Most travellers arrive in Uganda by air into Entebbe International Airport, and for the large majority of nationalities the visa process is straightforward and can be handled entirely online before you fly. This page covers Uganda’s visa on its own, and the East Africa Tourist Visa option worth knowing about if Rwanda is part of your trip too.
Uganda’s e-visa
Uganda uses an online e-visa system for almost all nationalities, applied for in advance through the official Uganda immigration portal rather than on arrival. A single-entry tourist e-visa currently costs USD 50 and is generally processed within a few business days, though we’d recommend applying at least two to three weeks ahead of travel to leave room for any back-and-forth if a document needs resubmitting. You’ll need a passport valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date, a passport-style photo, your itinerary or a confirmation letter from us, and proof of onward travel. Print or save the approval to your phone – immigration at Entebbe will ask to see it alongside your passport on arrival.
The East Africa Tourist Visa
If your trip includes Rwanda, Kenya or both alongside Uganda, the East Africa Tourist Visa is usually the better option: a single USD 100 visa valid for 90 days that covers multiple entries across all three countries, rather than buying separate single-entry visas for each border crossing. It’s applied for through the immigration portal of whichever of the three countries you’ll enter first, and once issued it’s valid for movement between all three – genuinely useful if your itinerary crosses from Murchison Falls in Uganda down to Bwindi and then over the border into Rwanda for gorilla trekking or a Kigali stopover, since that route would otherwise mean two separate visa fees and applications.
Rwanda’s visa policy
Rwanda has one of the more open visa policies in the region: most nationalities receive a visa on arrival at Kigali International Airport or any land border crossing, with no advance application required, for a fee typically around USD 50 for a 30-day single-entry visa. If you’re entering Rwanda specifically and not planning to also visit Kenya, this on-arrival option is often simpler than pre-applying, though if your route already includes Uganda it’s worth comparing against the East Africa Tourist Visa’s combined coverage before deciding.
Border crossings by road
If your itinerary moves overland between Uganda and Rwanda – the typical route for combining Murchison Falls with Bwindi gorilla trekking and a Rwanda extension – the main crossing used is Katuna/Gatuna in the north or Cyanika further south near Kisoro, depending on which sector of Bwindi you’re travelling from. Both are functioning, regularly used crossings with standard immigration procedures on each side; expect the process itself to take perhaps thirty minutes to an hour depending on how busy the post is, longer at Katuna during peak travel periods. We handle the paperwork and timing around these crossings as part of any itinerary that uses them, so you’re not navigating an unfamiliar border process alone.
Yellow fever and other entry health requirements
Uganda and Rwanda both require proof of yellow fever vaccination for entry, documented on an International Certificate of Vaccination, for travellers arriving from or having transited through a country with risk of yellow fever transmission – which in practice covers most travellers regardless of origin given how international itineraries typically route. Get vaccinated at least ten days before travel, since that’s when the certificate becomes valid, and carry the physical certificate with your passport rather than only a digital record, since it’s occasionally checked at the border. See our health and safety page for the fuller vaccination picture beyond this specific entry requirement.
What we handle for you
We can’t submit your e-visa application on your behalf – it requires your own passport details and a payment method tied to you – but we’ll tell you exactly which visa option fits your specific itinerary, when to apply relative to your travel dates, what documents you’ll need from us to support the application (itinerary confirmation, accommodation details), and we’ll flag well in advance if your route benefits from the East Africa Tourist Visa rather than single-country visas. Getting this wrong or leaving it too late is one of the few things that can derail an otherwise well-planned trip, so we raise it early rather than waiting for you to ask.
Practical timing
Start the visa process as soon as your travel dates and itinerary are confirmed, ideally a month out and no later than two to three weeks before departure. E-visa processing is usually quick, but delays do happen, particularly during busy travel periods when application volumes spike, and a visa problem discovered at check-in is a genuinely stressful way to start a trip that’s otherwise easy to avoid with modest advance planning.
Applying for the Uganda e-visa step by step
The application happens entirely through Uganda’s official immigration e-visa portal – be wary of third-party sites that charge a marked-up “service fee” for the same application, since the official process doesn’t require an agent. You’ll create an account, fill in passport and travel details, upload a passport photo and your passport bio page, attach proof of accommodation or an invitation letter (we provide this for guests booked with us), and pay the fee by card. Processing typically takes two to five business days, occasionally longer during busy periods, which is the main reason to start the process a few weeks out rather than the week before you fly.
Common mistakes that cause delays
The most frequent hold-ups we see are a passport photo that doesn’t meet the exact specification (plain background, correct dimensions), a passport with less than six months’ validity remaining, or a mismatch between the name on the visa application and the name on flight bookings. Double-check all three before submitting, since a rejected or queried application can cost the better part of a week to resolve if it’s caught close to your travel date rather than weeks ahead.
Land border entry if arriving from Kenya or Tanzania
If your trip enters Uganda overland from a neighbouring country rather than flying directly into Entebbe, the same e-visa or East Africa Tourist Visa applies and should be arranged in advance exactly as it would for an air arrival – land border posts do not typically offer visa-on-arrival for nationalities that require Uganda’s e-visa, so arriving at a border crossing without a pre-approved visa can mean being turned back or facing significant delay. If your itinerary includes an overland leg like this, flag it to us early so we can confirm the specific border post’s current requirements.
Visa cost summary by scenario
To make the options concrete: a Uganda-only trip needs the single-entry e-visa at USD 50. A Uganda-plus-Rwanda trip crossing the border once or multiple times is usually best served by the East Africa Tourist Visa at USD 100, covering both countries (and Kenya, if relevant) for 90 days with unlimited entries between the three. A Rwanda-only trip can use Rwanda’s straightforward visa-on-arrival at roughly USD 50 without needing to apply ahead at all. Working out which of these fits your specific route is one of the first things we do when building your itinerary, since it affects both cost and the paperwork timeline you need to plan around.
Children and family travel
Children require their own visa under the same rules as adults – there’s no blanket exemption by age for the e-visa fee or application process, though the minimum age for gorilla and chimp trekking itself (generally 15) means younger children on a family trip would typically be doing game drives and other non-permit activities rather than primate trekking regardless of visa status. If you’re travelling with a child on a different passport or surname from a parent, carry documentation establishing the relationship (a birth certificate is usually sufficient), since immigration in the region can ask for this, particularly for a child travelling with only one parent.
What we need from you to support your application
Uganda’s e-visa application typically asks for a confirmed itinerary or an invitation letter from a tour operator or host, which we provide as a standard part of booking with us – just let us know once you’re ready to start the visa process and we’ll send the documentation same day. We can’t complete the application itself on your behalf, since it requires your own passport information and payment method, but we’ll make sure you have everything needed to submit it without delay or back-and-forth.
Extending your visa if plans change
If you decide partway through your trip to extend your stay, Uganda’s immigration office in Kampala handles visa extensions for travellers already in the country, generally requiring a valid reason and sufficient remaining time on your original visa’s validity window to process the request smoothly. This is a real but uncommon situation – most travellers know their dates well before arrival – but worth knowing exists if your plans do shift once you’re already on the ground, rather than assuming extension is impossible.
Re-entry if you leave and come back
A single-entry e-visa, as the name suggests, does not cover leaving Uganda and returning – if your trip genuinely requires exiting and re-entering Uganda specifically (as opposed to simply crossing once into Rwanda and staying there), you’d need either a multiple-entry visa option or to plan your route so Uganda entry happens only once. This is a fairly unusual itinerary shape for most guests, but it’s exactly the kind of detail worth raising with us early if your trip has an unconventional routing so we can flag the right visa product before you apply for the wrong one.
Diplomatic and official passport holders
Holders of diplomatic or official passports, and citizens of a small number of countries with existing visa waiver or reciprocal agreements with Uganda, may face different requirements from the standard e-visa process described above. If this applies to you, mention your passport type when we’re discussing your itinerary so we can confirm the correct process for your specific situation rather than assuming the standard tourist e-visa path applies universally.
A checklist for the visa stage specifically
Pulled together: confirm which visa product fits your route (single-country e-visa, East Africa Tourist Visa, or Rwanda’s on-arrival option), apply two to three weeks ahead using the correct official portal, prepare a compliant passport photo and a passport valid six months beyond arrival, get your yellow fever vaccination at least ten days before travel and keep the physical certificate with your passport, and save both digital and printed copies of every approval. Handled in that order, this stage of planning takes very little of your own time despite how much it matters on arrival day.
A note on accuracy
Visa policy is exactly the kind of detail that can change with limited public notice, and while the figures and process described here reflect the position as of 2026, we’d always recommend a quick check of the official Uganda and Rwanda immigration portals close to your travel date, and we do the same on our end before confirming any visa guidance to a guest rather than relying purely on this page staying perfectly current indefinitely.
Keep exploring
See our health and safety page for vaccination and insurance guidance, our getting around page for what happens once you’ve cleared immigration, or browse our Murchison Falls safaris to see the kind of itineraries this typically supports. When you’re ready to plan, use the form below and a planner will reply within 24 hours with guidance specific to your nationality and route.