VE
Venezuela
✈️
CA
Canada
Pet Transport from Venezuela to Canada
8-12 weeks
Typical preparation
None
Quarantine on arrival
High
Route complexity
✓ Managed
Full door-to-door service
In short:
Preparing to move a pet from Venezuela to Canada
typically takes around 8-12 weeks.
There is no routine quarantine on arrival for compliant pets.
A rabies titre test is not required.
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Overview
Planning a pet relocation from Venezuela to Canada is easier when you work backwards from your travel date. Allow about 8-12 weeks; the requirements are detailed but predictable once mapped out. Compliant pets are not held in quarantine on arrival.
No rabies titre test is required. The guide below walks through each stage so nothing gets missed.
Step by step
The Venezuela to Canada process
1
Start of planning.
Microchip the pet with a 15-digit ISO 11784/11785 chip, confirmed working, before any rabies vaccination is given.
Responsible: INSAI-registered vet in Venezuela
2
8-10 weeks before travel.
Rabies vaccination administered after the microchip. Confirm the dog will meet the minimum age described in current guidance for high-risk-country entry to Canada by the travel date.
Responsible: INSAI-registered vet
3
Within 30 days of export.
Dog heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) blood test, required by INSAI for dogs leaving Venezuela. Cats and puppies under six months are exempt.
Responsible: INSAI-registered vet
4
4-6 weeks before travel.
Apply for the RUNSAI export permit and INSAI zoosanitary inspection certificate.
Responsible: Owner or a Venezuela-based agent
5
As early as the disrupted schedule allows, then reconfirmed close to departure.
Confirm current flight routing given Maiquetia's closure: Valencia to Bogota to Toronto on Avianca throughout, or Valencia to Panama on Copa Airlines connecting to Air Canada.
Responsible: Owner or agent, with the airline's cargo desk
6
Within the certificate's stated validity before travel.
Collect the final INSAI-endorsed health certificate and vaccination card, both valid only for a short window before travel.
Responsible: INSAI-registered vet in Venezuela
7
Day of arrival.
Arrival at a CFIA-designated airport and CBSA border check. Confirm your arrival airport is currently on CFIA's list for high-risk-country dogs before booking.
Responsible: Cargo handler, CBSA and CFIA
Checklist
Canada: entry requirements
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Microchip | For a dog, current guidance treats this as strict rather than merely recommended: a 15-digit ISO 11784/11785 microchip implanted before, or on the same day as, the rabies vaccination, because Venezuela is one of the countries CFIA classifies as high-risk for dog rabies. Cats face no equivalent federal microchip rule. This detail is drawn from current third-party guidance rather than CFIA's own interactive import tool, which could not be checked line by line for this page. Confirm directly with CFIA before booking a vaccination appointment. |
| Rabies vaccination | Required for dogs over three months old, with the certificate stating the vaccine's trade name, serial number and expiry date. Current guidance also describes a minimum age of 7 months at the point of entry into Canada for a dog arriving from a high-risk country, on top of the standard vaccination timing. Cats face no CFIA rabies vaccination requirement at all. Source: CFIA, inspection.canada.ca, cross-referenced against current third-party guidance for the high-risk-country specifics. |
| Rabies titre test | Not required. Unlike the CDC's approach for the United States, CFIA's published position does not ask a dog from a high-risk country for a rabies serology titre test. A correctly completed standard vaccination certificate is enough. |
| Quarantine | No routine quarantine for a pet arriving in Canada with correct documentation, regardless of origin country. |
| Import permit | Genuinely unclear in current research. CFIA's own baseline position is that personal pet imports of one or two animals do not need an import permit, only commercial imports do. Several current third-party guides describe a further condition specific to dogs from high-risk countries, an official CFIA import permit applied for before travel, which could not be confirmed against CFIA's own published wording during this research. Confirm directly with CFIA or the Automated Import Reference System (AIRS) before relying on either version. |
| Health certificate | Official veterinary health certificate, valid for 10 days from the date of examination to the date of Canadian entry. |
Leaving Venezuela
Export requirements
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Export permit | Sanitary export permit applied for through the online RUNSAI portal, plus a separate INSAI zoosanitary inspection certificate. Standard guidance names the INSAI office at Simon Bolivar International Airport, Maiquetia, as the processing point, though that airport has been closed to scheduled commercial traffic since the June 2026 earthquake. Confirm with INSAI or an agent where processing currently happens before you travel. |
| Health certificate | International health certificate valid one month, current rabies vaccination certificate no more than a year old, current combined vaccination card (Sextuple for dogs, triple for cats), and an internal and external deworming certificate valid three months. Dogs also need a Dirofilaria immitis (heartworm) blood test within 30 days of export; cats and puppies under six months are exempt. |
Costs
What this route typically costs
| 1 | INSAI export documentation, RUNSAI permit fees and the dog heartworm test: USD 100-200 |
| 2 | Venezuela vet consultations and INSAI health certificate: USD 80-200 |
| 3 | IATA-compliant travel crate: USD 150-400 |
| 4 | Cargo fare, Venezuela to Canada via Valencia and Bogota on Avianca throughout, or via Panama on Copa Airlines connecting to Air Canada: CAD 2,800-5,000 depending on crate size and how many legs the itinerary needs |
| 5 | Agent and handling fees, given the high-risk-country paperwork and the Valencia routing: CAD 400-900 |
| 6 | Total typical range for a compliant dog: CAD 3,500-6,500, lower for a cat, since cats face none of CFIA's high-risk-country conditions for dogs |
Critical points
Read before you book
⚠ Simon Bolivar International Airport at Maiquetia has been closed to scheduled commercial traffic since twin earthquakes struck northern Venezuela on 24 June 2026. Re-checked for this page on 16 July 2026: the closure is still in effect, only military transport and authorised humanitarian flights are using the repaired runway, and aviation sources expect several months before normal operations resume. Avianca and Copa are running contingency flights via Valencia's Arturo Michelena airport in the meantime. Reconfirm the live routing directly with your carrier close to your travel date.
⚠ Venezuela is on CFIA's high-risk countries list for dog rabies, last updated 13 March 2025 and confirmed still current for this page. That is a different position from Brunei, the other origin covered on this site's Canada routes, which sits outside both of CFIA's special lists. A Venezuela-origin dog faces conditions a Brunei-origin dog does not: strict microchip-before-vaccine sequencing, a minimum age at entry described in current guidance, and entry restricted to a small set of Canadian airports. Cats are not affected by any of this, since CFIA has no federal rabies vaccination rule for cats at all.
⚠ Some of the high-risk-country specifics above, particularly whether an import permit applies to a personal pet dog and the exact minimum age figure, are drawn from current third-party guidance rather than confirmed word for word against CFIA's own interactive import tool, which this research could not fully check. Confirm directly with CFIA or a registered pet transport agent before booking flights or vet appointments around these figures.
Carriers
Airlines on this route
Avianca
Since Maiquetia's closure, Avianca has been running a Bogota to Valencia contingency service, connecting onward to its own established Bogota to Toronto nonstop route, flights AV204 and AV254, roughly 18 times a week. That keeps a Venezuela-origin pet on a single carrier from Valencia all the way to Toronto, once past the short Valencia to Bogota hop. Confirm live animal cargo space directly with Avianca Cargo close to your travel date.
Copa Airlines
Runs extra Panama to Valencia flights to cover the Caracas closure, connecting through its Panama City hub. Air Canada also serves Panama City directly from Canada, so this is a workable second routing if Avianca's Bogota-Toronto capacity is tight.
Air Canada
Handles the onward domestic leg if your final destination is not the arrival airport itself. Air Canada Cargo carries pets in a heated, pressurised hold on domestic sectors, though brachycephalic breeds are restricted from its cargo hold year-round.
How Canada handles incoming pets
Canada asks for several pieces of paperwork, and they all need to line up. A checklist and a clear timeline are your best tools here.
What experienced owners do
Check the airline’s crate size and labelling rules early. An undersized or wrongly labelled crate is a frequent reason pets are refused at check-in.
Ask about temperature embargoes for your travel window. Summer and winter cargo restrictions can rule out certain routes and dates entirely.
Microchip before you vaccinate. The microchip must be in place before the rabies shot for the vaccination to count, and getting this order wrong is the most common and costly mistake.
Use an official, government-authorised vet for the health certificate, not just your usual clinic. Many destinations only accept certificates signed by an approved vet.
FAQ
Common questions
Yes. Venezuela appears on CFIA’s high-risk countries list for dog rabies, last updated 13 March 2025 and re-confirmed as current when this page was researched on 16 July 2026. That is a different position from Brunei, the other origin this site covers on Canada routes, which sits outside CFIA’s high-risk list entirely.
No. Unlike the CDC’s approach for entry to the United States, CFIA does not require a rabies titre test for a dog from a high-risk country. A correctly completed standard vaccination certificate is enough.
Current guidance describes entry as restricted to a short list of major airports with a CFIA presence, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax, for dogs from high-risk countries. This detail was not confirmed word for word against CFIA’s own interactive import tool during this research, so check your intended arrival airport directly with CFIA before booking.
No. CFIA’s high-risk-country conditions, including the microchip-before-vaccine sequencing and the minimum age at entry, apply to dogs. Cats face no federal CFIA rabies vaccination requirement at all, whatever the country of origin.
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