Leeward Islands

US Virgin Islands

No import permitRabies vaccine neededNo titer testVet certificate within 10 days of arrivalNo 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 between 1 year and 10 days before arrival; at least 3 months old when vaccinated
Veterinary health certificate issued within 10 days of arrival
Microchip
Dogs vaccinated against: Rabies (required), Leptospirosis (recommended by VI Veterinary Services), Distemper (recommended), Hepatitis (recommended), Parvovirus (recommended)
Cats vaccinated against: Rabies (required), Feline viral rhinotracheitis (recommended), Panleukopenia (recommended), Feline leukemia (recommended)
Dogs and cats at least 3 months old

Not requiredImport permit · Rabies titer test · Quarantine

Timeline

1 year – 10 days before arrivalRabies vaccine given in this window
10 days – arrivalVeterinary health certificate issued in this window
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

THE TERRITORY'S OWN DEPARTMENT SAYS THE FEDERAL LAYER APPLIES, WHICH IS WHY THIS PAGE CARRIES BOTH: "All animals entering the US Virgin Islands, that originate from outside of the United States or Puerto Rico, are subject to U.S. Virgin Islands regulations as well as federal import regulations and inspection from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service." A boat arriving from the British Virgin Islands or Saint Martin is making a foreign arrival into the United States and owes both sets of rules; one arriving from Puerto Rico or the mainland owes only the territorial ones.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5]

On arrival & aboard

At the dock: Veterinary Services is reachable Monday–Friday, 08:00–17:00 AST (David Wenger, DVM — david.wenger@doa.vi.gov, +1 340 642 7320). Arrange clearance inside those hours where possible.
By yacht: Arriving under sail from any port outside the United States makes the trip an international import even though the USVI is US territory: "All animals entering the US Virgin Islands, that originate from outside of the United States or Puerto Rico, are subject to U.S. Virgin Islands regulations as well as federal import regulations and inspection from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service" — so the CDC dog rules in the inherited federal layer apply on top of these territorial requirements. Sailing directly from Puerto Rico or the US mainland is domestic movement instead. That is a statement about which regime applies rather than a condition on the animal aboard, which is why it stays here and fills none of the fields above. Contact Veterinary Services before you sail; the published 1-business-day email step belongs to the paragraph for arrivals direct from the US or Puerto Rico, and nothing is published for a foreign arrival by private boat — see the arrival section for what that does and does not mean.

Quarantine

None required^[5]

Duration

10 days (Applies only to non-compliant arrivals — a minimum, not a routine quarantine.)^[5]

What it costs, and who pays

Borne by the owner, and the government disclaims any responsibility for what happens to the animal while it is held. The Department's page puts an inadequately vaccinated arrival in quarantine "for a minimum of 10 days at the owner's expense", and adds: "Please note that no liability will be incurred by the USVI government or our participating private quarantine facilities." No rate, bond or maximum is published, and the participating facilities are not named.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5]

If your papers are not in order

No routine quarantine for compliant animals. Animals arriving without the required documentation may be confiscated and quarantined for a minimum of 10 days.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5]

Open questions

Confirm whether a USDA endorsement is required in addition to veterinarian accreditation on the APHIS 7001 / CVI.
Confirm the rabies minimum age (3 months) against the official VI regulations — currently sourced only to a secondary site.
Confirm which vaccines beyond rabies are actually mandatory versus recommended; the official page recommends leptospirosis but a secondary source lists distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus as requirements.
Confirm the dockside-inspection procedure and advance notice for a yacht arriving from a foreign port directly with Veterinary Services (+1 340 642 7320) — the 24-hour figure comes from a secondary source.
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

Leeward Islands · Unincorporated territory 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]

Email: veterinaryservices@doa.vi.gov
Phone: +1 340 642 7320
Official page: https://doa.vi.gov/animal-imports/

Rabies

Vaccination

Required^[5]

Min. age at vaccination

90 days (Vaccination required for animals over 3 months of age.)^[6]

Min. before travel

10 days (A first-time rabies vaccination must be given at least 10 days before arrival. Booster vaccinations carry no waiting period.)^[5]

Max. before travel

365 days (Vaccination must be current — or an adequate FAVN titer drawn within 12 months.)^[5]

Boosters, and what the certificate must show

The rabies certificate must show the date of vaccination, the product used and the lot number. A current FAVN rabies antibody titer drawn within 12 months is accepted in place of a current vaccination.confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5]

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^[5]

Veterinary health certificate

Certificate

Required^[5]

Completed within

10 days (Completed by a USDA-accredited veterinarian (Category I or II, accreditation number shown on the certificate) within 10 days of arrival in the USVI.)^[5]

Gov. endorsement

Not yet documented

Form: APHIS 7001, Official state Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI), eCVI from a NASAHO-approved provider

What the certificate must say

"APHIS 7001 form, an official state CVI, or an eCVI from a company approved by NASAHO." (VI Department of Agriculture, Veterinary Services)confidence: Inferred. Backed by an official source but not yet certified by a human reviewer.^[5]

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]

Animals & vaccinations

Dogs

Min. age

90 days (Rabies vaccination required for dogs over 3 months of age; younger animals are refused entry until vaccinated. Note the separate CDC minimum age of 6 months for dogs arriving from abroad.)^[5,6]

Vaccinesconfidence: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel.^[5,6]

Rabies (required)
Leptospirosis (recommended by VI Veterinary Services)
Distemper (recommended)
Hepatitis (recommended)
Parvovirus (recommended)

Cats

Min. age

90 days (Rabies vaccination required for cats over 3 months of age; younger animals are refused entry until vaccinated.)^[5,6]

Vaccinesconfidence: Secondary. From a non-government source; treat as a lead, not gospel.^[5,6]

Rabies (required)
Feline viral rhinotracheitis (recommended)
Panleukopenia (recommended)
Feline leukemia (recommended)

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
Animal Import Regulations for the Virgin Islands — US Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture, Veterinary Services
agricultureAccessed 2026-08-10archived copy
6
US Virgin Islands Pet Import Requirements — PetTravel.com
secondaryAccessed 2026-08-10archived copy
7
Pet Travel to the US Virgin Islands (USVI) — The Caribbean Pet
secondaryAccessed 2026-08-10archived copy

Last checked October 2026 · 5 open questions · Sources & questions

What the dots mean

confidence: 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