Pets coming into Bahrain are controlled by the Veterinary Quarantine of the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, with Customs at the border.
Before you travel
- Contact Veterinary Quarantine before the animal is shipped and tell them the date and time it arrives.
- Apply for the import permit for a live animal (personal) through the eGovernment portal.
- Get an original health certificate issued by the government vet authority in the country you are coming from.
- Get an original certificate of origin.
- Do a rabies blood test (Customs calls it RANAT).
Banned dog breeds: Customs lists breeds such as Pitbull, Mastiff, Tosa and Presa as not allowed in.
On arrival
A quarantine vet checks the animal and papers, then Customs completes a simplified customs declaration. If you did not arrange this in advance, Customs calls the quarantine team and you wait at the airport or port until a vet arrives.
Contacts (Customs page): Veterinary Quarantine 17987039-17987364, vetquarantine@MUN.GOV.BH.
Cost: the Customs and eGovernment pages do not list a permit fee, so confirm it when you apply.
The catch: the rabies blood test has to be done well before travel. Start it as soon as you know you are moving.
Steps
- Contact Veterinary Quarantine and apply for the personal live-animal import permit.
- Get the official health certificate, certificate of origin and rabies blood test.
- Tell quarantine your arrival date and time.
- On arrival, pass the vet check and the simplified customs declaration.