Rabies high-risk countries: what changes

A rabies high-risk country is a country that the US health authority, the CDC, considers high risk for importing dog rabies into the United States. The label drives the paperwork your dog needs on arrival: a few days spent in one of those countries, within the 6 months before entry, is enough to move your dog into a far heavier set of rules. Here is the list, what it changes, and what the European Union asks for in the other direction.

What is a rabies high-risk country?

It is a country on the list the CDC publishes. The authority writes that the countries and political units on that list are considered high risk for importing dog rabies into the United States, and that dogs which have been in any of them within the past 6 months must be vaccinated against rabies to enter the country. The version we read is dated 15 April 2026.

What matters is not your dog’s nationality, nor the country the flight leaves from, but the countries the dog has been in during the 6 months before entry. A dog born and vaccinated in Britain that spent three weeks in Morocco in June falls under the high-risk rules for a September flight.

For a country that is not on the list, the CDC states that it is not considered high risk, and that dogs coming from it can meet the requirements set for dog rabies-free or low-risk countries. For those dogs, the CDC Dog Import Form receipt is the only required documentation for entering or returning to the United States; the dog must also appear healthy on arrival, be at least 6 months old and carry a microchip detectable with a universal scanner. Our article on the CDC Dog Import Form walks through that step.

Which countries are on the CDC list?

More than a hundred countries and political units, on every continent. The list we read on 27 October 2026 includes, among the destinations travellers ask us about most:

• North Africa and the Middle East: Morocco (including Western Sahara), Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Israel (including the West Bank and Gaza), Lebanon, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait.
• Asia: India, Sri Lanka, China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan.
• Eastern Europe and the Caucasus: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia.
• The Americas: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala.
• Sub-Saharan Africa: South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Nigeria, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Zimbabwe.

Neither France nor the United Kingdom is on it, but two Spanish territories in North Africa are: Ceuta and Melilla.

The United Arab Emirates are on the list. That is the point to remember if your dog lives in Dubai or has stayed there: our United Arab Emirates travel requirements cover entry into Dubai, but the stricter US rules will then apply for 6 months.

What does a stay in a high-risk country change?

For a dog vaccinated outside the United States that has been in a high-risk country within the past 6 months, the file goes from one document to four:

• a Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip form, completed by the dog’s veterinarian and endorsed by an official government veterinarian. It must be completed no more than 30 days before the dog travels, is valid for 30 days from the veterinarian’s signature, and can be used only once to enter the United States;
• a passing rabies serology titer report, or failing that a quarantine;
• the CDC Dog Import Form receipt;
• a reservation at a CDC-registered animal care facility.

The conditions on the dog itself tighten too. The microchip must have been implanted before the rabies vaccination, or the vaccine is invalid, and the dog must be at least 6 months old on the day of entry. For its first vaccination it must have been at least 12 weeks (84 days) old, and the shot must be at least 28 days before entry: a vaccine given earlier than that age is not accepted for these dogs.

The titer test follows a strict calendar: the blood sample must be drawn at least 30 days after the first valid rabies vaccination and at least 28 days before entry, by a CDC-approved laboratory, and the CDC accepts no other result. Our article on the rabies titer test for dogs covers the blood draw itself.

Without a valid titer, the dog is admitted after a 28-day quarantine at a registered facility, which the reservation must include. It can be shortened, under strict conditions: a personal pet, two rabies vaccinations documented on US schedules, and a prospective serologic monitoring protocol approved by the CDC, at the importer’s expense.

The arrival airport is no longer free. The CDC asks for an itinerary that has the dog arriving by air at the US airport where the reserved registered facility is located, and bars any domestic flight before the required services are complete. Those facilities sit at eight airports: New York JFK, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington Dulles. A foreign-vaccinated dog from a high-risk country cannot enter at a land border crossing, and there is no registered facility in Alaska, Hawaii or the US territories.

A dog vaccinated in the United States returning from a high-risk country falls under lighter rules. The CDC asks for two documents: the form receipt and a Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination, completed before departure by a USDA-accredited veterinarian. Entry is then possible at any airport, seaport or land border crossing matching the receipt.

Does a layover in a high-risk country count?

Only if the dog actually enters the country. The CDC page on layovers sets a simple definition: a dog is considered to have entered a country if it clears customs, and that holds even for a layover. The dog must then meet the CDC requirements.

The CDC flags two situations where clearing customs becomes likely: when the dog rides in the cabin with its owner, and when it switches airlines. If you are unsure, the authority advises checking with your airline.

Does the European Union publish the same kind of list?

No, the EU works the other way round: it publishes the list of countries exempt from the rabies titer test. The European Commission keeps two annexes, provided for in Article 17 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131 and set out in Annexes I and II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636, and states that dogs moved into an EU country from a country or territory on those lists do not require a rabies antibody titration test. The first gathers ten countries and territories close to the Union, among them Andorra, Switzerland, Iceland and Monaco. The second is longer and includes Canada, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, with Northern Ireland treated separately.

For a dog coming from a country off those lists, the test becomes compulsory. The French agriculture ministry’s information note, updated on 22 April 2026, sets out the conditions: the sample must be drawn at least 30 days after the vaccination and at least 90 days before import, from a dog whose rabies vaccination is valid at the time, for a result equal to or greater than 0.5 IU/ml. The analysis is reserved to laboratories designated by the European Union, the only ones accredited for this method.

There is a reason for the 90-day wait: the test cannot tell antibodies produced by the vaccine from antibodies produced by a possible infection in the country of departure. The result then holds for the dog’s lifetime, as long as its rabies vaccination stays valid, and the wait does not apply to a dog whose passing test, carried out before it left the European Union, is recorded in its pet passport.

The other conditions are those of any non-EU country: a microchip, a rabies vaccination given after identification and still valid, and an animal health certificate valid for 10 days. Our article on the EU pet passport and our travel requirements pages cover those documents.

On arrival, the dog goes through a travellers’ point of entry designated by the destination country, a step only countries on the first annexe escape. Coming from a country that is not exempt from the titer test, it is presented to customs as a matter of course for the document and identity check, with no appointment needed.

The two classifications do not line up, and that is the main source of mistakes. The United Arab Emirates and Malaysia are high risk for the CDC, yet exempt from the titer test for a return into the European Union. The same trip can be heavy in one direction and light in the other: check both ends separately.

Who checks your dog’s file before departure?

On our flights, our brokers do: they go through every dog’s file before departure. Travel requirements are still owed on every flight, private ones included, and a dog that has been in a high-risk country falls under the same US rules whatever the aircraft. Loulou Air, a brand of AEROAFFAIRES, a private aviation broker since 1991, sells seats on shared private flights, Pay-per-Seat: you pay for your seat, not the jet, and every ticket covers one seat for a human and their dog. Your dog travels in the cabin with you, at your feet for the whole flight, never in the hold, and without the weight limit imposed by scheduled airlines. Our flights serve New York: see flights to New York. To go through your dog’s documents before you book, you can talk to a broker.

Frequently asked questions

Is the United Kingdom a rabies high-risk country?

No, it is not on the CDC list. For a dog that has only been in countries off that list in the past 6 months, the CDC Dog Import Form receipt is the only required document; the dog must also appear healthy, be 6 months old and carry a readable microchip.

Is a rabies titer test needed to enter the United States?

Only for a foreign-vaccinated dog that has been in a high-risk country within the past 6 months. The sample must then be drawn at least 30 days after the first valid vaccination and at least 28 days before entry, by a CDC-approved laboratory. Without that report, the dog goes into quarantine.

How long is the quarantine without a titer test?

28 days, at a CDC-registered animal care facility, and the reservation must include it. It can be shortened under strict conditions, which include a personal pet, two vaccinations documented on US schedules and an approved serologic monitoring protocol.