The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) now requires import permits for all animals entering the U.S.

A division of the USDA called Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) issues permits for importing nontransgenic Drosophila strains.

Another division called Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) issues permits for importing transgenic Drosophila strains.

If you intend to import transgenic and nontransgenic Drosophila in the same shipment, you do not need to obtain both PPQ and BRS permits. A BRS permit will work for mixed shipments.

PPQ or BRS will send you an approved permit and, in most instances, several shipping labels. A copy of the permit must be included in every shipment and a label must be placed on the outside of every package. You will need to mail a shipping label and a copy of the permit to the person sending you flies. In addition, a standard customs label must also be used.

We recommend that you import flies using the Postal Service and not express shippers such as FedEx. Most express shippers have policies against transporting live animals and may not transport live animals to USDA agricultural inspection stations from routine customs facilities.  Fly shipments may be delayed, returned to senders or destroyed. See Mailing Flies for details concerning postal regulations

Although you may request a USDA permit for hand-carrying flies into the U.S., you will likely find it impossible in practice. The appropriate customs agents to approve hand-carried samples are present at only a few international airports and, even at these airports, you may be required to hire a special courier to transport your samples to them for inspection. Furthermore, new security regulations prohibit "suspicious" gels and liquids and you will likely be required to discard your cultures before boarding a flight. You should ship Drosophila cultures instead of trying to carrying them into the U.S. yourself.

No permits are required for transporting flies between U.S. states except transporting flies into Hawaii, where a Hawaii Import Permit is needed, and transporting transgenic flies carrying DNA sequences from plant pests between states, where an Interstate Movement Permit is required.