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Importing a pet bird into the US: APHIS vs Fish & Wildlife Service — who does what?

APHIS first, because it applies to every pet bird. APHIS defines the shipment — five or fewer birds, kept for the owner's personal pleasure, not for resale, and not a poultry species (chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons, doves and similar birds follow other rules; six or more pet birds are treated as commercial). Its import permit is applied for in APHIS eFile at least 7 business days before shipping, with your route and travel date stated; the permit is valid for 30 days from that date and must travel with the birds. APHIS also sets the health-certificate requirement (a government vet of the exporting country, or an accredited vet countersigned by a government vet), controls which ports you may use, and runs quarantine: non-US-origin birds other than from Canada complete 30 days in a federal facility with testing, Canadian birds complete it only if they come from or transit an HPAI/Newcastle restricted zone, and qualifying returning US-origin birds may instead do 30 days of home quarantine. On arrival you declare the bird to Customs and Border Protection and notify the APHIS port office 72 hours ahead.

FWS second, because it applies by species, not by shipment. If your bird's species is listed under CITES — Appendix I or II — or covered by the Wild Bird Conservation Act, FWS permits are required on top of everything APHIS asks. The personal-pet instrument is Form 3-200-46, a one-time import/export/re-export permit filed in ePermits: for an import you must show at least one year of continuous residence outside the US just before applying and no intention to sell the bird, the form itself limits an import to two birds per person, and the WBCA regulation (50 CFR 15.25) caps personal-pet imports at two exotic birds per person per year and forbids selling the bird after import. Appendix I species need a CITES import permit as well as the origin country's export permit; Appendix II species need the origin country's export permit alongside the FWS authorisation. The alternative instrument, Form 3-200-64 — the CITES Certificate of Ownership or 'pet passport' — is only for people whose primary residence is in the US, covers one animal per application, is typically valid for three years and is built for repeated crossings; it cannot be re-issued while the pet is outside the US, and it is the wrong form for a permanent move (FWS directs movers to 3-200-46). Either way, allow at least 60 days — FWS's FAQ says 60–90 days for most CITES applications and that applications cannot be expedited — and on arrival the bird must enter through an FWS designated port, be declared on Form 3-177 and be inspected by an FWS wildlife inspector, by appointment.

How the two tracks interact in practice: they run in parallel, on different clocks, to different ports lists. Your arrival airport must satisfy both agencies at once — for a quarantined bird that means an APHIS bird port (New York, Miami or Los Angeles; JFK or Miami only on the Canadian restricted-zone fork) that is also an FWS designated port with a wildlife inspector. Neither agency's document substitutes for the other's: an APHIS permit says nothing about whether the species may legally be imported, and an FWS permit says nothing about disease. The common failures are starting the FWS application inside its 60-day window, assuming a non-listed species (for example a budgerigar or cockatiel, the standard non-CITES examples) also escapes APHIS — it does not — and assuming the two-bird FWS pet cap is the same as APHIS's five-bird shipment definition. It is not: a four-bird shipment can be a valid APHIS pet shipment and still exceed the FWS personal-pet import limit. State rules and the exporting country's own export rules apply on top of both federal tracks.

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