Visa & Entry Requirements for East Africa

Almost every visitor from outside East Africa needs a visa for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. A small number of nationalities are visa-exempt for short stays, so the first step is always checking your own passport against the official immigration portal for each country — rules do change.

If you’re planning to cross between Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, the East Africa Tourist Visa is the easiest option: one visa, multiple entries between those three countries, valid for up to 90 days. Tanzania is not included — it issues its own separate visa, so if your route includes the Serengeti or Zanzibar, budget for that too.

All three countries now offer online eVisa applications. Apply one to two weeks before you travel, using the official government portal only — there are third-party sites that charge extra fees for the same service. Save or print your approval letter; you’ll be asked for it at check-in and again at the border.

• Passport valid for at least 6 months beyond your travel dates, with blank pages.
• Your eVisa approval (or visa fee in cash if applying on arrival).
• A return or onward ticket.
• Yellow fever certificate if arriving from, or having transited through, a country with yellow fever risk — officers do check this.