UA
Ukraine
✈️
US
United States
Pet Transport from Ukraine to the United States
16-24 weeks
Typical preparation
None
Quarantine on arrival
Very High
Route complexity
✓ Managed
Full door-to-door service
In short:
Preparing to move a pet from Ukraine to United States
typically takes around 16-24 weeks.
There is no routine quarantine on arrival for compliant pets.
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Overview
If you are relocating a pet from Ukraine to United States, the process is manageable once you know the sequence. Plan for approximately 16-24 weeks. This is a rigorous route with little room to compress the schedule. Pets with correct documentation skip quarantine entirely.
Use the timeline below to plan backwards from your travel date.
Step by step
The Ukraine to United States process
1
Before vaccination, ideally 6+ months before travel given the overland leg.
Microchip your pet with a universal-scanner-readable chip, before any rabies vaccination.
Responsible: Vet in Ukraine
2
At least 28 days before travel, but plan for far longer given the overland routing.
Administer the rabies vaccination, at least 28 days before intended US entry, using a vaccine that will not expire before arrival.
Responsible: Vet in Ukraine
3
Roughly 2 months before travel.
Draw blood for the rabies serology titre at least 30 days after vaccination and at least 28 days before entry, submit to a CDC-approved laboratory.
Responsible: Vet plus CDC-approved laboratory
4
Once titre results are through, ahead of the flight booking window.
Obtain Veterinary Certificate Form No. 1 in Ukraine, then travel overland to a Polish or Romanian border crossing and exchange it for an international veterinary certificate.
Responsible: Owner or transport agent
5
Within 30 days of travel.
Get the Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip form completed and endorsed, no more than 30 days before US entry.
Responsible: Vet in Poland or Romania, endorsed by official government vet
6
A few days before travel, and well before that for the facility reservation.
Complete the CDC Dog Import Form online and book a reservation at the CDC-registered animal care facility matching your arrival airport.
Responsible: Owner
7
Within the certificate validity windows.
Fly from Warsaw, Krakow, Rzeszow or a Romanian city to a CDC-eligible US gateway: Atlanta, Washington Dulles, New York JFK, Los Angeles, Miami or San Francisco.
Responsible: Owner plus airline cargo desk
8
Day of arrival.
Present all documents at the CDC-registered animal care facility on arrival. Without a valid titre, the dog begins a 28-day quarantine there.
Responsible: CDC-registered facility staff and CBP
Checklist
United States of America: entry requirements
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Microchip | Universal-scanner-readable microchip, implanted before the rabies vaccination. A vaccine given first is invalid and the schedule must restart. Source: CDC, cdc.gov/importation/dogs, updated 28 April 2026. |
| Rabies vaccination | Dog must be at least 12 weeks old at vaccination. First valid rabies vaccine given at least 28 days before US entry, and it must not expire during travel. A US-licensed rabies vaccine booster is then given at the CDC-registered animal care facility on arrival. |
| Rabies titre test | Not mandatory, but strongly advised. A rabies serology titre, blood drawn at least 30 days after the first valid vaccination and at least 28 days before entry, sent to a CDC-approved laboratory, avoids the alternative: 28 days of quarantine at a CDC-registered facility, entirely at the owner's cost. A passing result lasts the dog's lifetime provided vaccination stays current. |
| Quarantine | Not required for a dog arriving with a valid titre and complete paperwork. Without one, the dog is quarantined 28 days at the CDC-registered facility tied to the arrival airport, which can be shortened only if specific criteria in the CDC FAQs are met. |
| Import permit | CDC Dog Import Form, completed online before travel, free of charge, with a receipt emailed on submission. One form per dog, valid for a single entry on the stated arrival date only. Cats have no equivalent CDC form: USDA APHIS has no federal animal-health import requirement for pet cats, so this entire CDC process applies to dogs only. |
| Health certificate | Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip form (see origin side) plus, for many airlines and for interstate onward travel, a standard veterinary health certificate issued within 10 days of the flight. |
Leaving Ukraine
Export requirements
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Export permit | No standalone export permit for personal pets. Owners obtain Veterinary Certificate Form No. 1 from a state veterinary clinic, exchanged for an international veterinary certificate at the border checkpoint once the pet has crossed into Poland or Romania, since no working border-crossing vet post currently operates at a Ukrainian airport. |
| Health certificate | Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip form, completed by the Ukrainian vet and endorsed by an official government veterinarian. Completed no more than 30 days before US entry and valid for 30 days, one-time use only. This is a CDC-specific form, separate from the general Ukrainian export paperwork. |
Costs
What this route typically costs
| 1 | Ukrainian vet fees: microchip, vaccination, rabies serology titre at an approved laboratory: approximately USD 150-350 |
| 2 | Overland transport from Ukraine to a Polish or Romanian border town and onward to an airport: USD 300-900 |
| 3 | Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip form, completed and endorsed in Poland or Romania: USD 80-200 |
| 4 | CDC Dog Import Form: free of charge |
| 5 | IATA-compliant travel crate: USD 100-350 |
| 6 | Warsaw or Bucharest to a CDC-eligible US gateway, cargo fare: USD 1,500-3,500 depending on crate size and route |
| 7 | CDC-registered animal care facility fees on arrival: USD 200-500 for a compliant dog with a valid titre, rising sharply if the 28-day quarantine applies, since boarding, exams and revaccination there run into the thousands |
| 8 | Pet transport agent fee for coordinating the overland-plus-flight route: USD 500-1,200. Strongly recommended given the non-standard routing and the CDC facility reservation requirement |
Critical points
Read before you book
⚠ Ukraine is on the CDC's high-risk countries list for dog rabies, current as of the list's 15 April 2026 update. That triggers the full foreign-vaccinated-dog pathway: the CDC form, the Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip form, and a mandatory reservation at a CDC-registered animal care facility before the flight is booked, not after.
⚠ Ukrainian civilian airspace has been closed to all commercial flights since 24 February 2022 and remains closed as this guide is written in mid-2026. There is no flight out of Kyiv, Lviv or any other Ukrainian airport. Every pet move requires an overland leg to a working airport in Poland or Romania first.
⚠ A dog from a high-risk country can only land at one of six US airports with a CDC-registered animal care facility: Atlanta, Washington Dulles, New York JFK, Los Angeles, Miami or San Francisco. Booking a flight into any other US airport, including major hubs like Chicago O'Hare or Newark, will see the dog refused entry. Cats are not covered by this restriction at all, since USDA APHIS sets no federal rabies import requirement for pet cats.
⚠ There is no US equivalent of the UK's Homes for Ukraine pet import licence. The US humanitarian parole route for Ukrainians, Uniting for Ukraine, covers people only and makes no separate provision for pets. A Ukrainian family entering the US under that scheme still has to meet the same CDC high-risk-country dog process as anyone else, with no fast-track and no waived titre.
Carriers
Airlines on this route
LOT Polish Airlines
Not a Ukraine departure option, since no airline flies out of Ukraine. Once your pet has crossed overland into Poland, LOT operates a daily nonstop Warsaw (WAW) to New York JFK service on Boeing 787 aircraft. JFK is one of the six CDC-approved gateway airports with a registered animal care facility, which makes this the most direct realistic booking for a Ukraine-to-US dog move.
United Airlines
Flies Warsaw or Frankfurt to several US hubs, including Newark. Newark is not one of the six CDC gateway airports for high-risk-country dogs, so any United routing must still terminate at Atlanta, Washington Dulles, JFK, Los Angeles, Miami or San Francisco to be usable for a dog on this route. Confirm the specific itinerary lands at an eligible airport before booking.
Lufthansa
An alternative connection via Frankfurt or Munich onward to a CDC-eligible US gateway, useful for owners routing out through Romania or western Ukraine toward a German hub rather than Warsaw.
United States import rules, explained
United States runs a strict import regime, so every document is checked closely on arrival. Build your plan around the fixed waiting periods, because they set the pace for everything else.
Practical tips for this move
Get your pet used to the travel crate weeks in advance. A calm, crate-familiar animal travels far better than one meeting the crate for the first time at the airport.
Confirm live animal acceptance on every flight segment before booking. Not all aircraft or connections take pets, and cargo terms can differ leg to leg.
Keep every original document together and take copies. Border officials want originals, and a missing signature or date can hold up clearance.
Work backwards from your travel date and add a buffer. Fixed waiting periods mean a single slipped appointment can push the whole move back by weeks.
FAQ
Common questions
Yes. Ukraine appears on the CDC’s high-risk countries list for dog rabies, which the CDC last updated on 15 April 2026. That means a dog from Ukraine has to follow the CDC’s foreign-vaccinated, high-risk-country entry pathway rather than the simpler process available to dogs from rabies-free or low-risk countries.
No. Ukrainian civilian airspace has been closed to all commercial flights since 24 February 2022 and remains closed as of mid-2026. There is no flight departing any Ukrainian airport. Pets have to travel overland into Poland or Romania first, then fly on from a working airport there.
Only six: Atlanta, Washington Dulles, New York JFK, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. These are the only US airports with a CDC-registered animal care facility, and a foreign-vaccinated dog from a high-risk country like Ukraine cannot land anywhere else. Cats are not subject to this restriction, since USDA APHIS has no federal rabies import requirement for pet cats.
No. The US humanitarian parole route for Ukrainians, Uniting for Ukraine, covers people only and includes no separate pet pathway, unlike the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme which offers a pet import licence with an option for home isolation instead of quarantine. A dog or cat entering the US under that programme still needs to meet the standard CDC and USDA requirements described on this page.
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