Importing a Pet To Taiwan from Another Country
Bringing your dog or cat to Taiwan is very doable — and the timing is more flexible than the rumours suggest. From most countries, a rabies-antibody blood sample taken between 90 days and one year before arrival lets your pet enter; Taiwan then normally asks for a short seven-day post-entry quarantine, which may be waived when the stricter 180-day requirements are met. Here is the exact Taiwan inbound workflow, and how the two separate clocks — earliest entry and quarantine waiver — actually work.
Updated on , verified by 886JetPet
Quick compliance checklist: Taiwan inbound
Importing into Taiwan means satisfying Taiwan's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (APHIA) on entry, while your origin country's government signs off the paperwork on the way out. The item that sets your timeline is the rabies serological titer: its blood sample must generally be taken 90 days to one year before arrival for standard eligibility, and 180 days to one year before arrival if you want to qualify for a waiver of the normal seven-day post-entry quarantine. This section applies to pets arriving from a country or zone Taiwan does not recognise as rabies-free; pets from a recognised rabies-free origin follow a lighter procedure covered on each country's corridor page.
| Requirement | Who rules it | Critical window |
|---|---|---|
| 15-digit ISO microchip | Taiwan APHIA (verified on arrival) | Implanted and recorded before the rabies vaccination and titer blood draw |
| Rabies vaccination (inactivated or approved recombinant) | Taiwan APHIA + origin authority | Given after the microchip and still valid on arrival; must precede the titer draw |
| Rabies serological titer (FAVN / RNATT ≥ 0.5 IU/ml) | Taiwan APHIA (WOAH reference or designated laboratory) | Blood sampled 90 days to 1 year before arrival for standard entry; 180 days to 1 year to qualify for the quarantine waiver — the longest clock on the page |
| Import permit application | Taiwan APHIA | At least 20 days before arrival for standard entry; at least 120 days ahead (or 20 days with the lab or exporting authority reporting directly) if you want the waiver |
| Post-entry quarantine reservation | Taiwan APHIA animal quarantine | Seven days by default — book the kennel space in advance; the stay may be waived when all waiver conditions are met, but never assume it in advance |
| Origin government health certificate | Origin authority, endorsed origin-side | Issued in the final days before travel to the APHIA-specified format |
| Airline live-animal booking + IATA crate | Airline passenger or cargo division | Confirm 2–6 weeks ahead; crate must pass acceptance checks at the counter |
Rules are re-verified against current APHIA and origin-country circulars for every 886JetPet booking — treat this table as the map, not the territory.
Route directory: pick your corridor
Each guide gives the exact requirements, the chronological workflow and the local failure points for that corridor.
Veterinary professional? See how clinics use us as a documentation back-office: Partnering with 886JetPet for compliant live-animal documentation.
The chronological timeline: the world to Taiwan
Work backwards from your target arrival. The titer draw, not the flight, sets both the earliest date your pet may enter and whether the seven-day quarantine can be waived. Every step below locks an input for the next one.
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Microchip, vaccinate, then draw the titer T−8 to T−7 months
This is where Taiwan imports are won or lost. The order is fixed — chip, then rabies vaccine, then the blood draw — and every downstream clock runs from a passing result.
- Verify the 15-digit ISO chip scans and matches every record before anything else; a re-chip means re-vaccinating and re-drawing.
- The FAVN/RNATT sample must be drawn after vaccination and test ≥ 0.5 IU/ml at a WOAH reference or APHIA-designated laboratory.
- Only a passing result opens the countdown — a failed or borderline titer resets you to a fresh draw.
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Count the two windows from the blood draw T−6 months to T−3 weeks
- Earliest entry: the sample must be taken between 90 days and one year before arrival. A pet whose blood was drawn 90–179 days out may still be eligible to enter Taiwan — it simply does not yet meet the standard timing for a quarantine waiver.
- Quarantine waiver: to qualify to skip the seven-day stay, the qualifying sample generally must be taken 180 days to one year before arrival, and the permit and reporting conditions in the next step must also be met.
- Keep the rabies vaccination continuously valid across the whole window; a lapse can invalidate the titer chain.
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Apply for the import permit and reserve quarantine T−120 days to T−20 days
- For standard entry, submit the APHIA import quarantine permit application at least 20 days before arrival, with the chip, vaccination and titer records attached, and reserve the post-entry quarantine kennel space — designated slots are finite.
- To pursue the seven-day quarantine waiver, satisfy the timing plus one of these document routes: (a) apply for the permit at least 120 days before arrival; or (b) apply at least 20 days ahead and have the testing laboratory send the passing report directly to APHIA, or make it verifiable through the lab's website; or (c) apply at least 20 days ahead and have the exporting country's animal-quarantine authority send the required rabies-test declaration directly to APHIA.
- Meeting the 180-day timing alone is not enough — a waiver is subject to APHIA approval once every condition is met, so book the kennel space anyway and treat a waiver as a bonus.
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Lock flights, crate and route T−6 to T−3 weeks
- Taipei (TPE) has the deepest live-animal capacity, but summer embargoes and snub-nose bans reshape options seasonally.
- Confirm space in writing, size the IATA crate against the pet's real measurements, and start acclimation at home.
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Issue the origin health certificate T−10 days to T−0
- Have the origin government vet issue the APHIA-format health certificate inside its short pre-travel validity.
- Assemble originals: chip records, vaccination book, the passing titer report and the approved import permit.
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Arrival inspection and quarantine T−0 onward
On landing, the APHIA quarantine officer scans and examines your pet in person and reconciles every document against the live animal before release or transfer to quarantine.
- The officer cross-checks chip number, vaccine dates, the titer result and the import permit character-by-character.
- Unless a waiver has been granted, complete the seven-day post-entry quarantine at the reserved facility; a document mismatch on arrival cannot be corrected at the counter and can extend confinement.
What 886JetPet handles on a Taiwan import
Your import to Taiwan, fully handled
Our bilingual team sequences the microchip, vaccine and titer correctly, tracks both the 90-day entry window and the 180-day waiver window, files the APHIA import permit on the right schedule, reserves the quarantine slot, arranges the direct lab or authority reporting where it can save the seven days, and reconciles the origin certificate — then meets your pet at arrival, with you or for you — inside one itemised quote.
Track your pet's entire relocation in one live dashboard, unique to 886JetPet
Arriving in Taiwan should feel like a beginning, not a backlog
A new life in Taiwan is worth planning around one blood test. Start the titer clock at the right moment and the rest of the import is administration, not anxiety. Tell us your origin country and target arrival month, and we'll return a route plan with every window already reconciled.