I build a spreadsheet for every destination, and American Samoa broke the first column: importing dogs or cats is strictly prohibited. The only carve-out the rule names is animals arriving from rabies-free areas, namely Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia. Luna would like it noted that cats get no special treatment either. Check your origin against that list before anything else on your checklist.

Pet import to American Samoa is regulated by American Samoa Department of Agriculture. The core requirements are summarized below: a microchip, a rabies vaccine within the right window, and a government-endorsed health certificate. Some destinations also require a titer test or short quarantine — those are flagged in the table.

Who sets the rules here

American Samoa applies the rules of the United States as its baseline, and adds requirements of its own on top.

Official source
asbar.org
Relationship to the United States
inherits, plus local rules

How American Samoa handles your pet

Official sources

  • American Samoa's rule is a prohibition with a short list of exceptions — ASAC Title 24 Ch.03 §24.0317 opens "Importation of dogs or cats into American Samoa is strictly prohibited"
  • Flying a pet in needs the Governor's signature. §24.0314 states: "No animals, either domestic or otherwise, shall be imported or brought into American Samoa by airplane, except that they may be imported by that means when the importer has received prior permission in writing from the Governor to do so and only when the importer complies with all other requirements." This is in addition to the Department of Agriculture import permit, not instead of it
  • Bringing a cat? The permit section is written for "domestic animals", and §24.0301 defines those as "cattle, sheep, goats, other ruminants, swine, horses, asses, mules, dogs, and poultry" — cats are not on that list, so ask the Department of Agriculture in writing what it requires for a cat before you book
  • 42 CFR 71.1 states: "United States means the 50 States, District of Columbia, and the territories (also known as possessions) of the United States, including American Samoa"
  • So a dog arriving from New Zealand, Australia or Samoa also owes what CDC asks of every dog arriving from another country, including 42 CFR 71.51: "All dogs presented for admission into the United States must have a microchip implanted prior to arrival at the U.S. port." Meet both sets of rules

Key points

  • Start here: most pets cannot come
  • Entry is permitted only from Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia (named as rabies-free areas), and from the continental United States, Guam and the Pacific Island Trust Territories
  • Samoa is a separate case decided by the Director of Agriculture at the time
  • If you are coming from anywhere else — including the EU, the UK, Canada or Japan — there is no paperwork that fixes it
  • Coming from the mainland US, Guam or the Trust Territories? Your pet does not fly straight here
  • The same section attaches "mandatory quarantine in the state of Hawaii for a period to be determined by the department of agriculture"
  • That is a quarantine in a third place, before American Samoa, and it is the single most expensive thing to discover late
  • Confirm the current period with both the American Samoa Department of Agriculture and Hawaii's Animal Quarantine Branch before you book
  • Pets from Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia do not carry this condition
  • The permit and the papers
  • The import permit comes from the Department of Agriculture and is shown to the quarantine officer on arrival; "The import permit fee for all domestic animals shall be $2 per permit." It names your port, and "Animals will not be eligible for entry if shipped from any foreign port other than that designated in the permit" — so a re-routed flight can invalidate it
  • Your vet certificate must come from a salaried government veterinary officer of the place of origin and state that "the animal has been given a prophylactic dose of antirabies vaccine no later than 30 days prior to date of arrival at the port of entry" — counted to ARRIVAL, not to departure
  • What happens at the port
  • Every animal is inspected on arrival. §24.0311 is blunt about failure: "Animals found to be affected with a contagious disease or to have been exposed thereto shall be refused entry and unless returned to the country of origin, shall be destroyed." Treat the inspection as the real gate, and arrive with complete papers
  • Arriving by yacht, or just passing through: "It is illegal to maintain any animal or bird aboard any vessel or aircraft in American Samoa for more than 48 hours" (§24.0319)
  • After 48 hours the animal must leave, the vessel must leave, or a bond approved by the Department of Agriculture must be in place; an animal found off the vessel may be destroyed and the bond forfeited
  • Other pets are not admitted at all. §24.0318 prohibits "miscellaneous pets such as lizards, snakes, turtles, frogs, tropical fish, parrots, cage birds, monkey, hamsters, rabbits, and similar animals which are regarded as pets"
  • The Director decides anything not on that list, so ask before assuming
  • These rules are American Samoa's own, made under its Plant and Animal Quarantine Regulations — and for a dog flying in from abroad they come on top of the federal CDC dog-import rule, not instead of it
  • The code is not the whole rule book, and it says so. §24.0317(4): "the director of agriculture shall, due to the unique and delicate nature of disease control on a small island, propagate from time to time and as he sees fit, terms and conditions of entry into American Samoa of domestic dogs and cats
  • The director shall at all times make available to the public a copy of this section and the terms and conditions of entry aforementioned"
  • So a second layer of conditions exists that is not published alongside the code, and it can change
  • Ask the Department of Agriculture for the terms of entry in force on your travel dates, in writing — the code entitles you to a copy
  • Do not plan from this page alone, and do not reuse conditions that applied to someone else's move

Each fact comes straight from the operator’s published policy. Tap the to read the exact wording; the opens the source page.

Health & documents

Microchip · Required Yesverified 2026-10-26
Microchip · Standardany microchip a universal scanner can read — CDC names no ISO standardverified 2026-10-26
Microchip · Must be done before vaccination Yesverified 2026-10-26
Import permit · CostUSD 2 per permitverified 2026-10-02
Import permit · Required Yesverified 2026-10-02
Import permit · Issuing authorityAmerican Samoa Department of Agricultureverified 2026-10-02
Health certificate · IssuerSalaried veterinary officer or other competent authority of the government of the place of originverified 2026-10-02
Health certificate · Required Yesverified 2026-10-02
Health certificate · Endorsed byGovernment of the place of originverified 2026-10-02
Health certificate · Government endorsed Yesverified 2026-10-02
Other vaccinations · Parainfluenza Noverified 2026-10-02
Rabies vaccination · Required Yesverified 2026-10-02
Rabies vaccination · Waiting period after vaccination30 daysverified 2026-10-02

Other rules

Pets accepted Not acceptedverified 2026-10-02

Timing chain

Day -90 microchip implant · Day -30 rabies vaccine deadline · Day 0 arrive at customs

The microchip must be implanted on or before the date of the current rabies vaccination. A rabies vaccine given before implantation is invalid. Book the microchip appointment first, then the vaccination, and have the vet record both dates on the same document. A vaccine given in the wrong order does not count and has to be repeated.
The import permit fee is 2 USD per permit, and it applies to all domestic animals. Veterinary visits, the health certificate and transport are priced separately and are not covered by that amount. Keep the permit receipt in the same folder as the permit itself, so the fee can be shown alongside the rest of the paperwork.
Spreadsheet verdict: for American Samoa, the origin column decides everything. Before pricing a single flight, build your personalized plan with Pawgo so the route, the rabies-free-area exception and the paperwork sit side by side. I keep a printed copy in three places now, and for this destination the first copy goes next to the permit receipt.
Get YOUR personalized plan for American Samoa →

Glossary

ISO chip
ISO 11784/11785 — the universal microchip standard.
FAVN
Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralization — a rabies serology test required by rabies-free destinations.
Brachycephalic
Snub-nosed breeds (French Bulldogs, Pugs, Persians, Himalayans) with restricted airline acceptance due to heat-stress risk.
AVIH
Animal Vehicle In Hold — IATA's term for cargo pet shipment, with fees that vary by carrier and route.