Tanzania visa and entry requirements

The visa

• Apply for an e-visa before you fly, at visa.immigration.go.tz, which is the only official site. Allow about 10 working days.
• USD 50 for the ordinary tourist visa, single entry, valid for a stay of up to 90 days.
• USD 100 for the multiple entry visa, valid one year.
• USD 30 for a transit visa.
• Your passport must be valid 6 months from arrival and have a blank page.

The rule that catches Americans

Holders of United States passports travelling for tourism cannot apply for the ordinary visa. The immigration department requires them to take the USD 100 multiple entry visa, valid one year.

• It looks like an upsell on the application form and it is the actual rule.
• Choosing the USD 50 option as an American gets the application rejected, and you lose the time rather than the money.
• It is genuinely multiple entry, so it pays for itself if you are hopping to Kenya or Rwanda and back.

Visa on arrival, honestly

• The FCDO still lists visa on arrival as available at main ports of entry, and travellers are still being issued them at Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
• A number of operators state it was withdrawn in January 2025, and the immigration department pushes everyone towards the e-visa.
• Multiple entry visas cannot be issued on arrival at all, which by itself makes the e-visa the only route for Americans.
• The safe answer is to hold an e-visa before boarding. The airline is the checkpoint that matters, and a queue at 03:00 at Kilimanjaro after a 9-hour flight is not where you want to discover a policy change.
• Some nationalities need a referral visa, which takes around two months and cannot be done on arrival. Check your own position early.

Zanzibar's compulsory insurance

This is the single most common way a Tanzanian trip goes wrong at the border.

• Every non-resident visitor to Zanzibar must hold a Zanzibar Insurance Corporation policy. Not travel insurance generally - this specific one.
• USD 44 per adult, USD 22 per child aged 3 to 17, free for under-3s, covering stays up to 92 days.
• Buy it at visitzanzibar.go.tz before you travel. You get a QR code by email.
• It is checked at the airport and at the ferry terminal, and people without it are refused entry. Your own policy from home is not accepted as a substitute.
• It covers emergency medical up to USD 50,000, evacuation and baggage - so it is real cover rather than a tax, but it is not enough on its own.
• Mainland Tanzania does not require it. Only Zanzibar and Pemba.

Yellow fever, and other things at the border

• A yellow fever certificate is required if you are arriving from a country on the transmission risk list, which includes Kenya, Uganda and much of central and west Africa. A long airport transit through one can count.
• Plastic bags are banned. Surrender any you are carrying on arrival; the resealable bag for airport liquids is the one exception.
• Screening for Ebola and mpox operates at entry points, with temperature checks.
• Drones need permission in advance and are confiscated without it.