Tanzania completely destroys the arid desert stereotype. In this country you can see Mount Kilimanjaro, which is the highest on the whole continent. About 30% of the total area of the state is occupied by protected natural areas (13 reserves and 38 natural zones with special status). In Tanzania, the white sands of the beaches of the Indian Ocean. The country attracts tourists from all over the globe, including Russia.
Visa regime
To visit Tanzania, a visa for Russian citizens can be granted in one of four types:
- Tourist, which is issued at the diplomatic missions of the state or upon arrival. Its validity is 90 days.
- Business. It involves visiting the country to resolve business issues. You can stay in the country for it for a period of 1 to 6 months.
- Business, but with multiple border crossings. Issued in cases where the applicant needs to visit the country frequently. Its validity period can reach 1 year.
- Transit. Issued for up to 14 days.
Permission to visit the country upon arrival
Tourist visa to Tanzania is the most popular solution among citizens of our country. Getting it is not difficult, since it is not even necessary to contact the embassy before your trip. A visa is stamped directly at the airport.
Required documents
It is clear that in order to get a visa to Tanzania even at the airport, you will have to provide a number of documents, namely:
- a passport that allows you to cross the borders of states whose validity expires no earlier than after 6 months;
- return tickets;
- a document that confirms the financial security of the applicant.
Today, a tourist from Russia should have at least 500 Tanzanian shillings per day.
Directly at the airport, you must provide a completed migration card form and a health questionnaire. Forms of these documents are provided at the checkpoint. For the verification of documents on entry permits, you must pay 50 euros of the consular fee.
The migration card contains information about the purpose of the visit to the country, as well as the estimated length of stay.
If it is a question of obtaining a transit visa to Tanzania, then an entry permit is added to the specified list of documents. The consular fee in this case is less and amounts to 30 euros.
How to get permission in Russia
Not every, even experienced, tourist will decide to fly thousands of kilometers without a document confirming the right to enter the country of arrival. Such persons can be safe and go to the Tanzanian Embassy in Moscow before traveling. The whole procedure usually takes no more than two days.
To obtain a visa to Tanzania for Russian citizens in the country, you will have to contact the embassy and provide the following documents:
- foreign passport, valid for at least 6 months;
- application form (2 copies), completed in English;
- two photographs of the corresponding sample;
- confirmation from a banking institution that the account has enough finance to travel to the country;
- return flight tickets.
If we are talking about a business trip, then an invitation from the host organization must be attached to the package of documents.
The consular fee for obtaining a visa to Tanzania, both in this country and in Russia, is 50 euros.
The embassy is located in Moscow on Bolshaya Nikitskaya street, 51.
Ride with children
If a minor is sent along with parents on a trip, then in addition to the documents described above, you will also need:
- birth certificate;
- consent of the second parent to leave (if the child leaves with only one parent).
If the child has reached the age of 14, then he should already have his own foreign passport.
In the case when the child is traveling not with his parents, but with an accompanying person, then such a person should have in his hands the consent of both parents to enter the child with an authorized person in Tanzania.
Customs clearance
Do I need a visa to Tanzania? Such a document is required, and it is also important to know what there is a restriction on the import of certain items.
Without any problems and additional payment you can bring to the country:
- 10 standard packs of cigarettes;
- up to one liter of alcoholic beverages;
- no more than 250 milliliters of perfumery.
Any video and photo equipment can be imported without any additional requirements. For hassle-free export, it must be declared. If a tourist wants to take a pet during the trip, a veterinary certificate is required.
If you decide to bring souvenirs from the country, then for some things you need to have receipts for the purchase, namely:
- items made from ivory;
- gold;
- diamonds
- animal skins.
Health status
Officially, to obtain a Tanzania visa for Russians, you need to have a certificate for vaccination against yellow fever. But in fact, tourists from Europe, Russia and Kenya do not check such a document.
However, if a tourist plans a transit crossing of the country, then follows to the Congo, Rwanda, Mozambique, Burundi, Malawi, then this document is required.
Experienced tourists still recommend getting vaccinated against cholera, malaria, tetanus, hepatitis A and, of course, yellow fever. Indeed, in Tanzania, the climatic conditions are completely different, when compared with Russia, so there is a risk of developing quite rare diseases that are not inherent in our territory.
Can they refuse?
Naturally, crossing any border is a risk. There is always a chance that a citizen of another country will be denied entry. Tanzania may be refused for the following reasons:
- if the questionnaire contains false or inaccurate data;
- not all documents are provided;
- the tourist could not confirm his financial support for the period of stay in the country.
There is a risk of being denied entry if the tourist does not have a medical certificate, especially if he is traveling in transit from unreliable countries such as Mozambique, Malawi and so on.
How to get into the country
Tourists have several options to get to Tanzania, where they can apply for a visa on the spot:
- the seaport of Zanzibar and the port on Lake Tanganyika;
- Dar Es Salaam and Kilimanjaro International Airport;
- Checkpoint on the border with Kenya (Namanga and Ngorongoro);
- Checkpoint on the border with Zambia - Tunduma.
In general, getting a visa to Tanzania is not a problem. The main thing is to have financial security and not to deceive the border guards.