Pet Transport Costa Rica to USA

For a dog from a low-risk country the list is short: the CDC Dog Import Form receipt, a microchip readable by a universal scanner, a minimum age of six months at entry, and an animal that appears healthy when it lands. The form is free, takes minutes online, and its receipt stays valid for six months across multiple entries so long as the dog does not visit a high-risk country in the meantime.

Notice what is absent. No rabies certificate is required by the CDC on this route, though vaccination remains sensible and is expected under Costa Rican domestic practice, and your destination US state may impose its own rules. No titre. No facility booking. No quarantine.

Cats are simpler still: the CDC imposes no import requirements on cats from anywhere. Hawaii and Guam run their own separate quarantine schemes, which is the only caveat worth remembering.

Costa Rica was added to the APHIS screwworm-affected region list with effect from August 2023, following New World screwworm detection. The consequence for pet owners is a certificate signed by a full-time salaried government veterinarian, confirming the dog was inspected for screwworm within five days before shipment to the United States. Costa Rica’s own veterinary college confirms the certification has to be handled inside that five-day window.

Plan the last week around it. The private authorised vet drafts the export certificate ten to fourteen days out; the screwworm inspection and official certification then happen inside the final five days, and SENASA signs off the export certificate through its Animal Quarantine Directorate. Any change of flight date in that window means redoing the inspection, not just re-dating a form.

One piece of good news specific to Costa Rica: it is on the APHIS foot-and-mouth-free list, so the arrival bathing and five-day livestock-separation conditions that apply to many origins do not apply here. Of the common Latin American origins, this is the one where that rule is switched off.

San Jose has eleven to fourteen nonstop US departures a day across a dozen airlines, and that abundance is misleading. United, the highest-frequency operator, carries no civilian pets at all, its PetSafe programme having been closed to the public since 2018. Delta restricts hold carriage to military and State Department moves. American, the second-busiest, takes pets in the cabin for 150 dollars but limits checked pets to active-duty military and State Department personnel on orders.

So for a cat or a dog under about 9kg with its carrier, you have real choice: American at 150 dollars, JetBlue at 125 one way (cabin only, no cargo at all, and Costa Rica is on its permitted international list), or Avianca at 110 to 200 depending on route.

For a medium or large dog, Avianca is the practical nonstop: up to 45kg including the carrier in a rigid IATA crate, booked at least 48 hours ahead, San Jose to Miami. Copa can also move a larger dog but only as cargo through Panama City, since it carries no live animal as checked baggage.

Because Costa Rica is low-risk, your arrival airport is unconstrained. Miami, JFK, Fort Lauderdale, anywhere at all. That freedom is worth using: pick the routing that gives the shortest total journey rather than one dictated by facility locations.