Rwanda Free Visa

Have ever thought about visiting Rwanda for vacation but you were limited by visa? Unlike before where a handful states were issued Rwandan visas up on arrival, amazingly today safaris to this remarkable destination have equally become easier and it is a high time you achieved your dreams while on safari in Africa. With introduction of free visa in Rwanda, visitors can now enjoy their vacation with minimal restrictions.

This initiative began on 1st January 2018 and visa will be issued to travelers up on their arrival in Rwanda. This makes the Land of a Thousand Hills one of the first African states that have initiated this incredible system for its travelers. This kind of visa is also known as a 30 days visa that is issued up on arrival and this cuts across all the nations.

This new visa system also covered other areas especially the visa reciprocity for specific nations whose residents access free visas with 3 months time validity. Among other countries in question include Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Haiti, Senegal, Sao Tome, Principe, Seychelles, Guinea and Indonesia as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Philippines, Singapore, East Africa member community partner states, Mauritius.

Citizens of Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, Israel, United States of America and Australia will also be given entry visa valid till after 30 days and pay for a visa $30 up on arrival without application. This also covers the aspects of visa waiver for specific diplomatic and service passport holders. Besides, there is also a 3 months’ visa that is issued up on arrival for visitors from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) States subject to payment of visa fees.

This new visa system will as well look at Rwandans living overseas with dual nationality use their IDs on entry. This will also remove visa fees for Rwandans traveling into this destination on foreign passport. Before, Rwanda citizens visiting into the state using a foreign passport would only be given a visa free entry only if they had a valid Rwandan passport.

However, this new visa system will help foreign citizens in the nation use their resident ID cards for entry. Before, foreigners living in Rwanda had to show a proof of passports to be allowed to enter into this stunning destination.
The Rwandan diplomatic and service passport holders won’t also need a visa when traveling to choose countries based on the initiative by the government to enter into visa waiver agreements. These include Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, India, Israel, Morocco, Turkey and Djibouti. Citizens from these nations won’t need a visa while visiting Rwanda using diplomatic and service passport. This initiative intends to enhance the country’s tourism sector as most tourists can have easy access into the nation. This initiative also arises during the African Union undertook a process of adopting an agreement to liberalize free movement of across the continent. This agreement looks at realizing age old ambitions of opening up Africa so as to increase opportunities of trade, investment and opportunities for African citizens.

The Directorate of Immigration and Emigration also puts it that this initiative will most likely to bring about a 1.9% decrease in visa revenues from states whose nationals won’t pay fees as a reciprocal measure. However, it is estimated that there will be an increase in overall revenues as a result of the corresponding increase in tourism. The prior visa changes had an important role where there was an increase in the number of travelers visiting Rwanda.

Looking at the time when Rwanda began issuing visas up on arrival to all African nationals, the population of African citizens which were given visas on arrival at Rwanda entry points increased from 31054 in 2013 to 77377 in 2016. Recently, on average of 350 online visa applications are received each day and processed within 3 days time.
This means that the Rwanda free visa entry is part of the resolution that was introduced by cabinet meeting that aims at boosting the tourism sector of the country. If you are planning for vacation to Rwanda and you were worried about visa issues, there is no need for you to bury your dreams again given the new visa regimes in this remarkable country.