip or transponder IF AVAILABLE". On that text the chip is a detail to be transcribed when it exists, not a requirement to be met, and IN-007 for the United States carries the same condition (its §4.1 says "del animal" where IN-006 says "de los animales"; nothing turns on it). MAG's release of December 2025 says the opposite in plain terms: "Los perros y gatos que se importen DEBEN estar identificados con microchip, cuyo número tiene que estar declarado en el certificado" — dogs and cats being imported MUST be identified with a microchip, whose number has to be declared on the certificate. Both are official; the instruction is the governing normative document, MAG's release is the more recent statement and is the one a traveller is likelier to have read. `microchip_required` is set true here because the asymmetry of consequences is total — chipping an animal that did not need it costs a vet visit, arriving unchipped at an inspector working from MAG's list costs the landfall. Chip the animal and have the number on the certificate.^[1,2,4]

Animals & vaccinations

Dogs

Min. age

same day (NO MINIMUM AGE IS STATED, and the zero here is an inference rather than a figure the instruction gives. §5.6 contemplates animals under three months without ever saying they may enter: "Los cachorros (perros / gatos) menores de tres meses no deben ser vacunados contra la rabia; sin embargo, se debe certificar el plan de vacunas de acuerdo a la edad y a la especie" — SENASA's own English: puppies and kittens younger than three months should not be vaccinated against rabies; however, the vaccination plan must be certified according to age and species. That is a rule about which vaccine such an animal must NOT have, not a rule about admission. It would be odd to legislate the vaccination of an animal that could not arrive, so a puppy under three months reads as admissible, carrying no rabies vaccination and an age-appropriate plan certified instead — but the document does not say so, and an officer is not bound by our inference.)^[1]

Vaccinesconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2,4]

Distemper (canine distemper)
Hepatitis (canine hepatitis)
Parvovirus (parvovirus)
Leptospirosis (leptospirosis)
Rabia (rabies) — only if over three months of age

Cats

Min. age

same day (NO MINIMUM AGE IS STATED, and the zero here is an inference rather than a figure the instruction gives. §5.6 contemplates animals under three months without ever saying they may enter: "Los cachorros (perros / gatos) menores de tres meses no deben ser vacunados contra la rabia; sin embargo, se debe certificar el plan de vacunas de acuerdo a la edad y a la especie" — SENASA's own English: puppies and kittens younger than three months should not be vaccinated against rabies; however, the vaccination plan must be certified according to age and species. That is a rule about which vaccine such an animal must NOT have, not a rule about admission. It would be odd to legislate the vaccination of an animal that could not arrive, so a kitten under three months reads as admissible, carrying no rabies vaccination and an age-appropriate plan certified instead — but the document does not say so, and an officer is not bound by our inference.)^[1]

Vaccinesconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2,4]

Rinotraqueítis viral felina (feline viral rhinotracheitis)
Calicivirus (calicivirus)
Panleucopenia (panleukopenia)
Rabia (rabies) — only if over three months of age

Other health requirements

Note

Beyond the species vaccination lists and the items above, the health requirements are the certificate, the clinical examination, the antiparasitic treatment and the animal's physical condition on the day; each is graded in its own section of this file rather than here. SCOPE, which is what makes all of it bite on a short visit: §2 of both instructions applies them to dogs and cats imported "de forma temporal o definitiva como animales de compañía o para la reproducción" — SENASA's own English, temporarily or permanently as companion animals or for breeding purposes — so a boat passing through faces the same requirements as a permanent move, with no lighter regime. The same section limits the instructions to "Canis lupus familiaris and Felis catus domesticus", so nothing on this page speaks to any other animal aboard.

Dogs: NO DISEASE TESTING OF ANY KIND is required for entry — no serology, no heartworm, brucella or leishmania test, and no rabies titre. Neither instruction makes a laboratory result a condition of entry. The one titration either document mentions, IN-006 §5.7, is imposed on pets "que procedan de la Unión Europea, Reino Unido y países miembro de EFTA (Suiza, Islandia, Noruega y Liechtenstein) y que retornarán a su país de origen" — SENASA's own English: coming from the European Union, United Kingdom and EFTA member countries AND returning to their country of origin — so it is carried for the sake of the return leg, not for Costa Rica, and it is recorded under rabies_titer. IN-007, which governs arrivals from the United States, has no titration clause at all.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]
ARRIVAL CONDITION IS A SEPARATE HURDLE AND IT IS THE ONE PAPER CANNOT FIX. IN-006 §7.1 — IN-007 §7.1 is word for word the same — provides that pets are inspected at the puesto de inspección fronterizo on entry and that where fresh or healing wounds or ectoparasites are found "se denegará el ingreso", entry will be refused. SENASA's own English for the same clause is wider: "pets showing tumors, fresh wounds or wounds in the process of healing, ectoparasites will be refused". The Spanish governs on this page, so tumours are not listed here as a refusal ground — but SENASA's English says otherwise, so do not rely on the narrower reading if your animal has a visible growth. A dog that has scraped itself on passage, or picked up ticks in the last port, can fail on the dock with a perfect file.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]
FAILING THE SANITARY REQUIREMENTS MEANS THE ANIMAL GOES BACK. MAG: "En caso de incumplir con los requisitos sanitarios, el ingreso será denegado y se procederá con la devolución de la mascota al país de origen como medida sanitaria" — where the sanitary requirements are not met, entry will be denied and the pet will be returned to the country of origin as a sanitary measure. No quarantine, home isolation or observation is offered as an alternative anywhere in the sources; see quarantine. For a yacht "devolución al país de origen" means you take the animal back yourself, and nothing states who bears the cost, whether the vessel may remain while the animal is refused, or whether the animal may stay aboard in the interim.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[4]
NO BREED PROHIBITION is imposed by either instruction. "Raza" appears in them only as a field the certificate must state (§4.1), and no Costa Rican breed import ban was found published. This records an absence of evidence, not a documented exemption: a sanitary instruction of SENASA's Dirección de Cuarentena Animal is not the whole of Costa Rican law, and a restriction living elsewhere in it would not appear here.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]
NO MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ANIMALS and no commercial threshold is stated. Neither instruction caps how many dogs a traveller may bring, and neither names a count above which the movement stops being a pet import and becomes something else.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]
Cats: NO DISEASE TESTING OF ANY KIND is required for entry — no serology, no FeLV or FIV test, and no rabies titre. Neither instruction makes a laboratory result a condition of entry. The one titration either document mentions, IN-006 §5.7, is imposed on pets "que procedan de la Unión Europea, Reino Unido y países miembro de EFTA (Suiza, Islandia, Noruega y Liechtenstein) y que retornarán a su país de origen" — SENASA's own English: coming from the European Union, United Kingdom and EFTA member countries AND returning to their country of origin — so it is carried for the sake of the return leg, not for Costa Rica, and it is recorded under rabies_titer. IN-007, which governs arrivals from the United States, has no titration clause at all.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]
ARRIVAL CONDITION IS A SEPARATE HURDLE AND IT IS THE ONE PAPER CANNOT FIX. IN-006 §7.1 — IN-007 §7.1 is word for word the same — provides that pets are inspected at the puesto de inspección fronterizo on entry and that where fresh or healing wounds or ectoparasites are found "se denegará el ingreso", entry will be refused. SENASA's own English for the same clause is wider: "pets showing tumors, fresh wounds or wounds in the process of healing, ectoparasites will be refused". The Spanish governs on this page, so tumours are not listed here as a refusal ground — but SENASA's English says otherwise, so do not rely on the narrower reading if your animal has a visible growth. A cat that has scratched itself on passage, or picked up ticks in the last port, can fail on the dock with a perfect file.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]
FAILING THE SANITARY REQUIREMENTS MEANS THE ANIMAL GOES BACK. MAG: "En caso de incumplir con los requisitos sanitarios, el ingreso será denegado y se procederá con la devolución de la mascota al país de origen como medida sanitaria" — where the sanitary requirements are not met, entry will be denied and the pet will be returned to the country of origin as a sanitary measure. No quarantine, home isolation or observation is offered as an alternative anywhere in the sources; see quarantine. For a yacht "devolución al país de origen" means you take the animal back yourself, and nothing states who bears the cost, whether the vessel may remain while the animal is refused, or whether the animal may stay aboard in the interim.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[4]
NO BREED PROHIBITION is imposed by either instruction. "Raza" appears in them only as a field the certificate must state (§4.1), and no Costa Rican breed import ban was found published. This records an absence of evidence, not a documented exemption: a sanitary instruction of SENASA's Dirección de Cuarentena Animal is not the whole of Costa Rican law, and a restriction living elsewhere in it would not appear here.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]
NO MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ANIMALS and no commercial threshold is stated. Neither instruction caps how many cats a traveller may bring, and neither names a count above which the movement stops being a pet import and becomes something else.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1,2]

Sources

1
Requisitos para la importación de perros y gatos — DCA-PG-02-RS-01-IN-006, Versión 11 (bilingual Spanish/English; rige a partir de 19/07/2024) — Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal (SENASA) — Dirección de Cuarentena Animal, Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13Published 2024-07-19in ES — translated herearchived copy
2
Requisitos para la importación de perros y gatos de Estados Unidos de América — DCA-PG-02-RS-01-IN-007, Versión 09 (bilingual Spanish/English; rige a partir de 19/07/2024) — Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal (SENASA) — Dirección de Cuarentena Animal, Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13Published 2024-07-19in ES — translated herearchived copy
3
Mascotas — Requisitos para importar a Costa Rica (the traveller-facing index; it offers exactly two documents, IN-006 and IN-007) — Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal (SENASA) — Dirección de Cuarentena Animal
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13in ES — translated herearchived copy
4
Conozca los requisitos sanitarios establecidos por SENASA para la importación de perros y gatos (news release; conflicts with IN-006 on the microchip and on where the antiparasitic clock stops) — Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG) — for SENASA
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13Published 2025-12-18in ES — translated herearchived copy
5
Nuestras Oficinas — SENASA staff directory, listing every Puesto de Ingreso Fronterizo and quarantine office with post, officer and telephone number — Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal (SENASA)
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13in ES — translated hereno archive yet
6
Listado Tarifario según Resolución N° SENASA DG-R-00005-2026, bajo el Decreto Tarifario N° 27763-MAG del 10-03-1999 y sus reformas — Versión de Catálogo V6 1-2026, vigente del 01 abril 2026 al 31 enero 2027 — Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal (SENASA)
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13Published 2026-04-01in ES — translated herearchived copy

Last checked August 2026 · 2 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