Do you have to travel with your pet cat from abroad to Maldives?

From Malaysia to Maldives

Experience by: Mahin Amir

"I relocated my cat from Malaysia to Male' in October of 2023. We used pet relocation service "PET AIR" since they have experience relocating pets from Malaysia and Singapore to the Maldives. 

I was also informed to email paqu@fishagri.gov.mv and cc to shaubee@fishagri.gov.mv. They sent us these guidelines:

We had to apply for an IMPORT PERMIT from the portal aos.egov.mv which had the required documents and all listed when applied online.

After it got approved and we received the import permit, we emailed the 2 email addresses mentioned above, notifying them of our arrival time to Maldives. They responded and met us at the airport when we arrived, to check our documents and examine our cat and cleared us to enter.

Logging into the portal requires an eFaas account. For foreigners, it would be advisable to ask via the 2 email addresses above, how the process would be without having an efaas account."

From UK to the Maldives

Experience by: Tina Ramic

"I recently went through the stressful process of moving my cat from the UK to the Maldives in 2023, and I have to say it was far from straightforward. Despite multiple attempts to get clear information from the Ministry, most of my emails went unanswered. I kept calling, but the people I spoke to either didn’t have the information or weren’t sure about the process.

I was told it’s allowed to bring a cat into the Maldives, but no one could provide me with the proper paperwork or guidelines for importing from the UK. In the end, I had my UK vet fill out an import permit intended for Turkey (since I was flying with Turkish Airlines), just to ensure we could board the plane. I figured I’d handle any issues upon arrival.

When we landed, customs pulled us aside, checked the documents, and informed me that I didn’t have the correct paperwork. I explained the difficulty I faced in obtaining clear information from their side and showed them all the correspondence. Fortunately, they let us through but warned me not to repeat the process this way.

Even now, I’m still unsure what the official procedure should have been, as clear guidance from the Maldives remains lacking. It was an incredibly stressful experience, and I hope they’ve already improved their communication since 2023."