Bolivia: the only country where the permit comes first
Unlike its neighbors, Bolivia won't accept a pet on a border-crossing certificate alone: a permit has to be obtained before the animal even leaves its country of departure.
A zoosanitary import permit, applied for before leaving the departure country
SENASAG (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria e Inocuidad Alimentaria) requires a Zoosanitary Import Permit, obtained before the animal is exported from its country of departure and presented on entry into Bolivian territory. That's a structural difference from Argentina, Colombia or Uruguay, where a pet traveling with its owner needs no advance authorization at all — just a certificate issued right before the flight.
The application runs through the Gran Paitití online system: form SENASAGIMPFOR001, a request letter to the SENASAG departmental head, a packing list detailing the animal's age, sex, color and vaccinations, and a zoosanitary certificate of origin. All documentation must be provided in Spanish.
At least forty-eight hours of processing — a lead time to plan before even booking the flight
Once the file is submitted, a SENASAG technician carries out the document review, and the permit can only be collected "after forty-eight hours." That's on top of the health certificate's own timeline: unlike neighboring countries where only the certificate counts down before the flight, Bolivia adds a separate administrative step, with its own processing time.
The page consulted states no microchip requirement and no minimum interval for the rabies vaccine — two points still worth confirming directly with SENASAG when putting the file together, rather than assumed by default from neighboring countries' rules.
Quarantine exists, but it isn't automatic
Contrary to a quick read of the regulation, Bolivian quarantine isn't a routine step for every pet: it only applies if the animal shows clinical symptoms on arrival, for up to thirty calendar days, while lab analysis is carried out as part of epidemiological surveillance.
A visibly healthy animal with a complete file isn't, by default, meant to be quarantined — but showing no symptoms at the checkpoint is exactly what avoids it.
What the pages consulted don't say
No specific fee appears on the official pages consulted for this permit — only a mention of a payment due to a designated bank account after the settlement form is issued. Absent a published figure, no amount is stated here — worth asking SENASAG directly when filing.