When you google “Tanzania Visa on Arrival”, the first result on google will probably be the Wikipedia entry “Tanzania visa policy” and this entry will tell you whether or not you are eligible depending on the passport you hold and what are the requirements to obtain one. So I will not go over the how-to but rather share my own experience in getting my 3 months Tanzanian visa on arrival.
As the plane landed at the Julius Nyerere International Airport of Dar Es Salam, I checked my bag pack for my passport, my yellow fever card and the 5 ID photos required to get the visa. After entering the airport, my first interaction was with health officers checking for Yellow Fever cards. As I mentioned in this earlier post, my card is in quite a bad shape and I am always worried that it would get me in trouble. I opened the card at the page where it says that I got the vaccine in 2015 and presented to the health officer (there are usually two) and she just waved me in.
Next, I had to fill in the Arrival card and join the queue in front of the Visa Processing desks. While in the queue, there is an immigration officer that checks your passport and makes sure that you have properly filled in the Arrival card. The two Swiss guys in front of me were given a smile and asked the usual question “What is the motive of your travel?” to which they responded “Tourism”. I, on the other hand, with my green Guinean passport, was greeted with a sterner face. Here is the conversation between me and the officer as he looked at my passport:
– Me: Hello
– Officer: What’s the motive of your travel?
– Me: Tourism
– Officer: Where are you coming from?
– Me: Mozambique
– Officer: Where is the visa for Mozambique? (It should not matter to him)
– Me: Here (Showing the right page)
– Officer: Do you have a return flight?
– Me: Yes (I go through my emails to find the flight details)
He looks at it and then hands me back my passport plus the arrival card and tells me to wait for my turn for the processing. The Nigerian guy behind was not so fortunate. He was told to leave the line for further questioning by two additional immigration officers along with two other Nigerian passengers.
At my turn at the Visa processing desk, I handed in my passport and the Arrival card to the officer behind the counter. He asks the intended length of my stay to which I replied “8 days”. He then proceeded to enter some information from the passport, take my photo (Note: the 5 ID photos never came in handy) and fingerprints. He then signs the Arrival card, hands back the document and tells you to go to the Processing desk at the end of the line. There, you will hand over your documents once again to the immigration officer which will give them back to you with a receipt.
The final step is to go to the Payment counter and hand over the passport, arrival card, receipt plus the US$50 as payment. You will then have to wait along with the rest of passengers. Within 10 to 15 minutes, a lady that looked like she was from Customs came out with a group of passport from the Payment office and started calling out the names on the passport. After calling nearly 10 people, I received my passport with a 3 month visa on arrival stamp in it. And as I walked out from the Immigration area to baggage claim, the 3 Nigerians were still being questioned.
At the beginning of the post I mentioned that I would not go in details about the requirements for getting a visa on arrival but just in case you did not feel like clicking on the above link, here they are:
- A valid passport (6 months at least)
- Yellow Fever Card
- US$50 visa fee
Even though the following are not mentioned in the Wikipedia entry, I would recommend you have them just in case:
- A return ticket
- A hotel or AirBnB booking (You will be asked your address)
I hope this post will come in handy and do not hesitate to ask me any question!
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