With immediate effect Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro Airport has changed the process of issuing visas on arrival. What was a fairly simple process has, overnight, become much more time consuming – in some cases in excess of 3 hours.

Clients arriving in Kilimanjaro without a visa now need to queue for a Government Control Number, queue to pay for this at the bank, and lastly queue for Immigration to check and issue the visa.

Due to the above change we strongly recommend travelers that still have time before travel apply for their Tanzania visa online at https://eservices.immigration.go.tz/visa/. The online process typically takes 2 – 3 weeks.

Please note, however, not all ports of entry are equipped to accept the online visa. Only the following 5 ports are currently functional:

• Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR)
• Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO)
• Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (ZNZ)
• Namanga (road border between Arusha & Nairobi)
• Tunduma (road border between Tanzania & Zambia)

If travellers are entering via a different port (eg: Tarime, Mwanza), it is advisable to obtain the visa on arrival. An online visa can still be used and will be accepted, but the process of validating the visa can be time consuming when the port does not have the necessary equipment on hand.

For those clients who won’t have time to complete the online visa application before they travel, our folks on the ground will do their very best to make sure your arrival at Kilimanjaro is as quick and easy as possible.