Importing Your Pet to Egypt

Forget the import permit: Egypt does not require one for a pet arriving with its owner. What Egypt does demand, and what sinks unprepared timelines, is legalisation. The country never joined the Apostille Convention, so your health certificate must be endorsed by your government’s vets, authenticated by your foreign ministry, and then legalised by the Egyptian embassy or consulate in your country. That chain can take a month; the certificate itself is only issued within 10 days of the flight, so the supporting documents go through legalisation early.

The veterinary requirements are conventional: ISO microchip, rabies given at least 30 days before entry, the standard companion vaccines for dogs and cats, and no titre test from rabies-controlled countries. On arrival at Cairo International a GOVS (General Organisation for Veterinary Services) vet inspects and releases compliant pets; there is no routine quarantine.

Getting the legalisation chain right

Work backwards from departure. The health certificate comes from a licensed vet within 10 days of the flight and needs government endorsement (APHA in the UK, CFIA in Canada, USDA in the US, the provincial directorate in Gulf states). The legalisation of supporting documents (vaccination record, ownership papers) starts weeks earlier through your foreign ministry and the Egyptian consulate, because consular queues do not respect pet travel dates.

Ask the Egyptian consulate handling your country exactly which documents need the full chain. Practice varies by origin, and a commercial legalisation service can compress the queue for a fee.

Arrival, breeds and species limits

Cairo International handles the bulk of pet arrivals and hosts the GOVS inspection office. Compliant pets clear after inspection. An animal showing signs of communicable disease can be held for up to 15 days at the owner’s cost; that is the only quarantine Egypt applies.

Breed and species rules matter more at booking than at the border. EgyptAir, the main carrier into Cairo, refuses Pit Bulls, all Pugs and all Bulldogs outright and keeps Exotic, Himalayan, Persian and Burmese cats out of the cabin. Egypt itself restricts the American Pit Bull Terrier, and prohibits imports of birds, reptiles, rodents and rabbits entirely. One or two pets per traveller passes as personal import; larger consignments become commercial.