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

Leeward Antilles

Curaçao

Import permit neededRabies vaccine neededVet certificate within 2 weeks of arrivalNo quarantine

Before you sail

  • Import permit — apply at least 3 days before arrival
  • Rabies vaccine at least 3 weeks before arrival; at least 12 weeks old when vaccinated
  • Veterinary health certificate issued within 2 weeks of arrival, endorsed by the exporting country's veterinary authority
  • Parasite treatment — internal and external
  • Microchip, implanted before the rabies vaccine
  • Dogs and cats at least 12 weeks old
Not requiredQuarantine

Not documented Rabies titer test

Fees

Permit

Not published. The Ministry letter names no fee for the pre-approval or for entry; none of its ten numbered requirements mentions a charge, a payment or an amount in any currency.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.

No fee of any kind appears in the official document, and the commercial pet-travel site does not publish one either. That is an absence of information, not evidence that entry is free — confirm current charges with the Department when you request pre-approval (info.uovz@gobiernu.cw, (599-9) 461-4000).[132]

Timeline

  1. 3 weeks before arrivalRabies vaccine given by now at the latest
  2. 2 weeks – arrivalVeterinary health certificate issued in this window
  3. 3 days before arrivalApply for the import permit
  4. ArrivalPresent the permit and certificate; clear the animal before going ashore.

On arrival & aboard

Advance notice
Pre-approval for entry is required: send all proper documentation to info.uovz@gobiernu.cw at least 3 days prior to departure.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
At the dock
The letter's own header carries a "Departing from" checklist — Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, USA, Sint Maarten (SXM), St. Eustatius, or Other — which suggests the Department expects to be told the origin and routinely handles arrivals from those places. It publishes no ports of entry, no inspection procedure and no arrival formalities beyond the pre-approval email, and nothing describes how or where an animal is presented once the boat is in.
Carrier or crate
Requirement 7 of the Ministry letter: "The animal has to be transported in a suitable kennel and according to IATA regulations." It is one of the ten numbered import requirements, it is not conditioned on species, origin or age, and the letter attaches no mode of carriage to it — the words flight, airline, cabin and cargo appear nowhere in the document.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Going ashore
Not yet documentedconfidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.
By yacht
Whether requirement 7 binds an animal living aboard its owner's yacht is NOT something this file can answer. IATA's Live Animals Regulations govern carriage by air, so the wording reads as air-freight language, but nothing in the letter limits it to air carriage and no official source addresses a sea arrival — the letter, the contact page and the commercial source between them never use the words vessel, boat, yacht, marina, aboard or ashore. Do not assume it is waived and do not assume a kennel satisfies it: ask UOVZ what they expect before you sail, because an inspector may read one of the ten numbered requirements literally. One thing to settle in the same email: the commercial source goes further than the Department does and says pets must enter Curaçao via Curaçao International Airport. That is PetTravel's claim, not UOVZ's, and no official text here says a boat cannot land an animal — but it is the only published statement on the point, and it says no.

Quarantine

Quarantine
None requiredconfidence: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel.[3]
If your papers are not in order

SECONDARY, NOT OFFICIAL — AND THE SAME SOURCE STATES A SEVERE CONSEQUENCE. The commercial pet-travel site that reports no quarantine where the requirements are met also states, of an animal that does not comply: "If your pet does not conform to the regulations as stated below, it will be subject to quarantine if facilities are available, returned to the origination country, or euthanized. The importer will be responsible for all costs involved." That is a secondary claim and the Ministry letter says nothing about quarantine in either direction, nor about what becomes of a non-compliant animal. But it is not a claim to leave out of the picture: the stated downside of arriving non-compliant is the loss of the animal. Treat both halves as unverified and confirm with UOVZ.confidence: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel.[3]

Open questions

High priority

  1. HIGH PRIORITY — the origin ban decides most cruising cases before any paperwork does. Dogs and cats from South and Central America, Suriname excepted, may not be imported, and Curaçao is 65 km off Venezuela. Ask UOVZ what "from" means for a yacht: does it follow the port cleared out of, the animal's country of residence, or anywhere it has been? Does a stop in Colombia or Panama taint an animal that came from elsewhere, and if so for how long? There is no documented cure for being caught by this rule.
  2. HIGH PRIORITY for a boat — requirement 7 requires transport "in a suitable kennel and according to IATA regulations", which is air-freight language with no sea equivalent. Nothing in the letter addresses an animal arriving on its owner's yacht. Establish with UOVZ how this requirement is applied, or whether it is applied, to a sea arrival.
  3. HIGH PRIORITY — what happens to a non-compliant animal is stated only by a commercial site, and what it states is severe: quarantine if facilities are available, return to the country of origin, or euthanasia, with the importer bearing all costs. The Ministry letter is silent on all of it. An unverified euthanasia claim is not a reason to relax; it is a reason to confirm before sailing. Ask UOVZ directly what happens on a failed inspection, whether holding facilities exist at all, and who decides.

Also open

  1. Requirement 8 names only dogs and cats, but the letter is titled for dogs, cats AND ferrets. Confirm whether a ferret from South or Central America may be imported, or whether the omission is an oversight.
  2. The two sources cited here CONTRADICT each other on whether a permit is needed. The Ministry letter never uses the word "permit"; its requirement 10 is "Pre-approval for entry: Sent all proper documentation to info.uovz@gobiernu.cw at least 3 days prior to departure", which this file records as an import permit being required because pre-approval is what it functions as. The commercial site states the opposite in terms: "An import permit is not required for pets entering Curaçao with their owner from any country." Both cannot be right. The Department's own import page also links an Application Form for Live Animals, which is not cited here and may settle it. Ask UOVZ what pre-approval consists of and whether a form is required.
  3. Establish the arrival procedure. No port of entry, inspection, appointment or clearance step is published beyond emailing documents three days before departure. Ask what pre-approval consists of, whether anything is issued in writing that can be shown on arrival, where the animal is presented, and what happens if the three-day deadline is missed.
  4. No fee is published for pre-approval or entry. Confirm whether any charge applies; absence from the letter is not evidence of none.
  5. The letter says nothing about a rabies titer. A commercial pet-travel site states one is required from countries the EU classifies as high-rabies, with a three-month wait from the blood draw. That claim appears nowhere in the Ministry document and is deliberately NOT recorded here as a requirement — but it is too consequential to ignore. Confirm with UOVZ whether any serology applies to your departure country.
  6. The 12-week minimum vaccination age and the 21-day pre-entry wait recorded under rabies are graded secondary because only a commercial site states them; the Ministry letter contains neither. Confirm both, in both directions, before relying on them.
  7. "Pit-bull terrier type dog" is not defined and no other breed is named, which is unusually narrow for the region. Ask how type is assessed, whether it extends to mixes and look-alikes, and whether a veterinary or breed declaration is expected.
  8. The letterhead OCRs as "Abaftoirweg lb", read here as "Abattoirweg 1b", while the Department's live contact page gives "Abattoirweg 15" and its footer "Abattoirweg 15, Willemstad, Curaçao". Whether "1b" is a genuine difference or an OCR misread of "15" is not determinable from the scan, so no address is recorded in any structured field. Confirm before presenting documents in person. The phone number, (599-9) 461-4000, matches on both. (Note for anyone re-reading that contact page: "Parera" is the district and "Centrale" is the Dutch label for the switchboard number that follows it, not part of the street address.)
  9. The document is dated 19-09-2023 and remains linked from the Ministry's import page. Confirm it is still the operative version, particularly the origin ban.
  10. Nothing addresses an animal that stays aboard and never lands, so no transit section is authored here.

Page status

Leeward Antilles · Constituent country of the Kingdom of the NetherlandsDataset 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
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 Permit
10. Pre-approval for entry: Sent all proper documentation to info.uovz@gobiernti.cw at least 3 days prior to departure.
Apply ahead
3 days (Requirement 10 sets a minimum lead time, not a published turnaround: all proper documentation must be sent to the Department at least 3 days before departure for pre-approval. The letter does not say how long the Department takes to answer, nor what an approval looks like when it arrives — allow considerably more than three days.)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.[1]
Evidence for Apply ahead
10. Pre-approval for entry: Sent all proper documentation to info.uovz@gobiernti.cw at least 3 days prior to departure.
What it costs

No fee is published. The Ministry letter names no charge for pre-approval, which is not the same as the pre-approval being free — confirm when applying.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

Phone
+599 9 461 4000

Rabies

Vaccination
Requiredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Min. age at vaccination
84 days (SECONDARY, NOT OFFICIAL. The same commercial pet-travel site frames its 12-week figure as a bar on entry — "Puppies and kittens younger than 12 weeks of age are not permitted to enter Curaçao" — rather than purely as a vaccination age; it is recorded under age_restrictions as well for that reason. The Ministry letter states no minimum vaccination age at all, and no minimum import age; it requires only that the microchip precede the vaccination. Do not present this figure as the Department's rule.)confidence: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel.[3]
Min. before travel
21 days (SECONDARY, NOT OFFICIAL. A commercial pet-travel site states the rabies vaccination must be at least 21 days before entry. The Ministry letter imposes no waiting period between vaccination and travel; it requires only that the vaccination be current per the manufacturer. Confirm with UOVZ rather than relying on this number.)confidence: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel.[3]
Max. before travel
Not documented BY THE MINISTRY as a fixed figure. The letter defers to the vaccine manufacturer's recommendations and requires the period of validity to be written on the certificate, so the vaccine's own validity governs, and it publishes no outer limit in months or years. A commercial pet-travel site does publish one — vaccination "at least 21 days and 12 months prior to entering Curaçao", with multi-year vaccines accepted — but that is secondary and is not recorded here as a figure. Confirm with UOVZ if you carry a three-year vaccine given more than a year ago.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.[3]
Boosters, and what the certificate must show

Vaccinated or revaccinated with an INACTIVATED rabies vaccine, in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. The vaccine must at least comply with Chapter 1.1.8, Principles of veterinary vaccine production (2022 edition), of the WOAH Terrestrial Manual. The date of vaccination must be on the health certificate and cannot precede the date the microchip was implanted. The name of the vaccine, the manufacturing laboratory, the batch number, the expiry date and the period of validity must all appear on the certificate too — a bare "rabies, in date" line will not satisfy it.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
Not documented. The Ministry letter sets out no rabies antibody titre requirement of any kind and names no threshold, laboratory or waiting period.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.

Veterinary health certificate

Certificate
Requiredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Completed within
14 days (The certificate must have "a validity of not older than 2 (two) weeks". The letter does not say whether the two weeks run to the date of departure or to the date of arrival — on a passage of any length the difference decides whether the paperwork is still good at the dock.)confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Gov. endorsement
Requiredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Form
Official International Veterinary Certificate on the model of Chapter 5.11 of the WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code, issued and endorsed by the official government veterinarian and signed by a certified veterinarian. The letter does not say whose official government veterinarian — the exporting country's is the natural reading, but it is not stated.
What the certificate must say

"They have to be accompanied by an Official International Veterinary Certificate, complying with the model of Chapter 5.11 of the WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code, issued and endorsed by the official government veterinarian and signed by a certified veterinarian with a validity of not older than 2 (two) weeks."confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

Parasite treatment

Internal

The animal must be free of endoparasites. The veterinarian certifies treating it within 14 days prior to departure with a registered endoparasitic agent as instructed by the manufacturer, and the date and the product used must be written on the health certificate.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

External

The animal must be free of ectoparasites. The veterinarian certifies treating it as instructed by the manufacturer with a registered systemic/oral or topical ectoparasitic agent having long-lasting persistent efficacy of at least 28 days, within 14 days prior to departure. The date, the TIME and the product used must all be written on the health certificate.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

Timing

Both treatments within 14 days prior to departure. Note the 28-day efficacy condition on the ectoparasite product: a short-acting treatment does not qualify however recently it was given.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

After the treatments the animal has to be kept free of ecto- and endoparasites — the obligation continues through the passage, it is not discharged by the pre-departure dose.[1]

Identification

Microchip
Requiredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Standard
An ISO (International Standards Organization) microchip, registered electronically. The letter says "ISO-microchip" without citing ISO 11784 or 11785 by number and does not mention providing a reader for a non-conforming chip.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Chip before rabies
The chip must be implanted before the rabies vaccinationconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

The microchip number and the date it was applied must both be written on the health certificate, and the date of implantation cannot be later than the date of the rabies vaccination. An animal chipped after it was vaccinated does not satisfy this — it needs revaccinating after the chip goes in.[1]

Animals & vaccinations

Dogs

Min. age
84 days (SECONDARY, NOT OFFICIAL. A commercial pet-travel site states flatly that "Puppies and kittens younger than 12 weeks of age are not permitted to enter Curaçao" — an entry bar, not merely a vaccination-timing rule. The Ministry letter sets no minimum age for import at all. Confirm with UOVZ before travelling with a young animal; a bar on entry is not something to test on arrival.)confidence: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel.[3]

Breed restrictionsconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

  • Pit-bull terrier type dog (prohibited)

Cats

Min. age
84 days (SECONDARY, NOT OFFICIAL. A commercial pet-travel site states flatly that "Puppies and kittens younger than 12 weeks of age are not permitted to enter Curaçao" — an entry bar, not merely a vaccination-timing rule. The Ministry letter sets no minimum age for import at all. Confirm with UOVZ before travelling with a young animal; a bar on entry is not something to test on arrival.)confidence: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel.[3]

Other health requirements

Note
WHAT THE ORIGIN BAN MEANS FOR A BOAT. Curaçao is about 65 km off Venezuela, and the natural approach to it is from Colombia — Cartagena, Santa Marta, the San Blas — or from Venezuela. That approach is closed to a dog or a cat. The letter does not define "from": whether a boat that cleared out of Cartagena with an animal that lives aboard is caught by it, or whether an animal that only transited is, is not addressed. The letter covers ferrets throughout, but requirement 8 names only dogs and cats, so whether the origin ban reaches a ferret is unstated — which is why the two items above are filed under dogs and cats alone. BREED BAN: requirement 9 prohibits the importation of a pit-bull terrier type dog. It is graded at `animals.dogs.breed_restrictions` and is not repeated here; what the graded value cannot say is that "type" is not defined anywhere in the letter and that no other breed is named.
Dogs
  • No vaccination other than rabies is required, and no disease test of any kind is specified. Rabies is the only vaccine named in the letter's ten numbered requirements, and they set out no serology, blood test or laboratory screening for a dog or a cat.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]
Cats
  • No vaccination other than rabies is required, and no disease test of any kind is specified. Rabies is the only vaccine named in the letter's ten numbered requirements, and they set out no serology, blood test or laboratory screening for a dog or a cat.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.[1]

Sources

  1. 1

    Import requirements Curaçao for dogs, cats and ferrets — Curaçao Department of Veterinary Affairs (UOVZ), Ministry of Health, Environment & Nature

    veterinary authorityAccessed 2026-08-12Published 2023-09-19archived copy

  2. 2

    Contact — UO Veterinaire Zaken — Curaçao Department of Veterinary Affairs (UOVZ)

    veterinary authorityAccessed 2026-08-12archived copy

  3. 3

    Curaçao Pet Import Requirements — PetTravel.com

    secondaryAccessed 2026-08-12archived 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: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel. non-government sourceconfidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet. not yet documented· How we grade