The East Africa Tourist Visa is a single US$100 visa covering Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda for 90 days, with multiple entries between them. Tanzania is not included. You must enter first through the country whose portal issued it, and leaving the three-country bloc cancels it.
The East Africa Tourist Visa (EATV) is a single US$100 visa covering Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda for 90 days, with multiple entries between those three countries. Tanzania is not part of it. You apply through the portal of the country you will land in first, which must be your first point of entry. Leaving the bloc cancels the visa, and it cannot be renewed or extended.
Three countries: Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. That is the whole list, and it is where confusion starts — Tanzania is an East African Community member but sits outside the arrangement entirely.
Each figure is set by the issuing country's immigration authority and revised on its own schedule, and can change between the date you read this and the date you apply. We confirm the current fee and conditions when we quote a trip.
Frequently not. The EATV is a convenience product, not automatically a saving: on a two-country trip it usually costs the same or more than separate visas.
| Your route | Bought separately | Verdict against the US$100 EATV |
|---|---|---|
| Uganda only | Uganda single-entry tourist visa US$50, up to 3 months | Buy the single-entry visa |
| Rwanda only | Rwanda visitor visa US$50 single entry, 30 days | Buy the single-entry visa (30 days or less) |
| Kenya only | Kenya eTA, from US$30 | Buy the eTA |
| Uganda and Rwanda | US$50 + US$50 = US$100 | Same price; EATV wins on re-entry |
| Kenya and Uganda | From US$30 + US$50 = US$80 | EATV costs more unless you re-enter |
| All three countries | From US$30 + US$50 + US$50 = US$130 | EATV saves money and paperwork |
| Anything including Tanzania | Tanzania eVisa, always separate and additional | The EATV changes nothing here |
One row needs a footnote: the Rwandan US$50 visa runs 30 days, against the EATV's 90. For a longer Rwandan stay, or one that leaves and re-enters, the US$70 multiple-entry V1 — valid 90 days — beats both.
The genuine case for the EATV on a two-country trip is not price, it is border-crossing. A combined Uganda and Rwanda itinerary that crosses overland and comes back — Kigali in, Bwindi, Volcanoes, Kigali out — needs multiple entry; two single-entry visas will not carry you back.
Through the official portal of the country you will enter first. Two routes are confirmed:
Kenya's position is less clear. It replaced all tourist visas with the Electronic Travel Authorisation in January 2024, and no current Kenyan government page could be found confirming that Kenya itself still issues the EATV. If your trip starts in Nairobi, apply through Uganda or Rwanda and adjust your first entry, or confirm with Kenya's Directorate of Immigration Services before booking flights.
Two warnings come from the authorities themselves. Uganda's DCIC has published an alert about fraudulent look-alike visa portals charging processing fees of US$110 to US$200; the genuine site carries the DCIC logo and Uganda Coat of Arms. Rwanda's immigration directorate states that no agent is authorised to apply for the EATV on a traveller's behalf, and that agents charging above the official fee are misleading applicants. We will tell you which visa your itinerary needs, but we cannot apply for it — nobody is permitted to.
The one whose portal issued it. Apply through Rwanda and you must land in Rwanda; apply through Uganda and you must land in Uganda. It is an easy rule to trip over, because flight prices shift and itineraries get reordered after the visa is bought. Settle your first arrival point before you apply.
Uganda. The single-entry tourist visa costs US$50 and may be granted for up to three months, per the Uganda Tourism Board's entry-requirements guidance, reflecting DCIC terms. Applications are online only. A visa approval is valid for 90 days — the window in which you must enter, not the length of your stay — and an unused approval is cancelled, so you reapply. Fees are non-refundable and subject to bank charges.
Rwanda. The standard visitor visa (class V1) costs US$50 for single entry, valid for 30 days, or US$70 for multiple entry, valid for 90 days, per the Rwanda Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration. Rwanda has a genuinely open visa-on-arrival route: border post, online via Irembo, immigration office or diplomatic mission. Nationals of African Union, Commonwealth and La Francophonie states get a visa on arrival with the fee waived, for up to 30 days.
Kenya. There is no Kenyan tourist visa to buy. Since January 2024 it has been the Electronic Travel Authorisation at etakenya.go.ke, with none issued on arrival. The fee starts at US$30 for standard processing, with an optional expedited service at an additional US$100. Kenya's Directorate of Immigration Services processes applications within three working days, though some take longer, and advises applying at least 72 hours before travel. The eTA is valid 90 days from issuance as a window to enter; your length of stay is set by the immigration officer at the border, usually up to 90 days.
One important exemption: under Legal Notice No. 93 of 30 May 2025, nationals of almost all African countries are exempt from the eTA, with Somalia and Libya the only exclusions. EAC partner-state citizens are admitted for up to 180 days, and Kenya's High Commission publishes the list.
Yes. Kenya's mission in Vienna confirms that holders of an East Africa Tourist Visa issued by a member country are exempt from applying for a Kenya eTA, so an EATV bought through Uganda or Rwanda is honoured at the Kenyan border. That is the cleanest argument for the visa on a three-country trip.
Because it is not in the arrangement, despite being an EAC member. An EATV gives you no entry rights to Tanzania — not the mainland, not Zanzibar, not the Serengeti, Ngorongoro or Kilimanjaro. You apply separately through the national eVisa portal at visa.immigration.go.tz.
Per the Tanzania Immigration Services Department, the ordinary single-entry tourist visa costs US$50 and is valid for stays of up to 90 days. US passport holders cannot use it: they must apply for the Multiple Entry Visa at US$100, valid for one year regardless of purpose or length of stay, and cannot obtain it on arrival. Applications are processed within ten days, except the Referral visa category, which can take longer. You need a passport valid at least six months with one unused visa page, and a return ticket on arrival.
This matters for anyone planning a Kenya and Tanzania migration trip: a Kenyan eTA and a Tanzanian eVisa, on two unrelated systems with different lead times. The EATV does not simplify it.
The rules differ by country, and Uganda is the strictest of the four.
One documentation point has planning consequences: a certificate only takes effect ten days after the dose. Under the WHO amendment of 11 July 2016 it is then valid for the life of the person vaccinated, and cannot be rejected for being over ten years old. Build that ten-day lag into your timeline, ahead of a Uganda visa application that will ask to see the certificate. Our note on vaccinations for East Africa sets out the wider picture.
We do not give medical advice: speak to a travel clinic or your own doctor, and read each country's official health guidance.
A visa is permission to enter a country. It is not a park entry fee and emphatically not a permit. Gorilla and chimpanzee permits are bought separately, cost several multiples of any visa, and are the binding constraint on your dates. A Uganda gorilla permit is US$800 for a foreign non-resident, or US$600 in April, May and November under the low-season rate UWA introduced in February 2026 — and UWA states that low-season permits cannot be rescheduled. That US$800 rate is unchanged in the revised tariff taking effect on 1 January 2027, though gorilla habituation and every Ugandan chimpanzee permit rise on that date.
Permits are also not bought the way a visa is, and the rules differ by country. UWA sells gorilla and chimpanzee permits to foreign non-residents only through tour operators licensed by the Uganda Tourism Board. In Rwanda you can book directly — online through Irembo, at the Visit Rwanda website, or at an RDB Tourism Reservation and Sales Office — or through a licensed Rwanda-based operator; RDB works only with those local operators, so an international operator books through one. Since 1 March 2026 there is no free hold period on a Uganda permit: it is secured only on full payment at booking. If gorilla trekking is the reason for the trip, sort the permit first and let the visa follow — our guide to Uganda gorilla permit costs and booking covers that side.
Tell us the route you have in mind and we will tell you which visa it needs, including when the answer is the cheaper single-entry one. Start with planning your safari or get in touch.
Safari planning team
The planning team answers permit, timing and logistics questions every day, and writes up the answers that come back most often. Everything published here is checked against current park authority rates and the routes our own vehicles drive.
