Importing Pets to Sabah & Sarawak: Separate Rules

Most owners find this out late. They read a Malaysia pet import guide, apply for a MAQIS permit, book a flight to Kota Kinabalu, then discover that the permit in their hand covers a different part of the country.

The reason is constitutional. Sabah and Sarawak kept control of agriculture and veterinary matters when they joined the federation, so animal imports into either state are licensed by the state, at state offices, under state legislation. The federal department says so itself.

This guide sets out what each state publishes, where the two rulebooks disagree, and how we sequence a file at My Pet Mover when Borneo is the destination. It sits alongside our wider Malaysian pet import service, which handles the federal side of the same journey. If you are arriving from overseas, the MAQIS permit application for a pet from Japan shows what the federal half of that paperwork looks like.

One background fact shapes almost everything Sarawak does at its border, so it is worth seeing before the rules themselves.

The federal Department of Veterinary Services is direct about this. Its own guidance says that to move a pet from the Peninsular to Sabah or Sarawak, you apply for a veterinary health certificate from your state veterinary department. You then follow the requirements set by DVS Sabah or DVS Sarawak. Moving the other way, from Borneo back to the Peninsular, you need an export permit from the state you are leaving.

That last point catches people out. A dog leaving Kuching for Petaling Jaya needs Sarawak’s permission to go, not just Malaysia’s permission to arrive. The same applies when bringing a pet home to Malaysia and the final address is in Borneo. The table below maps every combination owners ask about.

The word “domestic” has no meaning here. Sabah publishes a dedicated set of import conditions for dogs and cats arriving from Peninsular Malaysia, another for animals arriving from Sarawak, and another for all countries. Sarawak’s regulations name its export origins as “West Malaysia, Sabah and other countries” in a single breath.

Three consequences follow, and each one costs money if you find out late:

• You cannot hand-carry the animal. Sabah requires veterinary inspection at the MAS cargo office at Kota Kinabalu International Airport, and its conditions rule out hand-carry in capital letters.
• A domestic ticket does not shorten the paperwork. The rabies titre test, the microchip and the health certificate apply whether the animal boards in London or in Subang.
• Quarantine still runs. A dog flying two and a half hours from KLIA still lands in a quarantine station, not in your new house.

This catches out owners who have already been through quarantine at KLIA on the way into Malaysia. Clearing the federal border does not pre-clear the state one.

Sabah’s current conditions for dogs and cats from all countries set out a short, strict list. Read them as a sequence of dated events, because that is how they fail.

1. Microchip first. An Avid, Trovan, Destron or other ISO-compatible chip, with the scanned number recorded correctly on every document. Our guide to microchip rules for pets entering Malaysia covers the reader-compatibility trap.
2. Rabies vaccination inside the window. For a primary vaccination, not less than three months and not more than twelve months before shipment, given when the animal was at least three months old. For a booster with an inactivated or recombinant vaccine, within one year of shipment.
3. FAVN titre test. Serum must contain at least 0.5 IU/ml, tested at a laboratory approved by the World Organisation for Animal Health. The sample must be drawn not less than 30 days and not more than 24 months before shipment.
4. Parasite treatment. Endoparasite and ectoparasite treatment within 15 days before shipment.
5. Health certificate. Issued by the exporting country’s veterinary authority, in English, certifying no clinical signs of rabies or contagious disease within 48 hours before shipment.

The laboratory report itself is a documented failure point. Sabah requires it in English, on the testing laboratory’s own letterhead, showing the microchip number, the blood sampling date and location, the signature of the person issuing it, and the test type and result. A results email without letterhead is enough to stall a file.

Two operational rules sit alongside the clinical ones. The animal travels in an individual cage, with no animals of different health status on board. The confirmed arrival time must reach the Animal Quarantine Office at KKIA Terminal 1 at least two days ahead.

This is the single biggest difference between importing pets to Sabah and Sarawak, and the one that reshapes a moving date. Sarawak has a route to zero days. Sabah does not publish one.

The Kinarut station sits in Papar, roughly 40 minutes south of Kota Kinabalu, so factor the drive into any visiting plan. The 14-day floor is what a fully compliant file earns. On a Peninsular-origin file, failing the rabies titre requirement stretches that stay to 60 days rather than triggering a refusal. Failing the health certificate requirement means the animal is denied entry outright.

There is also a compliance penalty with no federal equivalent. An importer who fails to meet the requirements may be warned or blacklisted for up to one year. That attaches to the person, not just the shipment.

One detail deserves attention if you are comparing older guidance. Sabah’s 2024 conditions for Peninsular-origin animals required the rabies vaccination not less than six months before shipment, plus six months of residency in West Malaysia or Labuan. The 2026 conditions use a three-month minimum and drop the residency clause. Both documents have circulated. Confirm the current version with DVS Sabah in writing before you set a vaccination date, because those two windows produce completely different calendars.

Sarawak’s importation regulations, effective 3 April 2023, are unusually readable. They also carry conditions no other Malaysian jurisdiction publishes. The animal must be at least three months old and must not be pregnant, and the application form asks for a photograph taken within the past week.

The rabies vaccine must be a killed vaccine. The health certificate must come from a competent government veterinary officer in the country of origin. It must certify that the animal was examined within the previous seven days and found free of rabies and contagious disease. Our overview of rabies vaccination rules for pets entering Malaysia covers how these certificates are usually worded.

Quarantine is where Sarawak diverges sharply from Sabah. Instead of a flat minimum, it publishes a ladder driven by the rabies antibody result.

Read the bottom row carefully. A vaccinated animal with no titre result on file is treated worse than an animal whose titre came back low, because Sarawak can price a known number and cannot price an unknown one. Paying for the test is almost always cheaper than the extra 16 days.

People assume the two states are broadly the same because both sit on Borneo and both sit outside MAQIS. Side by side, they are not close, and that gap is what makes importing pets to Sabah and Sarawak two separate planning exercises rather than one.

The divergence matters more than the similarity. Three breeds sit on opposite sides of the line:

• American Staffordshire Terrier. Banned outright in Sarawak. On Sabah’s restricted list, meaning entry is allowed if the dog is neutered and certified by the exporting veterinary authority.
• Staffordshire Terrier. Named on Sarawak’s banned list. Sabah’s restricted list names the Staffordshire Bull Terrier instead.
• Neapolitan Mastiff. Banned in Sarawak. Restricted, and therefore importable with conditions, in Sabah.

Sabah’s restricted tier is worth understanding. Thirteen breeds, including the German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Alaskan Malamute, Malinois and Dogue de Bordeaux, may enter if the dog is neutered or spayed before entry and the exporting veterinary authority certifies it. That wording has to appear on the health certificate, not a separate clinic letter.

Sarawak publishes no equivalent middle tier, and its ban extends to crosses. If your dog is a visible mix of a listed breed, get the position in writing before committing to a date. Our guide to dog breeds banned or restricted in Malaysia covers how these lists work in practice.

The calendar below counts backwards from arrival day, assuming an overseas origin. A move from the Peninsular compresses the front end but leaves the titre timing untouched.

Compare that against a straight Peninsular arrival and the gap is obvious. Our Malaysia pet import timeline runs shorter at the back end because there is only one authority to satisfy.

Each one is avoidable, and each one is expensive at the airport rather than at the desk:

• Assuming the federal permit covers Borneo. It does not. A MAQIS import permit gets an animal into Peninsular Malaysia. The state licence is a separate application with its own lead time.
• Booking cabin or excess baggage. Sabah requires inspection at the MAS cargo office and rules out hand-carry. A cabin booking has to be unwound, usually at short notice and at full cost.
• Skipping the titre because the flight is domestic. On a Peninsular-origin file into Sabah, no valid titre turns a 14-day stay into 60 days. Those extra 46 days of boarding dwarf the cost of the test.
• Working from an old PDF. Sabah has published overlapping versions of its conditions with different vaccination windows. Confirm the live version with the department before scheduling the vet.

A fifth failure is quieter: planning around the wrong species. The state documents above cover dogs and cats only. Rabbits and birds follow a separate track, set out in our guide to importing exotic pets to Malaysia. Owners moving on a long-stay visa should also read how pets fit into an MM2H move, because the visa and animal timelines rarely align on their own.

Sarawak’s context explains why its border is watched so closely. The state has been managing a rabies outbreak declared in 2017, and in April 2026 it expanded an oral rabies vaccination programme after further deaths. Rules built in that environment can change quickly.

The mistake is almost never a missing document. It is a document built for the wrong jurisdiction, found too late to fix.

Sabah asks for more upfront and still holds the animal for two weeks. Sarawak asks for less upfront and can release the animal the same day, but only if the titre certificate is already in the file. Neither state is stricter overall. They are different systems, and the plan has to match the one you are flying into.

Get the destination state right, get the current conditions confirmed in writing, and count backwards from the titre. Everything else about importing pets to Sabah and Sarawak follows from those three moves. Owners weighing up whether the extra quarantine days are avoidable should settle that before the flight is booked, not after.

1. Do I need a MAQIS permit to bring my pet into Sabah or Sarawak?

No. MAQIS licenses animal imports into Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan. Sabah issues its own import licence through its Department of Veterinary Services, and Sarawak issues its own import permit through its State Veterinary Authority under the Veterinary Public Health Ordinance 1999. Apply directly to the destination state.

2. Is quarantine compulsory when importing pets to Sabah?

Yes. Sabah applies a minimum 14 days of mandatory quarantine at the Veterinary Quarantine Station in Kinarut, Papar, even for a fully compliant animal. On a Peninsular-origin file, an animal without a valid rabies titre result is held for 60 days instead.

3. Can my pet skip quarantine in Sarawak?

Yes, in three situations. Animals from countries Sarawak lists as rabies-free enter without quarantine. So do animals from rabies-affected origins with a titre above 0.5 IU/ml. Animals from West Malaysia, Labuan, Sabah or Singapore have the standard 14 days waived if the titre clears the same threshold.

4. Does a pet flying from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching need a permit?

Yes. Sarawak treats West Malaysia as an export origin alongside Sabah and foreign countries, so a state import permit is required. You also need a veterinary health certificate from your state veterinary department in the Peninsular before the animal leaves.

5. Which dog breeds cannot enter Sarawak?

Sarawak bans fourteen breeds and their crosses. The list covers the American Pit Bull, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Terrier, American Bulldog, Japanese Tosa, Akita Inu, Neapolitan Mastiff, Fila Brasileiro, Dogo Argentino, Russo-European Laika, Owtcharka, Canary Dog, Tibetan Mastiff and Kai Dog. There is no restricted tier, so no conditional route in.

6. How much do the state permits cost?

Sarawak publishes an import licence fee of RM5 per head, with quarantine at RM5 for a dog and RM3 for a cat. Sabah publishes an arrival inspection fee of RM10 per animal. These are government charges only, and exclude the titre test, flights, crate, boarding and agent fees.