Hippos in the river at Chobe National Park, Botswana

Who needs a visa for Botswana?

Sub-Saharan Africa · Gaborone

Photo: Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Of 198 nationalities, 103 enter Botswana with no paperwork at all. The rest: 95 must be approved before they travel.

Government fee
300 BWP
Apply on the official Botswana government site

This is the government's own portal. We are not paid to send you there.

Checked 18 October 2026 — read the fees and rules on evisa.gov.bw

What Botswana asks for

  • Passport valid for at least six months, with at least three unused pages
  • Recent photo in JPG format, no bigger than 30 KB
  • Supporting documents in English, certified, uploaded as one PDF of no more than 5 MB
  • Tour plan or travel schedule
  • Flight bookings and a return ticket
  • Confirmation of hotel or lodge bookings

Worth knowing

  • Botswana's visa fee is not refundable, and paying it does not guarantee approval.
  • The portal accepts Visa or MasterCard, and the card must be enabled for online payment.

Photo requirements

We have not yet read the photo rules for Botswana on an official page, so we print no sizes. Photo rules we have checked, and official links for the rest

Resize a photo in your browser. It is never uploaded.

What do you need?

Who needs what

Visa free 103

Nothing to apply for and nothing to pay before you travel.

eVisa (electronic visa) 94

A real visa application, made online instead of at an embassy. It is assessed, it takes days rather than minutes, and it can be refused.

Visa required 1

You must apply and be approved before you travel. Airlines will refuse to board you without it.

About Botswana

Region
Southern Africa
Capital
Gaborone
Population
2,562,122 2025 · 142nd of 197
Size
582,000 km² 46th largest of 199
Density
4 per km²
Languages
English, Tswana
Currency
Botswana pula BWP
Borders
Namibia South Africa Zambia Zimbabwe

Capital, area, languages and currency from the open country dataset, pulled 21 September 2026. Population from the World Bank, series updated 13 July 2026. Density is calculated from the two figures above.