Getting into and out of Tanzania is pretty easy, but it may take some advance preparation. All visitors need a visa to enter Tanzania and a valid passport, with an expiration date at least 6 months after your intended departure from Tanzania. Therefore, if you are close to renewal time on your current passport you may need to renew it before you leave on this trip.
For US citizens, you can do that by visiting the US State Department website and follow the instructions you find there. In 4-6 weeks you should receive by mail a new passport, and the old one with holes punched in it.
Visas
Foreigners from non-Commonwealth nations must possess a valid visa, unless their countries have specific agreements with Tanzania exempting them from this requirement. You can check the requirements for your specific passport with your embassy. Individuals from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand need a visa, which can be obtained online or when arriving in Tanzania, at the airport.
Online Visa Application
Tourist entry visas can be easily obtained online using Tanzania’s e-file visa application at the following link:
The cost of the visa is $100 and is paid online when applying. When completing your online application, you can use the following information:
Step 1: Fill in your email address and other personal information, click ‘Start a New Application’
Step 2: Take a screenshot of your Application ID that pops up, click ‘Proceed to Next Step
Step 3: Complete your Personal Information
Step 4: Complete your Contact Information
Step 5: Complete your passport information (see image below)
Passport Type: Ordinary.
Place of passport issue:If you don’t remember where your passport was processed, you’ll need to check online to find out the nearest passport processing center near where you were living when you last got a passport.
Step 6: Completed your Travel Information, you can see the correct answers to their questions in this image:
Local Host ” is “Self ” and then include your hotel address.
Step 7: Complete the Travel Companions section
Step 8: Complete the documents section. The program will only let you upload 300 kb or less. The ‘hack’ we’ve developed for this one is to take a photo on your phone of your passport photo, inside page of your passport and flight. Then when you go to ‘save’ it, click “smallest file size”. You have to do it this way (or by using a photo editing program if you’re familiar with that kind of thing) or it will be larger than 300kb.
Step 9: Complete the Declaration section, review all of your information to make sure it is up-to-date and accurate.
Step 10: Submit your credit card payment, this part is a bit cumbersome but does work
Step 11: Notification of application completion, take a screenshot of this page which will include an application or ‘case’ number. You should receive email notification as well but take a screenshot just in case. If all goes well, you should receive your visa via email anywhere from a few days to 2-weeks after submitting your application (depending on their workload and staffing).
Visa Application on Arrival
It is also possible to obtain your visa upon arrival; though the process can be long and drawn-out, sometimes taking more than two hours to complete. If you choose to get your visa on arrival the fee is 100.00 USD (no credit cards or local currency is accepted, so have cash).
If you don’t already have a visa, you may need to go through the following steps on arrival:
- Queue for a Government Control Number
- Queue again to pay for this at the bank
- Queue again to have the visa issued
- Queue again for Immigration to check the visa
Either way, once you’ve gone through Customs and Immigration, you and your baggage will probably be met by your transfer driver just outside the terminal entrance, who will drive you the 40 km or so to your hotel in Moshi Town (some climbers stay in Arusha if they’re just doing a safari and not meeting friends after a Kilimanjaro climb). Wherever you stay the first night, the drive will take about 45 minutes.
