Bringing pets and animals into the Maldives: the rules

• Dogs: not allowed in. Customs calls the ban strict, and we found no official exemption.
• Dangerous animals: not allowed in.
• Live pigs: prohibited completely, along with pork without a permit.
• Cats, birds and other pets: restricted. You need a health certificate from an authorised vet and an import permit, and the animal is checked on arrival.
• Wild animals: imports of live wild animals are effectively prohibited, because import permits are not issued for them.
• Endangered species: animals covered by CITES, the international treaty on trade in endangered species, need a special permit.

For a short holiday, the practical answer is simple: arrange care for your pet at home.

The Maldives is a nation of small, low coral islands with few native land animals. Imported animals can carry disease into homes and farms, and a dog or other predator loose on a small island could harm nesting birds, turtles and crabs. Controlling which animals cross the border is one of the main ways the country protects its people and its wildlife. Religion plays a part too: pigs, like pork, are restricted for religious reasons. Our guide to religion in the Maldives explains more.

Maldives Customs splits goods into two groups:

• Prohibited goods are banned completely. Live pigs are on this list, alongside narcotics, pornography, religious material offensive to Islam and idols for worship.
• Restricted goods need a specific permit before they can be imported. Pets and live animals fall here.

For pets, Customs asks for a health certificate from an authorised veterinarian confirming that the animal is free from infections and contagious diseases. In the same section it adds a plain note: the import of dogs and dangerous animals is strictly prohibited. Velana International Airport’s arrival guide repeats the same wording for travellers.

The government’s trade portal, Tradian, adds that pets must be brought in under the Regulation on Live Animal Import, and that birds also fall under a separate regulation on live bird imports. It lists two documents for live animals: an import permit, and a valid sanitary certificate.

For the full list of what you can and cannot carry, see our guide to Maldives customs allowances.

Animal imports are handled by the ministry responsible for agriculture and animal health. The name of that ministry has changed several times in recent years. Official pages still mention the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Welfare. In April 2026 agriculture was merged into the Ministry of Fisheries, Agriculture and Ocean Resources, so that is the place to start.

The Maldives now has its first national animal welfare law. Parliament passed the Animal Welfare Bill on 19 November 2025, and the President ratified it as Act No. 23/2025 on 3 December 2025, according to the President’s Office. It was set to take effect 90 days after publication in the Government Gazette.

The Act sets national standards for keeping, breeding, transporting and trading animals, and for preventing diseases passed between animals and people. It also covers the import, export and transit of animals. National news outlets reported that:

• people who import animals must register with the ministry;
• dangerous animals, CITES-listed animals and livestock or poultry not allowed under the law need a special permit;
• the government is to set up quarantine facilities at ports where animals arrive;
• island and city councils have a role in enforcing the law.

The detailed regulations that sit under the Act may change how permits work in practice. If you are moving to the Maldives with an animal, rather than visiting, check the latest position with the ministry well before you book.

Cats are the pet you are most likely to see in the Maldives. They live around homes, cafés and harbours on many islands, and some are owned while many are strays. Malé in particular has a large stray cat population, and the government has opened a cat facility in Hulhumalé to shelter, treat and rehome them.

That background matters if you are thinking of bringing a cat. In late 2024 the agriculture minister said the government planned to hold back commercial cat imports for sale while the stray population is brought under control, while saying private owners importing their own pet would not be affected (as reported by Edition). We could not find an official notice confirming that the pause on commercial imports is in force.

If you do plan to bring a cat:

• contact the ministry first and ask exactly what it needs for an import permit;
• get a health certificate from an authorised vet in your home country;
• ask about microchip and vaccination rules, which the ministry will set out in the permit conditions;
• check with your airline, which will have its own rules for animals in the cabin or hold.

Pet birds are covered by their own regulation. The Maldives has told the World Trade Organization that it applies a limit on the number of each species allowed under each pet bird import permit, under the Pet Bird Import Regulation (2012). Separately, the ministry has tightened permits for poultry and large birds, after reports that birds imported for farms were being sold as pets. Only registered farms can now import poultry and livestock birds.

We could not find any official Maldivian exemption for guide dogs or other assistance dogs. The Customs wording on dogs is absolute. If you rely on an assistance dog, contact Maldives Customs and the ministry before booking, and ask the question in writing. Do not travel on the assumption that an exception will be made at the airport.

For other ways to plan a trip with a disability, see our guide to accessible travel in the Maldives.

Most visitors come for the animals already here. On a local island you will see cats, geckos, hermit crabs, ghost crabs, herons and, at dusk, fruit bats crossing the sky. Our guides to land animals of the Maldives and birds of the Maldives explain what you are looking at.

On Dhiffushi, as on most local islands, life is shared with the island’s cats and the crabs on the beach. A few simple habits help:

• don’t feed or pick up animals you don’t know;
• leave hermit crabs and shells on the beach where you found them;
• keep away from nesting birds and turtle tracks;
• wash any scratch or bite and get it checked by a health worker.

Our local island etiquette guide covers the wider customs of island life.

The rules work in both directions. Many marine products need a permit to leave the country, according to the Maldives Customs passenger guide, and turtles, rays, many sharks and a long list of other species are protected by law. Don’t buy or collect coral, shells, turtle shell or dried marine creatures as souvenirs, and never try to take a live animal home. See our guide to protected species in the Maldives and the checklist in leaving the Maldives.

• Leave dogs at home: there is no way in for them.
• For any other animal, contact the ministry responsible for animal health and Maldives Customs well before you book.
• Get the health certificate, import permit and any other documents in writing.
• Check your airline’s own animal policy.
• Remember the rest of your entry steps, including the IMUGA traveller declaration. Our visa and entry requirements guide has the details.