El Salvador surprised me. Every Central America checklist I'd read said get the USDA endorsement — and here you don't need one. That's a week of posting paperwork and a chunk of money you keep. Cooper's file for this trip came out thinner than for anywhere else we've travelled. Here's what you do need, and the one thing that still catches people out on arrival.

Pet import to El Salvador is overseen by the General Direction of Plant and Animal Health. Confirmed against an official source so far: a rabies vaccination, a health certificate, an import permit and quarantine. Anything else — commonly a microchip, rabies vaccination and health certificate — is not yet confirmed for El Salvador against an official source, so it's flagged in the table below rather than assumed.

How El Salvador handles your pet

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

Health & documents

Import permit · Cost9.04 USDverified 2026-10-17
Import permit · Required Yesverified 2026-10-17
Import permit · Lead time0 daysverified 2026-10-22
Import permit · Issuing authorityGeneral Direction of Plant and Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of El Salvadorverified 2026-10-17
Import permit · Permit validity30 daysverified 2026-10-17
Import permit · Documents required to obtainSolicitud de importación; Cartilla de vacunación (original o copia); Certificado zoosanitario oficial (original o copia)verified 2026-10-17
Health certificate · Required Yesverified 2026-10-17
Health certificate · Validity days30 daysverified 2026-10-17
Health certificate · Original required Noverified 2026-10-17
Health certificate · Government endorsed Noverified 2026-10-17
Rabies vaccination · Required Yesverified 2026-10-17
Rabies vaccination · Booster required Noverified 2026-10-22
Rabies vaccination · Min age at vaccination8 weeksverified 2026-10-17
Internal parasite treatment · Required Yesverified 2026-10-17

Other rules

Pets accepted Acceptedverified 2026-10-17

Timing chain

Day -30 health certificate issued · Day 0 arrive at customs

El Salvador does not require USDA endorsement of the health certificate. The certificate is accepted as issued by the examining veterinarian, without the federal counter-signature much of the region asks for. Drop that step and the courier time it costs from the schedule. The health certificate itself remains mandatory, and so does the import permit.
The import permit costs 9.04 USD, charged for the permit service and payable when the application is filed. That figure is the small end of this trip's cost. Quarantine is required on arrival, so the quarantine arrangement is the item to price and book ahead of the flight rather than the permit fee.
So: health certificate, import permit, and a quarantine on arrival to arrange in advance — but no USDA endorsement, which is the step everyone budgets a week for. Here's what I wish someone had told me: price the quarantine first, because it dwarfs the 9.04 USD permit. Put your own dates into a personalized plan and we'll build the countdown around them.
Get YOUR personalized plan for El Salvador →

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.