Preparing to retire permanently or relocate temporarily to the Philippines and you want to bring that precious pet with you? What exactly are the requirement and restrictions, if any, regarding that very special love of your life.
The process begins by contacting the Philippine Consulate nearest your home location, and the basic process is as follows:

1. All dogs and cats must have an import permit to enter the Philippines. The Bureau of Animal Industry, Animal Health Division (AHD) requires that an application or letter of request to import your pet be sent or faxed to the AHD in Quezon City, listing the species, number of animals, sex and age.

2. The permit ("small animal permit") will need to be completed by your veterinarian and then sent to the Consulate, which has to stamp it and return it to you, for you to forward on to the AHD. There is a time limit for all this to happen, so I suggest you either (i) hand delivery the application to the consulate nearest your home country address, or if this is at great distance, (ii) send your application to the Consulate using a UPS or Fedex overnight courier service. Be sure to include a prepaid return courier envelope to expedite the permit's return to you.

3. Upon return from the consulate, immediately send the stamped permit to the AHD, who will then send the import permit to you and collect an issuance fee (100 pesos) upon arrival of the pet at the Manila airport.

4. You will also need (in the USA) approval by the USDA (US Dept of Agriculture) for the pet to be exported out of the USA, so be sure to get an extra copy from your veterinarian of the "small animal certificate" for filing with the USDA.

5. Upon in Manila, the pet will also be examined for health or vaccination certificates from your veterinarian verifying that your pet is free from communicable diseases such as rabies, distemper, hepatitis, and was treated for internal and external parasites.

6. The Bureau also requires that the animal must be accompanied by a health certificate (and in the case of dogs and monkeys, a valid certificate of inoculation against rabies) from a veterinarian - not more than 10 days prior to shipment date.

7. AHD will also charge a landing permit fee of 150 pesos. There is no quarantine period to deal with upon arrival, if the regulations have been fulfilled. However, if the animal arrives without health or vaccination certificates, or is showing signs of dangerous communicable animal disease, it will be quarantined.

8. To help facilitate entry into the Philippines, it is essential you designate a customs broker in Manila. Custom requirements state that pets are subject to the payment of a 50% duty of original value of the animal and an additional 10% tax. Call a customs broker in the nearest large city to your home country residence and ask for a referral in Manila. Clearly, you should do this early on in the process so this does not hold you up once you are ready to ship the pet.

9. It is best that you accompany your pet, so upon arrival in Manila you are also there to push things through should there be a procedural or paperwork snafu. In any event, I recommend you (or the pet, if transported alone) schedule your flight so as not to arrive on a weekend or a holiday, as customs is closed on the weekends and holidays. Most airlines permit pets to travel as excess baggage or cargo.

Be sure to make copies of all your documents, in case anything gets lost along the way. Then you will have a duplicate copy for faxing if needed.

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Will Irwin is a powerful entrepreneur, and business and life coach. He has started many online and offline businesses both in the USA and in the Philippines, residing in both Hawaii and the Philippines.