Mainland United States

North Carolina

No import permitRabies vaccine neededVet certificate: sources disagreeNo quarantine

Where the animal may not come from

Dogs

A FOREIGN-VACCINATED DOG THAT HAS BEEN IN A HIGH-RISK COUNTRY IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS CANNOT BE LANDED FROM A BOAT AT ANY US SEAPORT. CDC: "Dogs that have been in ANY high- risk countries in the last 6 months and have a valid Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip form 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 too. AND IN PUERTO RICO AND THE US VIRGIN ISLANDS THERE IS NO ROUTE AT ALL, BY SEA OR AIR: "There are currently no CDC-registered animal care facilities in Alaska, Hawaii, or U.S. territories; therefore, these dogs may not enter the U.S. through Alaska, Hawaii, or a U.S. territory." Eight destinations on this site are on CDC's high-risk list — Belize, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Suriname and Venezuela — so a boat that has called at any of them with a dog vaccinated outside the United States has no lawful way to bring that dog ashore here, however good its paperwork. WHAT DOES NOT FALL UNDER IT: a dog that has been only in rabies-free or low-risk countries for six months "Can enter at any port of entry", seaports included; and a US-vaccinated dog carrying a valid Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination — which must be endorsed by USDA BEFORE the dog leaves the United States — may also use any seaport. The single sea exception is a service dog as defined in 14 CFR 382.3, travelling with the person it assists and holding a valid rabies titer from a CDC-approved laboratory; emotional-support and companion animals are expressly not service animals. Cats are not covered by this rule. Not answered anywhere: whether a dog that stays aboard at anchor in a high-risk country "has been in" it. CDC answers that only for a service dog on a cruise ship, which it treats as not having been in the country if it does not disembark.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[4,3]

This is a bar, not a condition — no permit, fee or waiting period is offered as a way through it. Check it before you plan the passage, not on arrival.

Before you sail

Rabies vaccine; at least 4 months old when vaccinated
Veterinary health certificate — sources disagree whether it is required
Parasite treatment — internal and external
Microchip
Dogs vaccinated against: Rabies (required)
Cats vaccinated against: Rabies (required)
Dogs and cats at least 4 months old

Not requiredImport permit · Quarantine

Not documented Rabies titer test

Fees

Permit

No North Carolina charge, and no state document to pay for. What the state asks of an arriving dog, cat or ferret is current rabies vaccination, and G.S. 130A-193(b)(2) makes a licensed veterinarian's certificate the way to avoid confinement — all of it obtained privately. G.S. 130A-193 sets the vaccination and confinement conditions and creates no charge. The Veterinary Division's own rules carry exactly one fee provision in the whole of 02 NCAC 52B — Rule .0405, "a fee of four dollars ($4.00) per sample" for an equine infectious anemia blood test — and Rule .0211, "IMPORTATION REQUIREMENTS: DOGS", was repealed effective 1 October 1987. A FINDING ABOUT THE STATE, NOT ABOUT WHAT THE LANDFALL COSTS: the inherited federal requirements and your own veterinarian are separate and are not priced here.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5,7,13]

Inspection

Not published. No North Carolina source describes a state inspection of a dog or cat on arrival, and none prices one — the DPH import page, the NCDA&CS import page and 02 NCAC 52B are all silent on an inspection charge for a dog or cat. That is an absence of published information, not a finding that an inspection would be free.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.

THE COSTS THAT DO EXIST ARE CONTINGENT, AND NO SCHEDULE FOR THEM IS PUBLISHED. The upkeep of a quarantined animal falls on the owner: the State Veterinarian's African swine fever dog-import memo provides that "Pursuant to North Carolina General Statute § 106-401, the animal shall be maintained by the owner of the animal or the owner or operator of the premises at the expense of the owner of the animal or the owner or operator of the premises." No figure attaches to that anywhere.^[9]

Timeline

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

ArrivalPresent the certificate; clear the animal before going ashore.

Most of this page is not this territory’s own rule

United States — federal entry layer (CDC)·42 CFR 71.51 (Foreign Quarantine — dogs and cats)

What establishes that

NOTHING CITED HERE ESTABLISHES IT, AND THE LAYER IS APPLIED ANYWAY. The federal rules on this page reach North Carolina because they are the United States' own import law and North Carolina is a US state — which is true, and is not the same as sourced. No document in this file's chain states that 42 CFR 71.51 or 9 CFR 93.600 applies to an arrival at a North Carolina port, nor does any North Carolina source acknowledge the federal layer for dogs and cats the way Florida's and the US Virgin Islands' do. The requirements themselves are cited; the reason they are listed on this page is not. Treat the federal half as binding — CBP clears the arrival — and the gap as this file's, not the law's.confidence: Unknown. Not located in any source yet.

On arrival & aboard

At the dock: WHO ACTUALLY CHECKS, ON THE EVIDENCE FOUND. Nobody from the State of North Carolina, as far as any published source shows. NCDA&CS's own import page hands dogs, cats and ferrets to the Division of Public Health, and its FAQ sends the caller to DPH too; DPH in turn publishes a requirement but no procedure, no port, no inspection and no contact for a sea arrival. The clearance a boat actually performs is federal: under 19 CFR 4.2 and 19 U.S.C. 1433 the operator of a small pleasure vessel arriving from a foreign port must report to CBP immediately, and CBP offers the ROAM app or a telephone report in place of a face-to-face inspection. That is a customs and immigration process, not an animal-health one, and nothing located puts a state agriculture or public-health officer on a dock at Beaufort or Morehead City. None of which makes the state requirement optional — arriving from a foreign port also makes this an international import into the United States, so the inherited CDC rules for any dog aboard apply on top of North Carolina's own, and CBP is the agency that would see the CDC paperwork.
By yacht: Beaufort and Morehead City are the classic offshore return landfall from the Virgin Islands or Bermuda, and a boat arriving there from any foreign port is making an international arrival into the United States even though North Carolina is a US state — the inherited CDC dog rules apply on top of anything the state asks. Coming up the Intracoastal Waterway from Florida or Georgia instead is domestic movement, and only the state layer applies. The state layer itself does not turn on which of those you did, which is why the confinement duty above is graded the way it is. What changes with the offshore route is the federal half, and the fact that no veterinarian has seen the animal for however long the passage took — which is exactly the position G.S. 130A-193(b)(2) asks you not to be in. The ASF quarantine, and the ten days' notice that goes with it, are also in quarantine and arrival_procedures; this section records only what they mean for an animal living aboard.

Quarantine

None required^[5]

Evidence for Quarantine

The only requirement for these animals is that they be currently vaccinated against rabies when entering the state, or receive a rabies vaccination within one week of entry (if of appropriate age) in accordance with NCGS 130A-185 and 130A-193.

Duration

14 days (Not a routine quarantine. This is the statutory confinement that follows vaccination under G.S. 130A-193(a) when an animal arrives not currently vaccinated — two weeks after the shot, on top of immediate confinement and vaccination within one week of entry.)^[7]

What it costs, and who pays

Under the ASF notice, and G.S. 106-401 which it invokes, a quarantined animal "shall be maintained by the owner of the animal or the owner or operator of the premises at the expense of the owner". No schedule of charges is published.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[9]

If your papers are not in order

No routine quarantine for a currently vaccinated animal. Three separate hooks exist, and a cruiser should know all three. (1) G.S. 130A-193(a): an animal brought into the State that is required to be vaccinated and is not currently vaccinated must be immediately securely confined, vaccinated within one week of entry, and confined for two weeks after that. (2) AFRICAN SWINE FEVER — the one NCDA&CS instrument that expressly reaches an internationally arriving dog. The State Veterinarian's memo of 17 July 2020 covers "all dogs that originate from or travel through a country in which ASF has been diagnosed within the past five (5) years", asks importers to contact the Veterinary Division at least ten days before arrival, and provides that the Division "may issue a quarantine ... upon arrival in North Carolina", for a minimum of ten days, with isolation from the public and from swine, controlled disposal of feces and of transport-associated material, and the quarantine site subject to inspection and approval. ASF reappeared in the Americas in the Dominican Republic in July 2021 and then in Haiti, and it is not a hypothetical for a boat that came north through Hispaniola. Cats are not covered by the memo. (3) 02 NCAC 52B .0201(a), which is species-neutral and origin-neutral: no animal affected with or exposed to an infectious, contagious or communicable disease, or originating from a quarantine area for it, may be moved into the state without the written permission of the State Veterinarian.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5,7,9]

Open questions

High priority

HIGH PRIORITY for a boat coming north through the Greater Antilles — is the NCDA&CS International Dog Importation notice for African Swine Fever countries still in force, and which countries currently fall inside its rolling five-year window? The memo says "This notice shall be in effect until rescinded" and is still linked from the live NCDA&CS import page, but it is dated 17 July 2020 and signed by a State Veterinarian who has since been succeeded. NCDA&CS publishes no list of qualifying countries. ASF was confirmed in the Dominican Republic in July 2021 and in Haiti soon after, which places a common Caribbean stop right on the boundary of a five-year lookback in 2026 — that is precisely the kind of question this file must not answer by arithmetic. Ask the Veterinary Division (+1 919 707 3250) whether your itinerary triggers it, and do so early enough to give the ten days' notice the memo asks for.

Also open

Resolve the conflict recorded under veterinary_certificate. NC DPH says no ICVI is required for dogs, cats or ferrets and that the only requirement is a current rabies vaccination. G.S. 130A-193(b)(2), which is what actually spares an arriving animal the confinement in subsection (a), describes an animal "accompanied by a certificate issued by a licensed veterinarian" attesting to three things, only one of which a rabies certificate states. Ask DPH what document an owner is expected to hold at the moment of entry, and whether a rabies vaccination certificate alone is treated as satisfying the statutory exception.
Does the New World Screwworm order reach an animal arriving from a foreign country where screwworm occurs? It is headed "Interstate Movement Requirements", its Infested and Surveillance Zones are US designations, and it says nothing about foreign origin — yet it covers dogs and cats explicitly. Establish which countries, if any, NCDA&CS treats as triggering it, and note that if the order were applied to a sea arrival its 7-day ICVI window would be unsatisfiable on an ocean passage. Ask NC-ICVI@ncagr.gov or the Livestock Health Programs office directly.
Establish whether anyone inspects an animal at a North Carolina seaport arrival. Nothing located describes a state procedure, a port of entry for animals, an appointment, or an officer to present the animal to; NCDA&CS routes companion animals to DPH and DPH publishes no arrival process. Confirm with both agencies what, if anything, a yacht arriving at Beaufort or Morehead City with a dog or cat aboard is expected to do beyond the federal CBP report.
Is 02 NCAC 52B .0201(a) — which requires the State Veterinarian's written permission before any animal affected with or exposed to a communicable disease, or from a quarantine area, is moved into the state — applied in practice to a dog or cat off a private yacht? It is species-neutral and origin-neutral on its face, and it is the only Administrative Code hook that still reaches these species now that 02 NCAC 52B .0211 has been repealed.
No outer limit is published on how old a rabies vaccination may be; the requirement is only that the animal be "currently vaccinated". Confirm that a three-year vaccine still within its labelled duration of immunity is accepted as current, and whether the state relies on the product's label or on any figure of its own.
G.S. 130A-185(b) restricts which rabies vaccine may be used and who may administer it "on animals in this State". Confirm whether a vaccination given abroad — by a Caribbean veterinarian, with a product not USDA-licensed — is accepted as making the animal "currently vaccinated" for the purposes of G.S. 130A-193, or whether such an animal is treated as unvaccinated and therefore caught by the confinement rule.
Nothing addresses an animal that stays aboard and never lands, so no transit section is authored here.

About this page’s sources

Verify the inherited CDC federal requirements against cdc.gov, which blocks automated access and could not be read directly at author time.

Page status

Mainland United States · State of the United StatesDataset status Inferredconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.Last checked 2026-10-06 Recently checkedfreshness: Recently checked. Sources were last re-read 6 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^[5,13]

What it costs

No fee is published for bringing a dog or cat into North Carolina, because no permit or certificate is issued. Costs appear only if an animal is quarantined, and those fall on the owner.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5,13]

Phone: +1 919 707 3250
Official page: https://epi.dph.ncdhhs.gov/cd/diseases/importexport.html

Rabies

Vaccination

Required^[6,5]

Min. age at vaccination

120 days (Vaccination required for a dog, cat or ferret over four months of age.)^[6]

Min. before travel

Not documented. Neither the statutes nor the DPH page states any waiting period between vaccination and entry. This is an absence of information, not a stated exemption.

Max. before travel

Not published as a figure. The requirement is that the animal be "currently vaccinated against rabies", so the vaccine's own duration of immunity governs and North Carolina names no outer limit in months or years. No number is recorded here rather than one being invented; a three-year vaccine still in date reads as current on the face of it.^[5,7]

Boosters, and what the certificate must show

An animal that is NOT currently vaccinated on arrival falls under G.S. 130A-193(a): it "shall immediately be securely confined and shall be vaccinated against rabies within one week after entry. The animal shall remain confined for two weeks after vaccination." For a cruising boat that is the real consequence of letting a vaccination lapse mid-season — as much as three weeks of confinement at the end of an ocean passage, not a fine. Note also that G.S. 130A-185(b) restricts what may be used and who may administer it "on animals in this State": only an animal rabies vaccine licensed by the USDA and approved by the Commission, given by a licensed veterinarian, a registered veterinary technician under direct supervision, or a certified rabies vaccinator. That governs a vaccination given in North Carolina; whether it is read to disqualify a vaccination given abroad is not addressed by any source located.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[7,6]

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 documented

Veterinary health certificate

Certificate

Required^[5,7]

Completed within

NO WINDOW IS SET BY ANYTHING NORTH CAROLINA DISPLAYS. DPH's page says no certificate is required at all, and the certificate G.S. 130A-193(b)(2) accepts in place of confinement carries no validity period. The thirty days often attributed to North Carolina comes from a retired "Importation Requirements" section that survives only inside an HTML comment in the page's source, unseen by any visitor; the statute it named has no thirty-day language either. In practice have the (b)(2) certificate written as close to sailing as you can: it has to say the animal "has not been exposed to rabies", and the older it is, the less it covers.^[7,5]

Gov. endorsement

Not yet documented

Form: None required. NC DPH eliminated the ICVI requirement for dogs, cats and ferrets entering North Carolina; NCDA&CS's own import page routes those three species to DPH rather than listing a form., A current rabies vaccination certificate is the document that actually does the work, since the only stated requirement is that the animal be currently vaccinated on entry., A certificate from a licensed veterinarian stating that the animal is apparently free from rabies, has not been exposed to rabies, and is currently vaccinated is what G.S. 130A-193(b)(2) describes as the exception to the confinement rule. Carrying one costs nothing and closes the gap described under official_wording.

Arriving by sea

FIRST, WHETHER THE DOG CAN LAND HERE AT ALL. A dog vaccinated outside the United States that has been in a high-risk country in the last six months cannot enter at any US seaport — CDC allows it in only "at a U.S. airport with a CDC-registered animal care facility" — so Beaufort is closed to it whatever its certificate says; see the warning at the top of this page. FOR EVERY OTHER ANIMAL, NORTH CAROLINA ITSELF SETS NO CLOCK FOR A PASSAGE TO BREAK. A boat coming up from the Virgin Islands or in from Bermuda may be seven to twelve days at sea with no possibility of seeing a veterinarian; the state publishes no window on the certificate that keeps an animal out of confinement (see certificate_timing), so nothing expires mid-ocean on the state's side. THE CLOCK THAT DOES BITE IS FEDERAL, AND IT IS TIGHT: 9 CFR 93.600(a)(1), carried in the inherited us-federal layer, requires a dog from a screwworm-affected region to hold a certificate from a full-time salaried government veterinary official inspected within FIVE DAYS preceding shipment to the United States. Five days to departure, from a government vet, is the hardest document to arrange on this whole page — check the APHIS region list against your last port before you plan the passage. Two other windows the state publishes are drafted for movement over a state line and neither reaches a dog or cat off a yacht: 30 days on the livestock health certificate under 02 NCAC 52B .0202, and 7 days on the New World Screwworm ICVI that NCDA&CS began requiring on 15 June 2026 for warm-blooded animals — dogs and cats included — moving in from a designated Infested or Surveillance Zone in another US state. Do not read the absence of a window as an absence of preparation: the rabies vaccination still has to be current ON ARRIVAL, and that is a date fixed before departure, not at the dock.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5,13,10,4]

What the certificate must say

Two official North Carolina sources pull in different directions, so both are quoted rather than one being picked. NC Division of Public Health: "Interstate Certificates of Veterinary Inspection (ICVIs) are no longer required for dogs, cats and ferrets for entry into North Carolina. The only requirement for these animals is that they be currently vaccinated against rabies when entering the state, or receive a rabies vaccination within one week of entry (if of appropriate age) in accordance with NCGS 130A-185 and 130A-193." But the statutory exception that spares an arriving animal the confinement rule, G.S. 130A-193(b)(2), is written in terms of a document the animal carries: "An animal brought into this State accompanied by a certificate issued by a licensed veterinarian showing that the animal is apparently free from and has not been exposed to rabies and that the animal is currently vaccinated against rabies." A rabies vaccination certificate proves the last of those three things; it does not on its face state the first two. `required` is recorded as true because that is the safer direction for a cruiser to prepare in — carry a veterinarian's certificate saying all three things. Whatever the state means, a certificate covering the (b)(2) attestations, written as close to sailing as you can, satisfies both readings. Do not rely on the thirty-day rule sometimes quoted from the same DPH page: it sits inside an HTML comment in the page's source and is not displayed.confidence: Conflicting. Sources disagree — verify before you rely on it.^[5,7]

Parasite treatment

Internal

Nothing published by NC DPH or NCDA&CS requires an internal parasite treatment for a dog or cat entering North Carolina.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5,8]

External

Nothing published requires an external parasite treatment either. The one parasite the state has recently written about is New World Screwworm, and what it asks for there is an inspection statement rather than a treatment — see the note below.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5,8,10]

NEW WORLD SCREWWORM, AND WHY IT IS AN INTERSTATE RULE. Announced on 15 June 2026 and effective immediately, NCDA&CS requires that warm-blooded animals — the accompanying press release names "livestock, horses, dogs and cats" — entering North Carolina from a designated New World Screwworm Infested Zone carry an ICVI valid no more than 7 days from inspection, bearing the statement "All animals listed have been inspected and found free of evidence of NWS infestation", with an entry permit number requested at least 48 hours before movement. Animals from a Surveillance Zone need the same ICVI and statement; that paragraph does not mention a permit number. The notice is headed "Interstate Movement Requirements" and its zones are US ones — the detections were in Texas and New Mexico. It says nothing whatever about an animal arriving from a foreign country, which is a gap worth noticing rather than assuming either way: the State Veterinarian's own explanation of the US detections was "the close proximity to Northern Mexico", so foreign origin is plainly on NCDA&CS's mind even though the notice does not reach it in terms. A 7-day ICVI is in any case exactly the kind of window an ocean passage cannot satisfy. Whether NCDA&CS reads its own notice as reaching a dog landed off a yacht from a country where screwworm occurs is not answered by any source located, and is left as an outstanding question rather than decided here.^[10,11,8]

Identification

Microchip

Required^[2,4]

Standard

Any brand, but it must be detectable with a universal scanner. CDC names no ISO standard and no digit count.^[4]

CDC requires dogs entering the United States to be microchipped, and the chip number must appear on any accompanying rabies documentation. A territory may accept a collar tag for its own local rule, but that does not replace the federal microchip requirement for a dog arriving from abroad.^[2,4]

"If your dog's microchip number starts with a number other than 9, be sure to check with your veterinarian that it is readable. If the microchip cannot be scanned on arrival for a dog that has been in a high-risk country, the dog may be denied entry and returned to the country of departure at the importer's expense."^[4]

Nothing published by NC DPH or NCDA&CS requires a microchip for a dog or cat entering North Carolina — the state's stated requirement is a current rabies vaccination, not a form of identification. The inherited CDC requirement is stricter for a dog arriving from a foreign port, where a microchip is required, so a chip is the safer choice for a cruising boat regardless of what the state asks.^[5,8,2]

Animals & vaccinations

Dogs

Min. age

120 days (G.S. 130A-185(a) requires the owner of a dog over four months of age to have it vaccinated against rabies. Note the separate CDC minimum age of six months in the inherited federal layer, which governs a dog arriving from abroad and is the binding figure for a boat coming in from the Caribbean or Bermuda.)^[6,5]

Vaccinesconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[6,5]

Rabies (required)

Cats

Min. age

120 days (G.S. 130A-185(a) requires the owner of a cat over four months of age to have it vaccinated against rabies. This is a vaccination-age rule, not a bar on entry: no North Carolina source located refuses entry to a younger animal.)^[6,5]

Vaccinesconfidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[6,5]

Rabies (required)

Other health requirements

Note

CDC governs dogs specifically; it does not impose an equivalent federal import form on cats. Cats are governed by the inheriting jurisdiction's own requirements plus a general healthy-on-arrival expectation — and note that for a US STATE those requirements may be drafted for interstate movement and may not reach a foreign arrival at all. See the state files for how each one resolves that.

Dogs: CDC Dog Import Form — required for every dog entering the United States, including a US-vaccinated dog returning home. Submitted online before travel; carry the receipt.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[4]
Dogs must be at least 6 months old.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[4,2]
Dogs must appear healthy on arrival.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[4]
Dogs that have been in a high-risk rabies country in the previous 6 months face additional requirements: a rabies serology/titer and, in some cases, a CDC import permit. Which countries those are is not a judgement call — see the note below for CDC's list and the eight destinations on this site that are on it.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[4,3]
SCREWWORM CERTIFICATE — USDA/APHIS, and separate from anything CDC asks for. 9 CFR 93.600(a): "Dogs from any region of the world where screwworm is considered to exist may only be imported into the United States if they meet the requirements of paragraphs (a)(1) and (2)". Those are: "(1) Dogs must be accompanied by a certificate signed by a full-time salaried veterinary official of the region of origin stating that the dog has been inspected for screwworm within 5 days preceding its shipment to the United States" and "(2) The certificate must state that the dog is either free from screwworm or was found to be infested with screwworm and was held in quarantine and treated until free from screwworm prior to leaving the region of origin." READ THAT AS A CRUISER: it is not your own vet's certificate, it is a GOVERNMENT veterinary official's, it must be within FIVE DAYS of departure, and on many islands finding a full-time salaried government vet at short notice is the hard part. APHIS maintains the list of affected regions at aphis.usda.gov (Animal Health Status of Regions) and changes it by administrative action, so check it against your actual last port rather than assuming — this dataset does not reproduce the list. Cats are not covered: subpart F is headed "Dogs". The quoted paragraphs have been checked against the regulation: subpart F is now held in this repository, fetched from the eCFR XML API, and both quotes above appear in it verbatim.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[1]

THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IS HIGH RISK, AND THIS FILE SAID OTHERWISE UNTIL 2026-10-03. CDC's list is headed "These countries and political units are considered high risk for importing dog rabies into the United States" and it names the Dominican Republic. Eight destinations on this site are on that list: Belize, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Suriname and Venezuela. The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and the BVI are not on it, and neither is Nicaragua. US territories are not foreign countries for this purpose. The claim this replaces grouped the Dominican Republic with the not-high-risk islands and told a cruiser returning from there that the titer "does not normally apply" — it does, and a US-vaccinated dog also needs the Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination form endorsed before it leaves the United States, which cannot be arranged afterwards.^[3]

Sources

1
9 CFR 93.600, Importation of dogs — subpart F. Paragraph (a) carries the screwworm certificate requirement; paragraph (b) the tapeworm inspection for livestock-handling dogs. Text read from the 2026 annual edition. — United States — Code of Federal Regulations, Title 9 (Animals and Animal Products), APHIS/USDA
legalAccessed 2026-08-13no archive yet
2
Bringing a Dog into the United States — US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
healthAccessed 2026-08-10archived copy
3
High-Risk Countries for Dog Rabies — US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
healthAccessed 2026-10-03no archive yet
4
Frequently Asked Questions on Dog Importations — US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
healthAccessed 2026-08-22archived copy
5
Import/Export Requirements for Dogs, Cats & Ferrets — North Carolina Division of Public Health, Communicable Disease Branch
healthAccessed 2026-08-13Published 2019-12-16archived copy
6
N.C.G.S. § 130A-185 — Vaccination required — North Carolina General Assembly
legalAccessed 2026-08-13archived copy
7
N.C.G.S. § 130A-193 — Vaccination and confinement of animals brought into this State — North Carolina General Assembly
legalAccessed 2026-08-13archived copy
8
Veterinary — Import-Export Requirements — North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Veterinary Division
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13archived copy
9
North Carolina International Dog Importation Requirements From African Swine Fever Countries — North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Veterinary Division — State Veterinarian
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13Published 2020-07-17archived copy
10
Veterinary — New World Screwworm: Interstate Movement Requirements for New World Screwworm Detection — North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Veterinary Division
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13archived copy
11
NCDA&CS enacts movement restrictions on animals imported from states affected by New World Screwworm — North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Public Affairs Division
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13Published 2026-06-15archived copy
12
Veterinary — Frequently Asked Questions — North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Veterinary Division
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-13archived copy
13
02 NCAC 52B — Animal Disease: Quarantine; Admission of Livestock to North Carolina (Veterinary Division rules) — North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings
legalAccessed 2026-08-13archived copy
14
Pleasure Boat Reporting Requirements — US Customs and Border Protection
customsAccessed 2026-08-13archived copy
15
African swine fever — World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)
veterinary authorityAccessed 2026-08-13archived copy

Last checked October 2026 · 1 high-priority open question · 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