How long is the CDC Dog Import Form receipt valid?

In short

• A low-risk receipt is valid for 6 months from the day it is issued, for multiple entries, as long as your dog always leaves from the same country.
• A high-risk receipt covers one entry only, on the date and at the port of entry you declared.
• If the departure country changes (low risk), or the date or airport changes (high risk), you need a new form.
• Receipts issued before the new form system of 5 February 2026 are still accepted if accurate and not expired.

Two kinds of receipt

The CDC Dog Import Form gives you a receipt by email once you submit it. What that receipt covers depends on one thing: where your dog has been in the last 6 months.

If you are not sure which case your dog is in, start with the high-risk country list.

The low-risk receipt: months of trips, one departure country

For a dog coming from low-risk countries only, one receipt can cover several trips. It stays valid for 6 months from the day it was issued, and you can use it every time your dog enters the United States during that period.

There is one condition people miss: the country of departure must stay the same. The receipt names the country your dog leaves from. If your next trip starts somewhere else, you need a new form.

A concrete example: you live in Canada and drive into the US with your dog several times over the summer. One receipt covers all of those crossings for 6 months. But if you then fly to the US from Mexico, the Canadian receipt does not cover that trip. You fill in a new form listing Mexico as the departure country.

The receipt also stops working for future trips if your dog spends time in a high-risk country. From then on, the dog needs the high-risk form and its documents.

The high-risk receipt: one trip, one date, one port

For a dog that has been in a high-risk country in the last 6 months, the receipt covers a single entry. It is tied to:

• the arrival date you declared;
• the port of entry you declared (the US airport, seaport or land crossing).

For your next trip, even with the same dog and the same documents, you submit a new form.

Airlines check this. CDC asks airlines to make sure a high-risk dog’s receipt matches the airport the flight lands at. A dog with a receipt for New York JFK cannot board a flight to Newark, even though both serve New York.

This is also why CDC suggests submitting a high-risk form in the week of travel, once your flight is final.

When your plans change

Plans change. Here is what to do in each case.

The arrival date changes

• Low risk: nothing to do, as long as you still arrive within the 6 months and leave from the same country.
• High risk: submit a new form with the new date before you travel. The old receipt does not cover a different day.

The arrival airport or port changes

• Low risk: nothing to do. A low-risk receipt does not ask for a port of entry, and your dog can arrive at any airport, seaport or land crossing.
• High risk: submit a new form with the new port. For a foreign-vaccinated dog, the new airport must also have a CDC-registered animal care facility, and your reservation must be there. See animal care facilities.

The departure country changes

• Low risk: submit a new form listing the new departure country.
• High risk: submit a new form, since each high-risk receipt covers one trip anyway. Check that the countries visited in the last 6 months are still listed correctly.

Your dog visits a high-risk country before the trip

Your low-risk receipt no longer fits your dog’s situation. Your dog now needs the high-risk form and the documents that go with it, which can take weeks or months to prepare. The rules depend on where your dog was vaccinated against rabies: see US-vaccinated dogs or foreign-vaccinated dogs.

The new form system of February 2026

CDC moved the Dog Import Form to a new system on 5 February 2026. The receipt looks different, but the import rules did not change.

If your receipt was issued before that date, you do not need to file again because of the switch. CDC says older receipts are still accepted as long as the information on them is accurate and they have not expired. In practice, this matters for low-risk receipts, since high-risk receipts only ever cover one trip.

Keeping your receipt ready

• Keep it on your phone and on paper. You show it to the airline before boarding and to US Customs and Border Protection on arrival.
• Check the details before you leave home: dog’s name, departure country and, for high-risk dogs, the date and port.
• One receipt covers one dog. If you travel with two dogs, each has its own receipt, with its own validity.
• What the receipt is, how it arrives and what to do if it is lost or never reached you: the CDC receipt explained.

Filling in the form again is always free on cdc.gov (opens in a new tab). If you would rather not track dates and re-file yourself, our paid service can do it for you. The step-by-step walkthrough of the form is on our CDC Dog Import Form page.