Botswana Entry Requirements

Passports, blank pages, visas, yellow fever and children — what the official record says, and where to check it.

Travel planningVehicle requirements

A freight truck crossing the Kazungula Bridge over the Zambezi River between Botswana and Zambia, photographed in September 2024. Photo: Matthias Hille, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Entry requirements are the one part of trip planning where a travel guide should be modest about its own authority. Entry requirements differ by nationality, they change without much notice, and the only source that is ever current is the Botswana government itself. What follows is what the official record said when we last reviewed it, with the authorities named so you can check each point yourself.

In this guide

• Passport entry requirements and blank pages
• Do you need a visa?
• Applying for a tourism visa
• Yellow fever and health documentation
• Currency declaration
• Entry requirements for children
• Bringing a vehicle across
• Onward travel and neighbouring countries
• How to check the entry requirements for your nationality

Passport entry requirements and blank pages

Botswana’s own visa guidance asks for a passport with a validity period of not less than six months. The US State Department goes further for its citizens and states six months’ validity beyond both your arrival date and your departure date.

The blank-page requirement catches people out more often than the validity one. The State Department states that three blank pages are needed at entry, and notes that transit countries and layover airports have their own page requirements on top of that. It also records that Botswana does not accept the 12-page US emergency passport for visa-free entry.

Count your pages before you book, not at check-in. A passport with plenty of validity and two usable pages is a problem that cannot be fixed at the airport.

Do you need a visa?

This depends entirely on your nationality, and it is the part of these entry requirements we will not summarise into a list. Country-by-country visa positions change, and a stale list on a travel site is worse than no list at all.

What we can tell you is the shape of the system. The Government of Botswana operates visa categories including a visitor’s visa and a tourism visa, the latter described as issued to people who intend to visit Botswana for recreational purposes. Many nationalities do not need one for a short tourist stay: the US State Department, for example, states that a visa is not required for tourist or business stays of up to 90 days by US citizens.

Whether that applies to you is a question for the Botswana authorities, not for us. See how to check your own position below.

Applying for a tourism visa

If you do need one, the Government of Botswana sets out two routes: online through the national eVisa portal, or in person at any immigration office, Botswana embassy or consulate using Form 1.

The supporting documents the government lists are:

• a certified copy of passport pages 1–2, showing validity of not less than six months;
• two recent colour passport photographs;
• a covering letter explaining the purpose of your visit;
• flight itinerary and accommodation bookings;
• a re-entry permit, if your own country requires one;
• a trip itinerary and a statement of intent to depart.

For online applications the government requires all documents to be saved as a single PDF. Processing is stated as seven to fourteen working days, ending in an approval or rejection letter. Immigration office hours are given as 07:30 to 12:45 and 13:45 to 16:30, Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.

At the time of review the published tourism visa fees were BWP 300 for single entry and BWP 500 for multiple entry, with visitor’s visa fees ranging from BWP 300 to BWP 1,500 depending on entry type and duration. Fees change; confirm the current figures on the government portal rather than relying on this page.

Yellow fever and health documentation

A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required if you are entering Botswana from a country where yellow fever is endemic. That is a routing question as much as a nationality one: a traveller arriving directly from Europe and a traveller arriving via an endemic country are in different positions even holding the same passport.

Check your full routing, including transits, against the current requirement before you travel. We do not publish health advice beyond documentation, and questions about vaccination itself belong with a travel health professional rather than a travel guide.

Currency declaration

Amounts exceeding BWP 10,000, roughly USD 1,000, must be declared on both entry and exit. There is no stated maximum you may carry — the obligation is to declare above the threshold, not to stay below it.

Entry requirements for children

The entry requirements for minors are the ones most often discovered too late, and southern Africa is stricter about it than many regions.

The US State Department records that travellers with children should carry the original or a certified copy of each child’s birth certificate. Where one parent is travelling without the other, a notarised consent letter from the absent parent, or proof of sole custody, is expected. Minors travelling independently or with someone other than a parent need notarised written permission from a parent or guardian.

It also notes that additional entry requirements apply to minors passing through South Africa, including a full birth certificate and a parental consent form. Many Botswana itineraries route through Johannesburg, so this is a live issue rather than an edge case.

Bringing a vehicle across

Vehicle importation, cross-border permits and third-party insurance are a self-drive matter rather than a passport one, and they have their own paperwork. If you are hiring a vehicle in South Africa or Namibia and driving into Botswana, the rental company’s cross-border letter is as important as your own documents.

We cover what a vehicle needs to be capable of on our 4×4 and vehicle requirements page. Vehicle entry requirements should be confirmed with your rental company and the relevant border authority before you travel.

Onward travel and neighbouring countries

Botswana shares borders with South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia, and a large share of trips here cross at least one of them. The Kazungula crossing in the north is the obvious example: Kasane sits within sight of three other countries.

Each border is a separate set of entry requirements. A multi-country itinerary means checking each country’s position on your nationality, not Botswana’s alone, and it may mean re-entering Botswana afterwards on terms different from your first arrival. Day trips to Victoria Falls from Kasane are the case travellers most often underestimate.

Confirm each crossing separately with the authority for the country you are entering, and allow time at the border rather than building a schedule that assumes none.

How to check the entry requirements for your nationality

Three sources, in order.

1. The Government of Botswana visa portal for the categories, the application routes and the current fees.
2. The Botswana eVisa system to apply online if a visa is required.
3. Your own government’s travel advice for Botswana, which will state your nationality’s position on visas, passport validity and blank pages in terms that apply to you.

If those three disagree, the Botswana authorities are the ones whose view counts at the border.

Official sources

• Government of Botswana — Tourism Visa application (eligibility, supporting documents, single-PDF rule, processing time, office hours)
• Government of Botswana — Visa applications (visa categories, tourism and visitor’s visa fees, application routes)
• Botswana eVisa portal (online applications)
• US State Department — Botswana country information (passport validity and blank pages, 90-day visa-free stay for US citizens, yellow fever, currency declaration, documentation for minors)

Last reviewed: August 2026. Botswana entry requirements change frequently and without notice. Confirm every point above with the Botswana authorities and your own government before you travel; if something here is out of date, tell us.