Rwanda Waives Visa fees for African Countries and Common Wealth Countries.
Recently Rwanda joined the common wealth countries, and therefore it is one of the younger states to join Common wealth despite the fact that Rwanda was colonised by French and has historical relations with Francophone countries. In 2022, Rwanda held its first common wealth meetings and in the bid to increase tourism by the Africans and it’s other partner states, it decided to remove visa fees for African and common wealth countries.
Rwanda, is currently promoting it’s tourism both for Rwanda safaris and also incentives and meetings. The country has seen it’s wildlife tourism ground from the lows of zero to no tourists in 1994, to over 1.1million visitors in 2022.
This land of thousand hills, is not only targeting tourists of which most come for gorilla tracking, but also targeting investors, to come and invest in different industries, like telecom, motor vehicle to mention but a few. Therefore, making obtaining of visas easy, is aimed at increasing investors in the country.
Countries exempt from Visa fees.
The following groups and countries are exempt from paying Visa fees provided they are staying in the country for less than 30 Days. These groups can also get the Visas on arrival at the airport.
- Member states of African Union
- Member states of the Common Wealth
- Member states of Francophone Countries.
This group includes many countries, like Australia, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Belgium, Burkina faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo, Cyprus, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Gabon, Greece, Guyana, India, Libya, Luxembourg, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Samoa, South Africa, the Gambia, Togo, United Kingdom and Vanuatu to mentioned but a few. If you country is a member state of the above organisations, you can be able to get this 30 day tourist visa on arrival.
East African Community countries shall be issue a free travel pass/ or Visa on arrival that is Valid for 6 Months. The East African community is made of countries to include; Kenya, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and South Sudan)
In addition, the following countries can also obtain a Free 90 Day Multiple entry Visa on arrival. These include; Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, The Federation OF Saint Christopher and Nevis, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Haiti, Mauritius, Philippines, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Singapore and the state Qatar.
Visa Fees:
Citizens of countries that do not fall among the above exempt countries, they can then obtain a 30 days visa on arrival at USD 50 for single entry or USD 70 for Multiple entry. Visas can be pre applied for online and you can also pay for it online. Or you can opt to get Visas on arrival.
East African Tourist Visa.
For those tourists travelling to other countries within east Africa, for example for Uganda and Rwanda safari combo, we recommend you can also make use of the East African Tourists Visa, that costs USD 100. This will allow you to enter three countries that is Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya without paying for any extra Visa fees, for 90 days.
For those interested in applying for the Rwanda visa online, please follow this link, however please note that you can still apply for this visa on arrival at the airport. Applying online, is advantageous because, on arrival you do not spend a lot of time in immigration section.
Once you have the Visa, you can then prepare to travel to the Land of a thousand hills, by double checking your list of items of things to carry for a Rwanda gorilla safari.