USDA PPQ Import Permits: Forms, eFile Submission, and Fees

USDA Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) import permits are the federal authorizations you need to bring plants, seeds, soil, timber, live pests, or biological control organisms into the United States. Which permit you file depends on the category of material and the reason you’re importing it, and nearly every application now moves through the APHIS eFile portal. Get the classification wrong or skip the permit entirely, and shipments can be seized and destroyed at the border, with civil penalties reaching $1,000,000 in a single proceeding.

Which Permit Matches What You’re Importing

The regulations split primarily between 7 CFR Part 319, covering plants and plant products, and 7 CFR Part 330, covering soil, live pests, and biological control organisms.¹² Picking the right form is the first decision, and it’s the one that trips up the most applicants.

PPQ 587 — Plants and Plant Products

The general-purpose plant import permit. It covers fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, and small lots of seed for planting, consumption, or resale.³ A subset covers the Small Lots of Seed Program: up to 50 seeds (or 10 grams) of a single species, maximum 50 packets per shipment, free of pesticides, labeled with scientific name and country of origin, and shipped with a seller’s invoice. Tomato and pepper seeds are excluded.⁴

PPQ 588 — Controlled Import Permit

For plant material that would normally be restricted or prohibited. Researchers use the Controlled Import Permit (CIP) to bring in material for laboratory analysis or scientific study under strict containment and handling conditions, described in detail in the application.⁵

PPQ 525 — Soil

Any unsterilized soil requires a PPQ 525. It covers soil samples brought in for chemical or physical analysis. If your purpose is to extract biological organisms from the soil rather than analyze the soil itself, APHIS won’t accept a 525; you need a PPQ 526 instead.⁶⁷

PPQ 526 — Live Pests, Pathogens, and Biological Control Organisms

Covers importing and interstate movement of live plant pests, plant pathogens, noxious weeds, and beneficial insects. Most imported organisms must arrive at a containment facility that APHIS has inspected and approved. If your facility has never been evaluated, expect one to three months of added time before your permit is processed.⁸⁹ Facilities holding regulated organisms are also subject to unannounced APHIS inspection during business hours.

PPQ 585 — Timber and Wood Products

Required for importing timber or processed wood products. Wood and bark chips from tropical plantation-grown trees, for example, must be consigned to an approved facility operating under a compliance agreement with PPQ, where the chips are processed in a way that destroys associated plant pests.¹⁰

PPQ 586 — Transit

Used when regulated plant material is only passing through the United States on its way to another country. It’s a separate form from the import permits because the material isn’t intended to remain in the U.S.¹¹

Additional Permits That Stack On Top

Some shipments need more than one permit. Two situations come up often enough to plan for.

CITES and Endangered Species

If you’re importing plants or plant products listed under CITES or the Endangered Species Act, you need an additional layer of permitting. Under 7 CFR Part 355, anyone in the business of importing, exporting, or re-exporting CITES-regulated plants must hold a USDA Protected Plant Permit.¹² The application fee is $70, and the permit is valid for two years and covers multiple shipments.¹³

The Protected Plant Permit works alongside your other PPQ permits, not in place of them. CITES-regulated timber needs both a PPQ 621 and a PPQ 585; CITES-regulated live plants need a PPQ 621 and a PPQ 587. CITES-listed shipments must enter through a designated port. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service separately handles export and re-export permits for CITES plants leaving the country, and requires its own import permits for wild-collected Appendix I species.¹³

Postentry Quarantine

Some plants for planting are allowed in only if they’ll be grown under postentry quarantine, as specified in the APHIS Plants for Planting Manual. Before APHIS will issue a PPQ 587 for these species, you must sign a PPQ 546 Postentry Quarantine Growing Agreement committing to specified growing conditions and to reporting abnormalities or deaths.¹⁴ The agreement requires signatures from both the importer and the State Plant Regulatory Official for the state where the plants will be grown, and it must accompany the PPQ 587 application.¹⁵

What You Need Before You Apply

Incomplete applications are the leading cause of delay. Every PPQ application asks for:

Scientific name (full genus and species; common names aren’t precise enough for pest-risk assessment)
Country of origin
U.S. destination street address where the material will be stored, grown, or used
Intended use (planting, consumption, resale, research, or other), which drives inspection protocol
Quantity in standard units (kilograms, plant count, seed count)
Mode of transportation
Port of entry

Individual applicants must be at least 18 and have a physical U.S. address. Corporate applicants must maintain a U.S. business address with a designated individual for service of process.¹⁶

Depending on the commodity and country, you may also need a phytosanitary certificate from the exporting country’s plant protection agency verifying the health of the material. Plants shipped in growing media, for example, must come from an APHIS-approved facility and be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate carrying a specific additional declaration.¹⁷ Pre-shipment treatment records and sanitary certifications should be pulled together before you start the application.

How to Submit Through APHIS eFile

Nearly all PPQ permit applications go through the APHIS eFile portal.¹⁸ The steps:

Create a USDA eAuthentication account. Level 1 handles basic submissions; Level 2 provides higher security for more complex transactions.
From the eFile dashboard, choose the option to apply and select the PPQ form number that matches your commodity.
Work through the entry screens: commodity, origin, destination, intended use, transportation.
Sign electronically, certifying that the information is accurate and that you’ll comply with permit conditions.
Submit. Your application goes into the processing queue and can be tracked from your dashboard.

Paper applications are still accepted for some permit types. Soil permits (PPQ 525), for instance, can be mailed to USDA/APHIS/PPQ/Permit Services in Beltsville, Maryland.⁶ eFile is faster and gives you real-time status.

Fees

Most PPQ applications submitted through eFile have no application fee. The Protected Plant Permit for CITES-regulated species is the notable exception, at $70, and it isn’t refunded if the application is denied.¹²

The real cost of importing comes from Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection (AQI) user fees, which fund cargo inspection at ports and are assessed per conveyance. As of October 1, 2026, a commercial vessel arrival runs $3,059.61, a commercial aircraft $320.61, a commercial truck $14.50 per crossing (or $870.60 annually with a transponder), a commercial railroad car $7.97 per crossing (or $382.56 annually prepaid), and treatment monitoring $247.79 per enclosure.¹⁹ If you use a customs broker to handle clearance, expect professional fees of roughly $35 to $150 on top of government charges.

Processing Times and What You Get

Speed depends on complexity. Straightforward applications with complete information typically take 30 to 45 days. Complex imports involving restricted organisms, environmental risk assessments, or containment facility inspections can stretch to 120 days or longer.²⁰ The two biggest delays are incomplete applications that force APHIS to request more information, and facilities that need upgrades to pass inspection.

You track status through the eFile dashboard. Approved permits are delivered electronically, either by email or as a download from your account. The permit itself spells out specific conditions: required chemical treatments, inspections at the port of arrival, restrictions on where the material can be moved after entry, and labeling requirements for the outside of the package. Packages that require regulated-organism labels but lack them on the exterior can be refused entry even if the labels are enclosed inside.²¹

Renewing or Amending a Permit

Controlled Import Permits (PPQ 588) are initially valid for one year and, provided you haven’t violated conditions, can be renewed for up to two additional years.²⁰ Protected Plant Permits are valid for two years.¹³ Permits within 90 days of expiration, or already expired, are eligible for renewal.

To renew in eFile, sign in, open “My Activity,” locate the permit, click “More Actions,” and choose “Renew Permit.” The system copies your prior application into a new one you can edit before resubmitting. Renewed permits get an “R” appended to the number (R1, R2).²²

To amend an active permit — add commodities, change a destination, update details — use “Amend Permit” from the same menu. You can add or remove articles and update addresses, but you cannot change the permittee. A new permittee means a new application.²³ Only one pending action per permit at a time; a permit being amended can’t simultaneously be renewed.²²

If You’re Denied or Your Permit Is Revoked

APHIS can deny an application for incomplete information, inadequate containment facilities, or a pest risk assessment showing an unacceptable threat. An existing permit can be revoked if APHIS learns something that would have justified denial, or if the holder fails to follow the permit’s conditions or the applicable regulations.²⁴

When a permit is revoked, the holder must, at their own expense, either surrender the regulated material to an APHIS inspector, destroy it under inspector supervision, or remove it from the United States.²⁴

You have 10 business days from the date you receive written notification to file a written appeal. The appeal must set out the facts and reasons you believe the decision was wrong. The denial or revocation stays in effect while the appeal is pending — you cannot import under a revoked permit while waiting for a ruling. APHIS responds in writing with a decision and its reasoning.¹⁶

Penalties for Skipping or Violating a Permit

Importing regulated material without the right permit, or violating an existing permit’s conditions, carries serious consequences under 7 U.S.C. § 7734:²⁵

Individual civil penalty: up to $50,000 per violation, though first-time violations involving non-commercial movement are capped at $1,000.
Businesses and other non-individual violators: up to $250,000 per violation.
All violations in a single proceeding: capped at $500,000 with no willful violations, or $1,000,000 if any violation in the proceeding was willful.
Criminal penalties: knowingly importing or moving regulated material in violation of the Plant Protection Act can bring up to five years in prison, a fine, or both.

The Plant Protection Act gives the federal government broad authority to prohibit or restrict the import of any plant, plant product, pest, noxious weed, or biological control organism when the Secretary determines it’s necessary to prevent introduction or spread of plant pests.²⁶ Shipments arriving without proper documentation can be seized and destroyed at the border before any penalty hearing takes place.

1
eCFR. 7 CFR Part 319 – Foreign Quarantine Notices
2
eCFR. 7 CFR Part 330 – Federal Plant Pest Regulations
3
USDA APHIS. PPQ Form 587 – Application for Permit to Import Plants or Plant Products
4
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Seeds With Special Requirements and Prohibited Seeds
5
U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. PPQ Form 588 – Application for Controlled Import Permit to Import Restricted or Not Authorized Plant Material
6
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Soil Permit Process
7
USDA APHIS. PPQ Form 525A – Application for Permit to Receive Soil
8
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Insects and Mites
9
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Containment Facility Inspections
10
United States Department of Agriculture. PPQ Form 585 – Application for Permit to Import Timber or Timber Products
11
USDA APHIS. PPQ Form 586 – Application for Permit to Transit Plants and Plant Products Through the United States
12
eCFR. 7 CFR 355.11 – Protected Plant Permits
13
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). CITES (Endangered Plant Species)
14
eCFR. 7 CFR 319.37-23 – Postentry Quarantine
15
USDA APHIS. PPQ Form 546 – Agreement for Postentry Quarantine State Screening Notice
16
eCFR. 7 CFR 330.201 – Permit Requirements
17
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Plants with Special Requirements and Prohibited Plants
18
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. APHIS eFile
19
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection (AQI) User Fees Explained
20
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Controlled Import Permits: Frequently Asked Questions
21
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Shipping Requirements for Importing Regulated Organisms Requiring Red and White Labels
22
USDA APHIS. Guidance for Submitting a PPQ 526 Permit Application
23
USDA APHIS. Apply for PPQ 587 Import Permits
24
eCFR. Withdrawal, Cancellation, and Revocation of Permits
25
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 7 USC 7734 – Penalties for Violation
26
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 7 USC Chapter 104 – Plant Protection