Bolivia visa and entry requirements

The big change most guides have not caught up with

On 1 December 2025 Bolivia abolished the tourist visa for US citizens. The USD 160 fee, the application and the paperwork are gone. The United States, Israel, South Korea, South Africa, Latvia, Estonia and Romania were all moved into Group 1, the visa-exempt category. If you read somewhere that Americans pay 1,120 BOB at the border, that information is out of date.

How your entry route is decided

Bolivia sorts nationalities into three groups, and the list is unusual enough that it is worth checking your own against the DIGEMIG site rather than assuming.

1. Group 1 - visa-free. The EU and Schengen states, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, China, India and, since December 2025, the United States. Entry is granted for up to 90 days in any 12-month period; officers commonly stamp 30 days on arrival, and it is extended free at a Migracion office up to the 90-day annual limit.
2. Group 2 - visa required. Obtainable in advance at a consulate or, for most of this group, on arrival at any air or land port for 1,120 BOB. Grants 30 days per entry, up to 90 days a year, on a 5-year multiple-entry basis.
3. Group 3 - prior consular authorisation required before travel. There is no border option.

What everyone has to do

• Register with SIGEMIG before you fly. Bolivia requires an online migration registration through the DIGEMIG portal, including where you will be staying. It is free, it applies regardless of nationality, and it is the step people miss.
• Passport valid at least 6 months from entry, with two blank pages.
• Proof of onward travel - an outbound ticket - and proof of lodging, either a confirmed booking or a notarised host invitation.
• Yellow fever certificate if you are arriving from, or travelling on to, an endemic tropical zone. Given Bolivia's own lowlands are endemic, this is worth having anyway.
• Form 250 (Declaracion Jurada de Equipaje) for customs. Cash between USD 10,000 and USD 50,000 must be declared on entry under Supreme Decree 5404 of 23 May 2025, filed on the customs portal or in the ANVIAJERO app. Below USD 10,000 nothing is required.

At the desk, and afterwards

• Check that you actually got the stamp, and read the date on it. Leaving a land border without one is a real problem later: an unstamped entry means fines and difficulty leaving.
• Overstaying costs a daily administrative penalty of 100 UFV, roughly 250 BOB and indexed daily, charged when you depart.
• If an official asks you to convert currency at the border, decline and ask for a supervisor. You are entitled to carry up to USD 10,000 without declaring it, and there is no lawful requirement to change it.