No more than 10 days must pass between the issuing of the International Health Certificate and your pet's arrival in Brazil. It is a very tight schedule, but it can be done. Enlist help from family and friends if possible. Have a B plan if your car is not very reliable. Eat healthy and preserve your strength.
You will need to do three things within those 10 days (while getting yourself ready to travel):
- Take your pet to his veterinarian and obtain the International Health Certificate
- Take the Certificate to the United States Department of Agrigulture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) veterinarian closest to you. The APHIS veterinarian will validate the International Health Certificate.
- Have the the original International Health Certificate, signed by the APHIS veterinarian, legalized at the Brazilian Consulate in your area.
There aren't many APHIS-accredited offices or Brazilian Consulates. In the next steps, you will learn how to locate them and what you need to get your paperwork done quickly.
Try to plan your schedule so that you can either mail in the International Health Certificate or drive to the APHIS office on the same day you obtain it. That would save you precious time, since the APHIS office and the Brazilian Consulate will only work on business days, while the International Health Certificate will expire after 10 consecutive days.
