Most visitors need a visa, and most can get one on arrival or online in advance. What the visa covers, what to bring to the desk, and the mistakes that hold people up at the airport.
Most visitors to Tanzania need a visa, and for most nationalities it is straightforward: you can apply online before you travel or get one at the airport when you land. The rules and the fee change from time to time, so treat this page as a guide to how it works and check the current position for your passport before you fly.
This page covers who needs a visa, the two ways to get one, what to have ready at the desk, Zanzibar, and the small things that cause delays.
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The Tanzanian government runs an e-visa portal. You fill in the form, upload a passport photo and a scan of your passport, pay the fee by card, and receive an approval by email. It can take a few days and sometimes longer, so apply at least two or three weeks before you travel.
Print the approval and carry it with your passport. At the airport you go to the e-visa desk, show the approval, and get the stamp.
Applying online is the calmer option. You know before you fly that you are approved, and the queue at the airport is usually shorter. Use only the official government portal. There are look-alike sites that charge more for the same thing.
If you do not apply in advance, most nationalities can get a visa when they land at Kilimanjaro International, Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar. You fill in a form, pay the fee, and wait.
The fee is in US dollars. Bring the exact amount in cash, in clean, recent notes. Card payment is often possible but not always reliable. Old or torn dollar bills may be refused.
The queue can be long when several international flights land at once, which at Kilimanjaro is the evening. Allow for it. If you have a connection or a transfer waiting, the online visa is the better choice.
Your passport, valid for at least six months from the date you arrive, with at least one blank page.
Your e-visa approval if you applied online, printed.
The visa fee in US dollars if you are paying on arrival.
Your return or onward ticket. You may be asked for it.
A yellow fever certificate if you are arriving from, or have recently passed through, a country where yellow fever is present. This is checked at the health desk before immigration. If you are flying direct from Europe or North America it is not normally required, but check the current rule and your own route.
The address of your first night's accommodation, for the arrival form.
Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, and the visa that lets you into the mainland lets you into Zanzibar. You do not need a second visa to fly there from Arusha or the Serengeti.
You do pass through a separate immigration desk when you arrive on the island, even on a domestic flight, so carry your passport. Do not pack it.
Zanzibar also requires visitors to hold travel insurance covering medical treatment, bought through the designated provider on arrival or in advance, on top of any policy you already have. This is enforced at the airport and the scheme has changed more than once. Check the current requirement before you fly.
A passport with less than six months left. Airlines check this before you board, and it is the most common reason people are turned away at the departure airport, not the arrival one.
Old US dollar bills. Notes printed before a certain year, or notes that are torn or marked, are often refused. Bring recent, clean notes.
A yellow fever certificate you needed and did not bring. If your route passes through a yellow fever country, even for a transit, get the vaccination and carry the certificate.
Using an unofficial visa website. It costs more and sometimes produces nothing.
Leaving the online application to the last week. Approvals usually come quickly, but not always.
Check the current visa rule for your passport on the official government portal or with your nearest Tanzanian embassy. Rules change and this page cannot promise the position on the day you travel.
Apply online two to three weeks ahead if you can. Print everything.
Check your passport dates. Check your route for yellow fever countries. Put clean dollars in an envelope for the desk.
And tell your operator your flight number and arrival time, so that the person meeting you knows when to be there, however long immigration takes.
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