Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Getting visa at the Dar Es Salaam airport

Country forums / Africa / Tanzania

We're from Poland (Family of 3 ) arriving in January around 3pm. How long does it take to get visas at the airport? What's the procedure? Should we have application forms filled in, pictures etc ? And the cost please. Thanx a milion for help

EU passports pay US$50 each, there's a form to fill in on arrival but no photos needed.

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Thanx Kaz. I'm surprised the photos aren't needed. How long does it take ? To do it faster should I get the visa form online?

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its better to get one on arrival will take about 30-45mins due to que of many other passengers on time of arrival.
dont bother getting one online might be a waste of time !hey its Africa yes some things/services are just slow and best done on arrival.
Cheers

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Thanx a lot. Appreciate your help guys

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Thanx Kaz. I'm surprised the photos aren't needed. How long does it take ? To do it faster should I get the visa form online?

The reason that separate photos are not required is because they (Tanzanian Immigration) access the photo out of the information page in your passport and combine it into your visa. You will be photographed by the immigration cameras to compare you with the photograph in the passport; you will also have your fingerprints electronically scanned and checked against any known "wanted" police sites. Time / length of process depends upon how many passengers arrive and need visas but I agree it should be around 45 mins. Yes you can obtain your visas beforehand if there is a consulate or embassy in your home country. However this visa will cost anywhere from $75 to $100 US (yes you could pay in Euros). The reason its more expensive in your country is to cover the cost of operating the consulate or embassy. When paying in Dar es Salaam please ensure that the US notes you use are all complete, and in good condition - not rips or pieces missing. Good luck and enjoy this great country.

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Thanx Mike

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Getting the form online and having it ready when you arrive may actually help, though, as you will be the first in line at the immigration desk, while others are still filling in the forms. I do that all the time when I fly to Zanzibar.
Most likely you will then be waiting for your luggage until everyone else has arrived as well :-)

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Thanx Stefo. Actually I just tried to find the form online but having some trouble. I'm not very good at internet. Could you pls give me the site where I can get correct form. It would definitely speed up the procedure. Thanx again

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Sorry, I'm afraid I can't. I always bring a couple of paper forms with me from Zanzibar for my next visit, so I have never actually looked for them online. I just assumed that they existed because you mentioned them above... I'll try looking for it.

But in any case, as others said above, it's not really all that important, it's quite a straight forward process anyway.

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Jambo Janski - well it took a long 5 minutes but I finally found the link to the visa application.
Hopefully this link will help:
http://immigration.go.tz/downloads/visa%20appl%20form.pdf

Cheers

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Thanx a milion Mike. Asante sana

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Thanks, Mike, I'm sure it will also come in handy for me some day - if I forget to pick up some forms on arrival or misplace them before my next trip...

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