VisaPets travelling to Aruba need veterinary approval before departure
A current-rule guide compares United States export paperwork, Aruban import approval, origin restrictions and the separate requirements for a return journey.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Obtain approval rather than arriving with an unsigned application
People visiting or relocating to Aruba with a dog or cat need separate animal-import approval. Aruba’s official tourism guidance for United States arrivals requires an application and a USDA-endorsed health certificate issued within fourteen days of arrival. These are existing instructions, not a new border measure.
Send PDF scans to Veterinary Services at least two business days before travel. The page describes approval within two working days after correct submission, to be printed for Customs. Sending the email is not receiving permission; allow time for examination, endorsement and approval.
Resolve differences in the United States vaccination instructions
USDA APHIS’s Aruba page requires an AVID or ISO-compatible microchip, or a suitable reader for another chip type. It describes six months’ continuous residence in the United States or Aruba, a United States birth-and-residence alternative for younger animals, or written exemption from Aruba’s veterinary head. A brief stop in the United States does not satisfy that residence description.
There is a material difference between public rabies instructions. APHIS says the current vaccination for an animal over three months must precede travel by at least one month. Aruba’s tourism page instead says a valid three-year vaccine needs no repeat dose and waives its first-dose waiting period for puppies and kittens aged twelve to sixteen weeks. Owners in those categories should obtain written Veterinary Services instructions before settling a flight date, rather than assume the more favourable wording controls. APHIS also requires veterinary approval before shipment and links the country-specific certificate, which includes the required New World screwworm statements.
Check the animal’s origin and any household-move exception
Aruba’s public-health department publishes an import leaflet prohibiting ordinary dog and cat imports from South and Central America, including Mexico, and from Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. It identifies a household move as an exception requiring veterinary approval. The leaflet asks people using that exception to submit the Customs import-permit request and relevant documents well in advance; moving house is not itself the approval.
The leaflet identifies the United States, Canada and European Union as origins allowed after pre-approval, and directs owners from other countries to Veterinary Services. It also requires approval for other live animals and flags additional CITES controls for protected species. The document’s filename refers to 2019, so verify current conditions for an unusual origin or relocation exception with the authority. Do not apply the United States dog-and-cat checklist to a parrot, reptile or animal travelling from another jurisdiction.
Budget endorsement separately from veterinary and transport costs
APHIS’s fee schedule, updated 18 June 2026, charges US$101 per certificate where no laboratory tests are required. Vaccines do not count as laboratory tests for that calculation. Other fee bands depend on test numbers and animals, so a veterinarian should identify the correct category from the actual certificate requirements rather than treating the lowest band as universal.
Those endorsement charges exclude the accredited veterinarian’s own fees. Payment is required before endorsement, with credit or debit card and an APHIS user-fee account among the listed methods. APHIS exempts qualifying disability service dogs under the Americans with Disabilities Act, while charging for emotional-support animals outside that exemption. This is a United States endorsement exemption, not proof that Aruba waives its approval procedure. No Aruban import-permit charge or complete trip price was established by the pages reviewed; include veterinary services, document delivery and carrier charges when requesting quotations.
Prepare the departure from Aruba as another border process
The Aruban health department’s separate export leaflet tells owners to check both destination and transit-country rules before taking an animal out of Aruba. It identifies Veterinary Services as the authority issuing official export certificates and says to allow three working days, with costs involved. Its filename also refers to 2019, so that timing is a published planning indication rather than a confirmed appointment for a particular journey.
Keep the intended onward route available when seeking the certificate: requirements depend on the destination, and an approval to enter Aruba does not answer the next country’s questions. The leaflet recommends microchipping before rabies vaccination or other required treatments and using the local veterinarian to prepare the destination evidence. Arrange the return documentation while there is time to obtain official certification. A short holiday does not remove the need to check the animal’s next border crossing.
