Countries and destinations covered

These groupings help you find the right country. Each one sets its own medicine rules.

  • Detailed guides: United States, Canada and Mexico.
  • Territories and other places need their own checks: Greenland, Bermuda, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Puerto Rico and other US territories. Geography alone will not tell you their constitutional or customs status.
  • For Central America and Caribbean countries, use the Latin America & Caribbean regional guide.

Three neighbours with three regulators

Use FDA sources for the United States, Health Canada for Canada and COFEPRIS for Mexico. Search for the exact product and formulation. A product approved in one country may carry a different name, use or presentation in the next. Check the newer oral medicines on their own. An approved semaglutide injection does not mean a semaglutide weight-management tablet is authorised.

Resident and visitor rules differ

Official US and Canadian guidance treats different types of traveller and importer differently. A visitor allowance is no general rule for residents buying prescription medicines abroad. A receipt from a border pharmacy gives you no customs permission. Before you pay, work out who is importing, whether you will carry or post the medicine, the quantity and the exact destination. Ask the relevant authority when the answer is unclear.

Insurance cover is a separate decision

In all three countries, ask your insurer or payer about the exact product and condition, and ask for the decision in writing in plain terms. A prescription does not guarantee payment. If you pay yourself, compare the full ongoing cost and ignore one headline pack price. Ask who will review your treatment and what happens if the medicine runs short or your insurance changes.

Cross-border buying can break continuity of care

If a new clinician or pharmacy gets involved, give them your last dose, current strength and treatment history. Ask for the product information and device instructions. Do not swap brands by matching the ingredient, and do not work out your own dose conversion from a foreign label. Keep the supply record, plan storage for the whole trip and make sure you have a clinician to contact once you are home.

Using the country guides

Each country guide links to the official sources and marks what is confirmed and what still needs checking. The guides do not rank sellers or vouch for every current strength. Read the buying guide for the country where you buy and the entry rules for the country where you will use the medicine. When those are two different countries, do both checks.

Country guides in this region

Sources

Your own medicine leaflet and prescriber come first. A source from another country does not mean the same rule applies in the UK.

  1. FDA: personal importation fda.gov
  2. Health Canada: personal importation guidance GUI-0116 canada.ca
  3. COFEPRIS counterfeit alerts gob.mx

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