Botswana Visas – Requirements & More
Do I require a visa to enter Botswana?
International travellers visiting Botswana for tourism require a visa, unless exempt. There are several countries exempt from requiring visas and this makes travel to Botswana a breeze.
List of countries exempt from Botswanan visas…
Citizens of following countries do not require Botswanan visas: all Commonwealth countries (EXCEPT Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), Argentina, Angola, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Holy See, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Can I get a visa on arrival?
If you do require a visa to enter Botswana, you must get it from your country of residence before travelling, as visas will not be available upon arrival in Botswana.
For further questions, you are encouraged to contact the nearest Botswanan Mission abroad .
Botswana Visa Requirements
Documents required for obtaining a Botswanan tourist visa
- A completed application form, signed by the applicant
- Certified copy of your passport, showing validity and photograph of applicant (passport should have minimum 6 months validity and at least 3 unused pages for stamps)
- Cover letter stating purpose of visit
- Two (2) recent passport-sized, colour photographs
- Copy of your individual or group travel itinerary and hotel bookings
- Proof of return travel (copy of flight itinerary or confirmation slip including dates of travel from travel agent)
- Copy of previously issued visa or visa outcome (if applicable)
- Payment of the prescribed application fee
- Fingerprints of the applicant will be captured either at the time of application or upon arrival in Botswana
We recommend that you verify the above details with your local Botswanan Embassy or Consulate.
Botswana Visa requirements for Indian citizens
Citizens of India require a visa to enter Botswana. If you are applying from India, please visit this link to see the full requirements for Botswana visas for Indian citizens.
Botswana Visa requirements for U.S. citizens
Citizens of the United States do not require a visa to enter Botswana. Happy travelling!
Botswana visas and entry: common questions
Do I need a visa for Botswana?
It depends on your passport, and the Commonwealth rule has an exception that catches Indian travellers. US, British and EU passport holders enter visa-free for up to 90 days. Botswana Tourism states that citizens of Commonwealth countries do not require a visa except those from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — so Indian passport holders do need one, applied for in advance.
Where do I apply?
The official e-visa portal is evisa.gov.bw, with the paper route through gov.bw, an immigration office, or an embassy or consulate. A warning that applies to every country on this site: commercial reseller sites consistently outrank the official portals in search results, because the government portals are JavaScript applications that index badly while the copycats are static pages that index beautifully. They charge a markup for filling in the same form. Check the domain before you pay anyone. One stability note worth planning around: the e-visa portal was suspended without notice at the end of April 2025 and applicants were pushed back to embassies, with service restored about a month later. Apply early and have a fallback.
How much passport validity does Botswana want?
More than most: six months beyond arrival and six months beyond departure, plus three blank pages. There is also a detail that has stranded travellers who lost a passport mid-trip — Botswana does not accept the 12-page US emergency passport for visa-free entry. If you are replacing a passport in the middle of a southern Africa itinerary, check this before you fly.
I am travelling with children — what do I need?
This is the trap on combined South Africa and Botswana itineraries. South Africa relaxed its minors rules in 2019; Botswana has not. An original or certified birth certificate is mandatory for anyone under 18, and where a parent is absent you need a signed affidavit or notarised consent letter from them. Families who assume the South African waiver carries across the border are the ones who get stopped.
What else gets checked at the border?
A yellow fever certificate if you are arriving from — or have transited through — a country with transmission risk. Botswana is stricter than its neighbours here because it states no minimum transit duration, so even a short Nairobi or Addis connection can trigger it, where most countries apply a twelve-hour threshold. Dual nationals must enter on the same passport they used to exit the previous country. We do not apply for or arrange visas, but we flag the routing implications when we quote.