Travel to Tanzania - Getting Your Travel Documents In Order

Getting your travel documents together may seem like an overwhelming endeavor, but actually, it's not all that complicated. Just follow these steps and you're on your way.

OK, right off the bat, to travel to Tanzania you'll need your valid U.S. passport with at least 6 months remaining until expiration.

You will also need to get a Tanzanian tourist visa. You can get the visa ahead of time or you can wait until you arrive at the airport in Tanzania. It's a slight hassle and takes a couple weeks to get the visa ahead of time so a lot of people just wait until they arrive in Tanzania to get their visas. If you decide to do this you'll need to stand in line at the airport in Tanzania with your passport and one hundred U.S. dollars in hand to pay for the visa when you arrive there. My advice is to just go ahead and get it ahead of time if you can. You'll appreciate it when you breeze through customs while everyone else is having to stand in line for 30-60 minutes after that long flight.

Without a visa in hand you might also be questioned at the U.S. airport upon departure. They might say that you need to have a visa to enter Tanzania, which is true, but they may not know you can get one when you arrive. Rather than going through the hassle of explaining this it's probably better to just go ahead and get it before leaving if you have the time.

So here's what you need to do. Download and completely fill out a visa application which can be found here. Then gather up the following things:
* Two recent passport photos.
* Your signed and valid passport with at least 6 months remaining until expiration.
* A stamped, self-addressed envelope that is big enough to mail your passport back to you.
* A check or money order for $100 made out to the Tanzania Embassy.
* Proof of purchase of your flight to and from Tanzania. A photocopy of your ticket will suffice.
... and mail, FedEx, or UPS all this to:
Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania
2139 R Street, NW,
Washington DC 20008

The visa you receive will be valid for 6 months and can be used for single or multiple entries into Tanzania during that time.

Visa processing takes at least 5 days. So I would recommend sending your visa off to be processed at least several weeks prior to your departure date. Also, I would recommend including a prepaid FedEx or UPS return envelope.

See you there!
Geoff