aymanm70 wrote:Hi there
I'm moving to Luanda on Aug. 2009 with an oil company and I would like to know what is required to get my dog into Angola (paperwork)?
Will home owners accept pets in the furnished houses?
OK, apologies for the delay in replying, but please see below the text of an e-mail I received from a friend who brought her dog with her.
To import a pet to Luanda, it is important that the pet go as accompanied baggage on a flight and not be shipped as cargo on a separate flight from the arriving family. Cargo clears customs differently than accompanied baggage.
Non-direct flights require special assistance from the airline, which can be expensive.
Still, our dog arrived VERY thirsty and ready to get out of that kennel after about one hour of boarding and a 15 hour flight followed by two hours of clearing immigration and customs. 18 hours without a drink or a break is a long time.
1) Pets must have a microchip certificate. It is required to be an international microchip. I don't know the differences in microchips, and ours got hers years ago when things were probably different. In any case, they let her in.
2) Pets must have current vaccinations and a vaccination history. Unless the pet is very young, they need several years of vaccination records, not just the most recent.
3) A photo and description of the pet must be submitted.
4) In the US pets require a US International Health Certificate that you obtain from your vet, dated within 5-10 days before they are imported. I can't remember exactly how many days was allowed, but ours got hers on Jan. 23 and we arrived in Luanda Jan. 27. Some countries require an Apostile of the vet's signature on the International Health Certificate, but that was not required for us going non-stop from Texas to Angola. Each US state has a different place to issue an Apostile for a document.
We submitted Items 1-3 and copies of his passport, visa, etc. to the Ministerio da Agricultura - Instituto dos Servicos de Veterinaria. It took 2-3 weeks to receive the domestic animal import license, which was valid for import within 60 days of receiving the license. Remember that my husband came before us and he already had his permission to work and permission to bring our stuff before he applied to bring the dog, which I'm sure contributed to the ease in bringing her in.
The import license and international health certificate are put in to sheet protectors and taped to the top of the kennel so they are available to be checked by anyone along the way. We put copies and carried the originals with our personal paperwork. When we cleared immigration and customs our baggage was waiting for us, along with our dog in her crate. We assume whoever needed to see the paperwork had seen it, so we just picked her up and loaded her in to the car along with the luggage. There were no problems, no hassles, no bribes.
I hope this helps you in your quest to bring in your pet.