To enter Ethiopia it is necessary to get a visa that can be obtained in two ways: online or upon arrival at the Bole airport in Addis Ababa.

As soon as you get off the plane you arrive in the area of ​​the airport where you get the visa; there are two different areas: one for those who must apply for a visa on arrival and the other for those who have already applied for a visa online.

The tourist visa to Ethiopia

There are 2 types of tourist visa, that differ for the duration of the validity and the related cost: the single entry visa valid for 30 days costs $ 52, about € 44, while the single entry visa that is valid for 90 days costs 72 $, about € 61.

The duration of the visa can be extended before the deadline, to make the extension it is necessary to go in person to the Head Office of the Main Department for Immigration and Nationality Affairs in Addis Ababa.

If a traveler stops in the country with an expired visa he can face fines or criminal proceedings.

How to request a tourist visa on arrival at the airport

The first thing to do is to queue to deliver the passport, with residual validity of at least 6 months, and a passport photo and, while the employees carry out the paperwork, it is necessary to make the payment at another counter; it is possible to pay in cash with US Dollars or Euro.

Once the payment has been made, with the related receipt, you return to the first counter and wait until an employee withdraws the payment receipt and returns the passport on which the visa was added and was canceled with a stamp.

You often have to face long queues to apply for a visa on arrival; maybe it's better to enter the request online before leaving.

How to get a visa online

The Ethiopian government has recently created a site for requesting a visa online, in order to speed up entry practices in the country, once people arrive at the Addis Ababa airport.

Who can apply for a visa online

The online visa can be requested by all those who intend to enter the country for tourism, regardless of the country of origin, the important thing is that you have all the requisites required.

The online visa cannot be requested by anyone entering Ethiopia for business.

Requirements necessary to apply for and enter Ethiopia with an online visa

It is mandatory to send a passport-sized photograph and the scanned passport.

The passport must have a residual validity of 6 months, calculated from the presumed date of entry into the country.

The visa payment is usually done online and is not refundable; for all those who have the nationality of an African state and are unable to make an online payment, they can pay in cash when they arrive at the airport in Addis Ababa.

When we requested the visa we were unable to pay online, so we paid at the airport upon arrival.

If you want to enter Ethiopia with an electronic visa, you need to do it from the Bole airport in Addis Ababa; it is the only passage allowed to enter the country with an online visa, while if you enter from all the other border crossings you must get a visa on the spot.

Times to get the visa online

Usually it takes 3 working days to apply for and obtain a tourist visa online, so it is best to apply for a visa online at least 3 days before the arrival date in Addis Ababa.

Duration and validity of the online visa

The validity of the online visa starts from the presumed day of entry into the country and not from the day on which the online visa is requested and has the same 2 types of validity as the visa requested at the airport upon arrival.

The date of entry into the country must be indicated in the visa application, if, after having done the procedure, the date of arrival in the country undergoes a change it is necessary to contact the office for electronic visas.

What to do when you arrive at Addis Ababa with an online visa

At the immigration office there is a special queue for all those who have applied for visas online.

Whether the visa has already been paid or the payment must be made at the airport, this queue is much faster since the request procedure has been done; this saves a lot of time.

To know about online visa

There are several sites to apply for a visa online, but the Ethiopian government invites travelers to request it only on the official website for Ethiopia visas (https://www.evisa.gov.et) and considers all other non-official sites as fraudulent, therefore payments made through these sites are not considered valid; so it is good to pay attention when entering the request.

Data di inserimento: 
Friday, September 13, 2019