Hi everyone, my family just shipped a mastiff puppy to Korea as cargo. I'm posting this to make sure everyone else trying to bring dogs or cats to Korea knows what to expect.

I attached instructions for "Procedures for Customs Clearance of Pet Animals) that we received from a customs official (he called us and sent the doc the morning of her flight)

1. Snub nosed dogs (pugs, bostons, bulldogs, etc) can only travel up to 70 degrees. All other breeds can travel up to 85 degrees. Generally this means snub nosed dogs are restricted from travel between May and August.

The airline will look at www.weather.com for the temperature at the departure and arrival cities at the take off and landing time before they will allow the dog on the plane.

You can look up flight schedules for Air Cargo here: Sky Team Cargo

2. Animals over 3 months are required to have proof of rabies vaccine issued by a veterinarian no more than 1 year and no less than 30 days from arrival into country. Animals under 3 months old are not required to have a rabies vaccine.

If the animal hasn't had the rabies vaccine or had it less than 30 days prior to flight, the animal will have to stay in quarantine until the 30 days is met, at the owners expense.

It's also recommended to get the Kennel Cough vaccine since your pet will be around a lot of other animals.

3. Pets also need a valid health certificate within 10 days of arrival.

4. If you're on SOFA status and within 6 months of your report date on your PCS orders, you can ship your pet duty free (see attachment for sample memo).

General consignees can also clear pets without paying tax if within 6 months of first arrival in Korea.

5. FEES:

Taxes - anywhere from 32,000W to 280,000W depending on the value of the pet. We paid 81,000 on our 4-month English Mastiff girl.
You only pay tax (duty) if you've been here over 6 months

Quarantine Fee - 10,000W - this is to clear through quarantine, everyone pays this fee

Handling Charge - 55,000W

Storage Fee for airlines - 3,000 to 10,000W. We paid 8,000 for our pet

5. My husband was told to wait about 2 hours after our pup's arrival time to give her time to process.


6. One you pick up your pet you have XX days to register and XX days to get your pet microchipped. I think it's 10 and 30 but I have to check.

Make sure you pay attention to your pets immunizations!

Unless they have just started this, or unless it is just a "cargo" thing, I didn't pay any fees when I brought my two over in February. I kept my receipt on Bretta (since we had to pay the flat fee for her to be checked baggage; Scooter flew for free) and there were no storage fees or quarantine fees.

yes, fees for pets that fly carry-on in cabin are completely different from rules for pets that fly cargo in the baggage hold. All pets need health certificates (be sure it's signed by a USDA certified vet!!!) within 10 days of arrival and the rabies vaccine. The above regulations are for pets that fly cargo. Pets that fly carry-on need to have reservations with the airline before you leave, and once at the airport you must buy them a "ticket" -- Delta/Korean Air charges $100 per pet. Carry-on pets generally cannot weigh more than 11 lbs in their carrier, and they must remain under the seat the entire trip. Also, only one pet is allowed per person. We have two cats, and thankfully we got concurrent travel because I was able to take one and my husband had the other.

Just a few points of clarification:

1. The International Health Certificate needs to be signed by the vet and someone at the USDA - and the USDA is the part that is time consuming (and costly).

2. Even though it is the exact same flight (actually a Korean Airlines flight), if you make your reservation through Delta Airlines - the charge to bring a pet in the cabin is $100. If you make the reservation through Korean Airlines - the charge is $260.

Very Important: If you make your reservation through Delta Airlines, Delta will contact Korean Airlines to get approval to transport a pet in the cabin. I recommend following up with Korean Airlines personally to ensure this is approved - and get confirmation number for the approval. I showed up at the Korean Airlines ticket counter recently with a dog and Korean Airlines said they knew nothing about my request to bring a dog in the cabin. I had a confirmation number from Delta (who told me everything was all set with KAL) - but KAL insisted they knew nothing about it. The first two or three people at the ticket counter with whom I spoke basically flat out said "NO - you can't bring your dog on this flight." I think the only thing that saved our dog was that the senior official from KAL on duty that day was a pet owner and sympathized with my situation. It also helped that I stayed calm and spoke politely in Korean.

This is true only if you get the health certificate from a civilian vet. Most military vet clinics can sign off on both the health certificate and the USDA certification because military vets are considered federal employees. Call ahead to be sure the clinic has a certified vet on staff. If you're getting the health certificate for a PCS, the document is completely free; if for vacation travel, then there's a small fee.

I didn't know this and took my two cats to a civilian vet. They charged me $260 for the certificate, and then wanted another $50 dollars to send it to the state capital for a USDA signature which would take 3 weeks. Obviously I only had a few days since Korea only accepts certificates less than 10 days old, so we ended up driving it to the state capital ourselves at the last minute.

I suggest you call ahead to find out your vet's fee and processing time, and definitely take your pet to a military vet if possible to avoid the civilian hassle.

Wow!! Sorry to hear you were charged so unfairly. We just arrived in Korea and brought our cat with us. Our reservations were made through Delta. We flew Delta on the first leg of our flight, then Korean Air. We had to pay Delta and Korean Air each $100 fee for excess baggage.

Our civilian vet (in Tucson arizona) did not charge us at all for the health certificate. The closest USDA to us was Phoenix, so we called them and got an address. We Fed-ex'd the certificate to them overnight. Because we were driving up to Washington to visit family prior to leaving, we simply provided a pre-paid fed-ex envelope addressed to my sister in WA, and the Phoenix USDA office fed-ex'd it to us there. USDA charged us $24 for their stamp/seal. They said that was the standard charge - I guess it would've been $50 for you since you had 2 animals. As a matter of fact, my husband forgot to put the check in the fed-ex envelope, but they allowed us to put it on our credit card over the phone. They were very easy to work with. The whole process took less than a week - so it was simple to stay within the 10-days required for the health certificate.

Upon arrival to Inchon - we simply checked in with animal/plant customs for the cat - they checked her health cert and rabies vaccination and stamped off on everything. Then we checked out through the military/PCS customs for our baggage. Really a pretty simple process.

I would question your vet if they try to charge you $250 for a certificate - it's just a simple form that they have to sign with the dates of your pets vaccinations listed - nothing fancy at all. Main thing is to give yourself the full 10 days if possible to get the paperwork done.

Another thing to consider - if you don't have housing lined up yet here, you'll need to arrange for a place for your pet to stay. We didn't have reservations at the vet on base; however, we were lucky enough to have a great sponsor here who called her dog's groomer who is now watching our cat for us for $10 a day until we get into housing.

Good luck.

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Both of my guys were wrote up on 1 USDA form (since it has space for up to ten animals). Less than $25 at the USDA office (because the base vet was booked). The vet charged like $15 for the USDA certificate as well as the generic "I have examined animal X ( with description) and found the animal to be healthy and parasite free."

It was painless.

Did someone say dog groomer? I don't suppose it is in or around Osan? We just arrived a couple of days ago . . . still trying to get us used to the time change and in-processed on base. I have a small yorkie that will be in sore need of a clip and trim soon.

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Sorry, the groomer where our cat is, is up by Yongsan. I'm sure there are some near Osan though. Hopefully someone else on the forum can help.

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On my way to Hump....

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Could you post a pick of your puppy? I love mastiffs...

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