Many countries, particulary former British Colonies, have extensive procedures for the import of pets. This stems back to the days of the great fear of rabies and even before. It is their country and their rules.
Arrival by boat with a cat or dog aboard requires special procedures. Flying in or out with a pet with you is also complicated.
New rules – September 13, 2018 - Cruisers planning to arrive by yacht or by air, the procedures have changed and new rules apply. These changes were due to some unfortunate circumstances. The Transit Permit System has been discontinued.
Warning: They are very serious about the rules. A recient entry brought a cat in without the proper paperwork. The cat was put down at the airport!
First Step: Anyone wanting to enter Trinidad or Tobago via yacht now has to apply for an Import Permit by sending an email to aphmalmr@gmail.com.
Second Step: Once the Permit is ready someone has to go to the Government Plaza in Downtown Port of Spain and pay for the Import Permit and then take it to the Ministry Of Agriculture office on Abercombrie Street also in Downtown, collect the permit and then email it to the cruiser intending to come here. On the Permit are listed all the conditions that will have to be met before they are granted permission to come.
Third Step: Once all the conditions are met, all those documents must be emailed to the email address on the Permit and the Government Vet will then look it over to ensure all is in order and then the vet will email the cruiser granting them permission to come. The vet must be given 48hrs notice of arrival.
Fourth Step: Once the cruiser arrives here they have to contact the vet and the vet must come and meet them immediately. The cruiser can go ahead and check in with immigration and customs as usual if the vet has not arrive to meet them. The pet must remain on board at all times before the vet has seen it.
Last Step: They must declare to customs that they have a pet on board, and they are awaiting the arrival of the vet and they will note it on the check-in form. Once the vet has arrived on board, examined the pet and double checked all documents, The vet will issue a Landing Permit. This permit will now allow the cruiser to travel at will where ever they wish while in Trinidad. So they can now go to the airport if they need to fly out. Once they fly out they must now go through the same procedure for reentry back into Trinidad. If they sail out and want to reenter again they have to go through the same procedure all over again.
Help with this process:
Jesse James, Members Only, is willing to help in this task. He can assist and provide the service to go to town and pay and collect and then email the Permit to the cruisers. He can also assist by having the cruisers cc him on all emails to the Ministry and he will follow up with phone calls to ensure all is being done at the Government office. He can be the Point of Contact between the Government Vet and the cruisers to ensure they meet up with each other because some cruiser may not have a phone and he can make contact with them via VHF radio. He can also assist with ensuring the Vet is at the airport when a cruiser has to fly in because if the vet is not there NO one will land the pet not even customs. Please contact Jesse James if you have any questions or queries.
Forms and Links:
Nessary forms and Links - aphmalmr@gmail.com - This email address which is the Ministry of Agriculture department to get the Import Permit for pets for arrival either via AIR or SEA..also make sure and state everyone needs to copy me so i can assist and ensure and provide the service to ensure ALL goes well for the process/procedures.. you can reword accordingly.
Form to Fill out - Download Application for the Import Permit for Dogs and Cats