Rabies-Free Countries and Political Units

Dogs may be imported without a valid rabies vaccination certificate if they have lived for a minimum of 6 months, or since birth, in a country that is considered by CDC to be free of rabies in land animals, as listed below.

Following importation, all dogs are subject to state and local vaccination or health certificate requirements. All pet dogs arriving in the state of Hawaii and the territory of Guam, even from the U.S. mainland, are subject to locally imposed quarantine requirements. Additional information can be found in the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control [PDF - 13 pages].

* This list is only intended to define which countries are considered by CDC to be “rabies-free” for the purpose of waiving the rabies vaccination requirement under 42 CFR 71.51(c)(1). The countries on this list are those that have not reported recent cases of rabies in land animals and that have adequate disease surveillance for rabies cases as determined by CDC. Countries on this list might still have circulating bat lyssaviruses, which can cause the disease, rabies, in people. This list is subject to change at any time based on reports of rabies cases in a country and changes in CDC’s confidence in a country‘s disease surveillance for rabies. People intending to import dogs that are not fully immunized against rabies into the United States under the rabies-free country exception should check this site to confirm that the country of origin remains on the list of rabies-free countries before transporting the dog to the United States.