African Greys and CITES Appendix I: What Changed in 2017 and What It Means Now

African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) moved from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I on 2 January 2017 — the convention’s strictest tier, reserved for species considered threatened with extinction. For an owner relocating internationally, that single reclassification is the difference between needing one CITES permit and needing two, on both ends of the trip, The separate US import problem is NOT a product of that change: African greys have never appeared on the Wild Bird Conservation Act approved list at 50 CFR 15.33, so the US restriction predates 2017 and turns on the approved list rather than on the CITES appendix. The two regimes move independently.

This article is about what that change actually means today, in 2026, for a Canadian owner trying to take a Congo African grey — or a Timneh — across a border. It doesn’t cover the CFIA animal-health side of crossing into the US, which is a separate regime; that’s handled in our Canada-US border walkthrough.

What actually changed on 2 January 2017

CITES sorts species into appendices by how much international trade threatens them. Appendix I is the highest tier: commercial trade is essentially off the table, and even non-commercial movement — a pet travelling with its owner — needs permits on both the exporting and importing side. Appendix II species need only an export permit from the country they’re leaving.

The African grey was moved from Appendix II to Appendix I at the CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP17), with the revised appendices taking effect on 2 January 2017 — Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) confirms both the transfer and the date. Canada gives this domestic legal force through amendments to Schedule I of the Wild Animal and Plant Trade Regulations (WAPTR), made under the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA). That’s the instrument that actually binds a Canadian owner, exporter or CITES officer at the border — CITES itself is the international treaty, WAPTR is how Canada enforces it.

One permit became two: export and import

ECCC states plainly that leaving Canada with an African grey today requires an import permit issued by the destination country, in addition to the CITES export permit ECCC issues on the Canadian side. Under the old Appendix II listing, only the Canadian export permit was needed — the receiving country didn’t have to issue anything. That’s the practical bite of the 2017 change: it isn’t just paperwork on your end, it’s paperwork you now need someone else’s government to issue before you can leave.

This means you can’t complete your side of the move and simply show up. The destination country’s CITES management authority needs to issue its own import permit, and — sensibly — you’ll usually want that in hand, or at least confirmed as in process, before ECCC will finalise your export permit, since Appendix I trade is meant to be a matched pair of documents rather than a one-sided departure.

Which CITES form do you actually need?

Here’s a distinction almost nobody gets right on the first try: which form you file depends on your bird’s origin, not on where it’s going. ECCC’s own form index says the export application is for live animals of Canadian origin, and adds, in as many words, “use the re-export application form for live animal(s) of foreign origin.” Most pet African greys kept in Canada were imported at some point rather than bred here from a Canadian-origin line, so most relocating owners will need the re-export form, not the export one — even though functionally you’re still exporting the bird from Canada.

If your grey is captive-bred, be ready to document its genealogy back to the second captive-born generation (F2) — parents and grandparents, named, with identification numbers — along with breeder details and whether the breeding operation is CITES-registered. And before any of that matters: your bird needs a permanent identification mark. ECCC’s forms state outright that without a leg band, microchip or tattoo already on the bird, they can’t proceed with the assessment at all. ECCC states this on its Certificate of Ownership application page: if the pet bears no identification marks, “we will not be able to proceed with the assessment of your application.” If your grey isn’t marked, that’s the very first call to make — to your avian vet, not to ECCC.

An incomplete application doesn’t sit in a queue waiting on you — ECCC says it gets paused entirely until every missing piece arrives, and the clock effectively restarts once it’s complete. ECCC does publish service standards for CITES permit processing times on its application-forms page; quote the current figure from there rather than from any number circulating elsewhere online, since these standards change. Unconfirmed: we could not verify this against an official source — specifically, current published service-standard processing time for CITES export/re-export permit applications. Please confirm with Environment and Climate Change Canada at 1-855-869-8670 or cites@ec.gc.ca before you rely on it for your own bird.

The Certificate of Ownership trap

This is the piece of the puzzle most relocation guides get backwards. ECCC’s Certificate of Ownership exists for four stated purposes: vacation, exhibition or show, living part of the year in another country, or “other.” The form itself says, in plain language: if you are moving, complete the application for import, export or re-export of live animals instead. The Certificate of Ownership is a round-trip document, for an owner who takes a pet abroad and brings it home again — not a one-way emigration document. If you’re permanently relocating, this is the wrong form regardless of what a search result tells you.

The Certificate is filed on CITES Form A3, sent to ECCC’s CITES Permitting Office once only — one form per pet. ECCC states the review period is 40 days once every required document has been received, and it’s only granted to Canadians moving a pet non-commercially; someone applying on the owner’s behalf needs a signed authorisation letter from the owner. It requires the same identification marking as above.

One question this raises that we could not verify from ECCC’s published materials: whether a Certificate of Ownership issued for an African grey before 2 January 2017 — under the old Appendix II listing — remains valid for round trips today, or whether it needs to be reapplied for under the current Appendix I rules. Given how much the underlying permit conditions changed, don’t assume an old certificate still works. Unconfirmed: we could not verify this against an official source — specifically, whether a Certificate of Ownership for an African grey issued before 2 January 2017 remains valid post-Appendix I, or must be reapplied for. Please confirm with Environment and Climate Change Canada at 1-855-869-8670 or cites@ec.gc.ca before you rely on it for your own bird. If you’re travelling temporarily and plan to bring your grey back into Canada afterwards, our guide to bringing a pet bird into Canada covers the return leg.

Crossing into the United States: the Wild Bird Conservation Act problem

If your destination is the US, Appendix I status collides with a second, entirely American law: the Wild Bird Conservation Act (WBCA). Under 50 CFR § 15.11(b), it’s unlawful to import into the United States any exotic bird species listed in the CITES appendices unless that species also appears on the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s approved list in 50 CFR § 15.33 — or unless a permit is issued.

The African grey is not on that approved list. Species that are include budgerigars, cockatiels, Indian ringnecks, peach-faced and masked lovebirds, and a handful of others — but not African greys, and not macaws, amazons, cockatoos, eclectus, caiques, senegals or pionus either. For any of those, including your grey, the WBCA import prohibition applies in full unless you qualify for a permit.

Two things make this harder than owners expect. First, 15.11 contains no exemption for temporary, short, or accompanying-personal-pet imports — there’s no “just visiting” carve-out for a species not on the approved list; the only escapes are a subpart C permit or a foreign breeding facility qualifying under subpart E. Second, 15.11 draws no distinction between driving and flying — the prohibition applies to “import into the United States,” full stop, regardless of mode of travel. This is a place where the animal-health rules covered in our Canada-US border walkthrough and the WBCA genuinely diverge: passing a CFIA/APHIS health check at the border does nothing to satisfy the WBCA, and vice versa. They’re separate regimes enforced by separate agencies.

The 15.25 personal-pet permit route

The relevant permit is 50 CFR § 15.25. Its residency test is more forgiving than most owners assume: it does not require US citizenship or returning-resident status. What it requires, stated twice in the regulation, is documented continuous residence outside the United States for at least one year — which on the face of the rule a Canadian who has lived in Canada for a year or more satisfies.

Three conditions matter regardless of residency status:

• No individual may import more than two exotic birds as personal pets in any year — stated three separate times in the regulation, as an application requirement, an issuance criterion, and a standing permit condition.
• The bird cannot be sold after it enters the United States — that’s a fixed condition of every personal-pet permit issued under 15.25.
• You need documented evidence of the bird’s origin: a copy of any CITES export/re-export permit under which it was previously moved, or — if none exists — a sales receipt or signed seller’s statement, or a signed breeder’s certificate with hatch date and identifying details.

Timneh African greys: same species, same rules?

Timneh African greys (Psittacus timneh) were historically treated as a subspecies of the Congo grey and are commonly assumed today to carry identical Appendix I status and identical permit requirements. We were not given a citation confirming the current, precise CITES listing status of the Timneh as distinct from the Congo African grey, so don’t take that assumption at face value before you file anything. Unconfirmed: we could not verify this against an official source — specifically, current CITES appendix listing and permit treatment of Psittacus timneh (Timneh African grey) — whether it is listed separately or treated as conspecific with Psittacus erithacus for permit purposes — confirm with CITES.org or ECCC’s CITES Permitting Office. Please confirm with Environment and Climate Change Canada at 1-855-869-8670 or cites@ec.gc.ca before you rely on it for your own bird.

How will the bird actually travel?

Even once the paperwork clears, getting an African grey onto a plane out of Canada is its own problem. Air Canada’s published pet policy names only cats and small dogs for the cabin — birds don’t appear anywhere as an accepted cabin animal, and cabin pet fees ($50-60 domestic, $100-120 international) simply don’t apply to a bird because there’s no bird option to book. Porter Airlines is explicit that pet travel is restricted to house cats and small dogs, and that pets aren’t permitted in the hold on any Porter flight at all — so Porter carries no birds, cabin or cargo, under any circumstances.

WestJet is the exception that actually contemplates pet birds, publishing a dedicated “bird embargoes” section: birds of any type cannot be imported into the Dominican Republic, endangered birds can’t be exported from Mexico, and travelling with a bird may need an import/export permit arranged in advance. WestJet also refuses pets entirely — in both cabin and hold — to or from Barbados, Hawaii, Dublin, Jamaica and the UK. And WestJet states outright that the passenger, not the airline, is responsible for meeting every country’s entry requirements on the itinerary, including possible denial of entry on health grounds even back into Canada.

Practically: assume there is no cabin option for an African grey on any of Canada’s three largest carriers, and plan your routing — likely cargo, or a specialist pet-relocation carrier — well before your CITES permits are even close to ready. Our complete guide to moving abroad with a pet bird covers that planning timeline in full.

Before vs. after 2017, at a glance

Requirement	Under Appendix II (pre-2017)	Under Appendix I (post-2017)
ECCC export/re-export permit	Required	Required
Destination-country import permit	Not required	Required, per ECCC
Certificate of Ownership (round trips only)	Available	Available — but see whether pre-2017 certificates remain valid Not confirmed — ask them
Species on USFWS 15.33 approved list (US entry)	No	No — unchanged, still not approved
WBCA 15.25 personal-pet permit needed for US entry	Yes	Yes — unchanged

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a permit just to take my African grey out of Canada?

Yes. As an Appendix I species, an African grey needs a CITES export or re-export permit from ECCC before it leaves Canada, and — since 2017 — the destination country must also issue its own CITES import permit.

Can I use a Certificate of Ownership I got before 2017 for my move?

A Certificate of Ownership was never meant for a one-way move in the first place — ECCC’s own form says so. Whether an old, pre-2017 certificate remains valid for anything today is something to confirm directly with ECCC’s CITES Permitting Office before you rely on it.

Will my African grey fly in the cabin with me?

Not on Air Canada or Porter, which name only cats and small dogs. WestJet contemplates bird travel but refuses pets entirely, in cabin or hold, on several routes, and requires you to independently confirm entry requirements at every stop.

Is a Timneh African grey covered by the same CITES and WBCA rules as a Congo African grey?

They’re commonly assumed to be treated the same, but we couldn’t confirm the exact current listing from the sources we checked. Confirm the Timneh’s specific status with CITES or ECCC before assuming it matches the Congo grey.

Can I bring my African grey into the United States as a personal pet?

Only through a Wild Bird Conservation Act permit under 50 CFR § 15.25, since the African grey isn’t on the USFWS approved species list. That route generally needs one year of documented residence outside the US, is capped at two exotic birds per person per year, and bars resale of the bird after entry.

How long does the whole CITES process take?

ECCC states 40 days for review of a complete Certificate of Ownership application — but that form doesn’t apply to a permanent move. For export/re-export permit processing times, check ECCC’s current published service standards rather than any figure quoted elsewhere.

Does Bird Sitting Toronto handle any of these permits for me?

No. We don’t file CITES paperwork, liaise with ECCC or USFWS, or advise on immigration or customs matters — this article is information only. What we do is board and care for the bird itself.

If your African grey’s permits are still working their way through ECCC or USFWS, that’s often weeks or months of boarding while you wait it out. As an extra-large bird, boarding runs $29.75/day, $180/week or $720/month at Bird Sitting Toronto (rates current at time of writing — check /pricing/ for today’s), with daily photos and videos through the client portal the whole time. If that’s useful while your paperwork clears, get a quote here.

Who to call before you travel

Confirm every requirement below with the agency itself. These are the people who
can actually authorise your bird’s movement — we cannot.

Check these numbers before you rely on them. They were correct when this
page was last reviewed, but government phone numbers, email addresses and web pages change
without notice and we have not re-verified them today. If a number does not connect, find
the agency through its own official website rather than trusting what is printed here.

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) — import/export of live
  birds, health certificates, quarantine: 1-800-442-2342
  · inspection.canada.ca
• Environment and Climate Change Canada — CITES permitting — export and
  import permits for CITES-listed species, and what documents exist for repeat crossings:
  1-855-869-8670
  · cites@ec.gc.ca
• USDA APHIS Veterinary Services — US import permits and port
  inspection: aphis.usda.gov/pet-travel
• US Fish & Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement — CITES
  and Wild Bird Conservation Act: 1-800-358-2104

What we can and cannot help with

We cannot help with paperwork. Bird Sitting Toronto is a bird
boarding and care business. We are not a customs broker, an immigration consultant, a
veterinary practice or a legal adviser. We do not file permits, complete applications or
deal with any agency on your behalf, and we cannot guarantee any outcome at any border.
Everything on this page is information only.

There are two things we can do. If your bird cannot travel with you
— because the paperwork is still in progress, the airline will not carry it, or the
timing simply does not work — we can board
your bird in the GTA for as long as you need, including by the month. And if it
becomes clear the bird genuinely cannot come with you, we can help you
rehome it to a good home rather
than leaving you to sort that out alone.

We publish this guide because our clients ask constantly and nobody else has written
it properly for bird owners.