If you book a safari in Tanzania or if you travel to Zanzibar, then you will need a Tanzania visa. But how to obtain this visa?

This article is a mine of information… Enjoy the read!

Important: we are not a visa purchasing service! The purpose of this article is solely to inform our clients. To begin with, read the article below, we hope it helps ! (If not, you can always contact visa purchasing services). 

By travelling with Tanzania Specialist, you will naturally be guided by our team during the booking process.

Applying for a visa

To see what is more convenient, we broke down two methods of obtaining a Tanzanian visa. What are the pros and cons of each method? We have listed them in this article to help you make your decision.

Tanzania visa: How much does it cost?

To travel to Tanzania, you need a visa. 

Are you British? The fee is £40 if applied in advance.

In Tanzania, it costs 50 dollars or 50 euros, which is quite surprising because 50 euros is worth more than 50 dollars. It is what it is! Therefore, when applying for a visa upon arrival in Tanzania, make sure to bring dollars with you, it will cost you less.

Are you a US citizen? Then you need a multiple entry visa and must pay US $100.

Online application:

If you wish to apply for a visa to Tanzania, you can do so online via this link https://eservices.immigration.go.tz/visa/. This is the only official link from the Tanzanian government. Please note that since January 2nd 2020, visas can no longer be requested through embassies.

Apply for a visa upon arrival in Tanzania:

What happens if you want to apply for a visa locally? When you arrive at one of Tanzania’s airports, there is a specific counter you need to go to in order to apply for a visa, if you have not done so online before your trip. Applying is quite easy. The time it takes to obtain it depends entirely on the number of people at the airport. Even if you’re one of the first passengers to exit the plane and enter the airport, you still might have to queue for 20 minutes, depending on affluence. 

It can sometimes take an hour, even when it’s not high season.

You should take this into consideration, especially if you are travelling in high season, because waiting for several hours to get your visa after such a long flight is never very pleasant.

Our advice:

Naturally, most people want to be organized in such a way as to avoid wasting any time upon arrival. We agree! Especially because most people travel in high season and you never know how many visas will be requested on the spot, so, best to be wise and not take any risk (especially when travelling with children). 

Namely: If only one of the parents is travelling with her/his child, the other parent must provide a document which is written, in English, that he or she gives permission for the child’s trip. Finding this out is not practical if you have already arrived in Tanzania and need to get the document remotely. 

We always send all the important information to our customers in the information pack to prepare for the trip, so you do not have to search for it yourself. On top of this, in order to obtain your Tanzania visa, your passport must still be valid for at least 6 months after your return date from Tanzania. So make sure to check your passport’s expiry date well in advance.

Be safe, apply for a Tanzania visa online before you leave!

PS: If you choose to apply for a visa in Tanzania, no problem!

However, we recommend that you read our information pack* to prepare for the trip and avoid any problems upon arrival.