Mozambique Visa & ETA Guide for Tourists

Why this guide exists

Mozambique’s entry system was overhauled in February 2026. There’s now an online portal at evisa.gov.mz, a pre-authorisation called an ETA, a full e-visa, and for some travellers the old visa-free or visa-on-arrival still works. Different foreign governments give contradictory advice — the UK says an ETA is mandatory for Brits, the US says it’s only needed if you’re staying with friends, Canada says no pre-authorisation is needed at all. It’s a mess.

We’ve pulled the rules into one place and sorted them by passport. This is the tourism version — if you’re travelling for work, study, or residency, you’ll want a different guide.

The four paths, at a glance

There are four real paths into Mozambique as a tourist. The selector above sorts you into one. If you’d rather see all four side by side, here they are.

1. Visa-free (SADC and selected African nations)

Who: Angola, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Seychelles, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

What you do: nothing in advance. Show up at the border with a valid passport and you’ll be stamped in. Free.

How long: 30 days per entry for most. 90 days for Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

Watch out: a 90-days-per-calendar-year cap applies. Border runs reset the per-entry clock, not the annual one.

A note on passport types. This guide assumes an ordinary tourist passport. Holders of diplomatic or service passports sometimes have different arrangements — for example, ordinary Portuguese, South Korean, or Indonesian passports fall in the ETA bucket below, but diplomatic/service versions are visa-free. If you’re travelling on an official passport, confirm your category on evisa.gov.mz.

2. Visa-free OR ETA (the confused middle bucket — 29 countries)

Who: Belgium, Canada, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.

What you do: you have two options.

• Route A — pay at the border. Arrive with your passport, return ticket, and hotel booking, and pay about $10 USD at immigration. Quick but dependent on a functioning card machine — bring cash (USD, EUR, or MZN) as backup.
• Route B — get the ETA online. Apply at evisa.gov.mz. Costs about $48 USD. It usually comes back in 1–2 days, but we’d recommend applying about a week before you travel to leave a buffer — the portal has outages and can ask for corrections. Print the PDF and carry it. If the application is rejected, the fee is not refunded — but you can re-apply with the corrections. Apply early enough to re-submit if something goes wrong. ETAs are also non-refundable if you postpone or cancel your trip — if your dates shift, you’ll need to apply again.

Our recommendation: get the ETA. Some airlines now refuse to board passengers without one, even though Mozambique itself would admit you visa-free. The ETA removes that risk.

How long: 30 days per entry.

3. e-Visa required (everyone else)

Who: the default. If your country isn’t on the two lists above and isn’t on the embassy-only list below, you’re in this bucket. Includes Australia, New Zealand, India, Brazil, most of the EU not already listed (Austria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, etc.), most of Latin America, most of the Middle East, most of Africa outside SADC, and most of Southeast Asia.

What you do: apply at evisa.gov.mz before you fly. Upload your documents, pay, wait about 5 business days, print the approved e-visa PDF.

How long: 30, 60, or 90 days — you choose when you apply.

Cost: fees are set in Meticais and float in USD with the exchange rate. Current fees are MZN 6,250 / 12,504 / 18,756 for 30 / 60 / 90 days — roughly $95 / $190 / $290 USD at today’s rate. A VFS service fee is added on top. Confirm the exact amount on the portal before paying.

Watch out: don’t rely on visa-on-arrival. Since the February 2026 portal relaunch, the government routes everyone in this bucket to the online e-visa. Apply at least 1–2 weeks before travel. Rejected applications are not refunded.

4. Embassy-only (6 nationalities)

Who: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia.

What you do: the online portal won’t accept your application. You’ll need to apply in person at a Mozambican embassy or consulate. Plan for weeks, not days.

How to apply online (ETA and e-visa)

Both the ETA and the e-visa go through the same portal. Here’s what the process actually looks like:

1. Register. Go to evisa.gov.mz and click Login or Register. Enter your email, get a passcode, sign up. Save your username and password somewhere safe — the reset function is unreliable and you’ll need to log back in later.

2. Start the application. Click Create Application (top-left). On the form, set:

   • Nationality: your passport country
   • Passport type: P (regular)
   • Passport type name: Normal
   • Visa type: Tourist
   • Duration: 30 days
   • Number of entries: autofills to Multiple — you can’t change it, that’s normal.

3. Issuance location is the airport or border where you’ll enter Mozambique. Pick the wrong one and the desk on arrival can get awkward.

4. Fill in personal details. If multiple travellers, finish one application fully before starting the next. The form is fussy about punctuation in addresses — commas, full stops, and extra spaces can trigger silent errors. If your postal code is rejected, use 12345 as a workaround. If it rejects your address, try typing it in a plain text editor first and pasting it in.

5. Upload documents. You’ll need:

   • A passport-style photo
   • Your passport bio page
   • A hotel booking confirmation — or, if you’re staying with friends or family, a notarised Termo de Responsabilidade plus a notarised copy of your host’s BI or passport
   • A return flight ticket
   • A recent bank statement

   File rules: PDF/JPG/PNG, ≤2 MB each, simple filenames (no special characters). For each upload the form asks for Document Date, Document Number, and Issuing Authority — these are required even on documents that don’t officially have them. Enter something logical (e.g. “Standard Bank” as the issuing authority for a bank statement, your airline for a flight ticket).

6. Pay. Visa cards work best. Mozambican-issued cards are often rejected. The payment portal is slow — don’t refresh the page, just wait for the confirmation screen.

7. Download and print. You’ll get the approval by email (ETA in ~2 days, e-visa in ~5 business days). You can also go to My Applications on the portal — when the status shows “Ready for issuance”, click Action to download the PDF. Print it on paper. Digital copies on a phone are sometimes accepted but often not — bring paper.

Apply at least 48 hours before travel (the UK government’s stated minimum). A week or more is safer — it gives you a buffer if the application is rejected and needs corrections, or if the portal has an outage.

What to have at the border

Whether you’re flying into Vilanculo, Maputo, or driving across from South Africa, the kit is the same. Get this together before you go and you’ll skip most of the friction at the desk.

• Passport valid for at least 6 months beyond your arrival date
• 2 blank pages in your passport
• Proof of onward/return travel (printed)
• Proof of accommodation (printed booking confirmation)
• Proof of funds (a recent bank statement or card that works at an ATM) — immigration can ask for this on arrival, even if you’re visa-free
• Yellow fever certificate if you’re arriving from a yellow-fever-endemic country (including transit)
• Cash for the ETA fee, if you’re paying on arrival. Bring the exact amount — $10 USD, €10, or MZN 650 — in case the card machine is down. Skip this if you’ve already paid for an ETA or e-visa online.

Before you leave the airport/border desk: make sure you’ve been handed your entry payment receipt and that your passport has been stamped. Ask for the receipt even if you didn’t pay on arrival — one is usually issued either way, and officers don’t always offer it unprompted. Keep it on you for the rest of the trip: immigration often asks for it again when you leave the country, and you’ll need it if you extend your visa. Photograph it and email yourself a copy as a backup.

The 30-day rule

Most tourists land with thirty days in their pocket. Here’s how that clock actually works.

• Per-entry cap. Most tourists get 30 days per entry. Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania passports get 90. E-visa holders get whatever they paid for (30/60/90).
• Extensions. You can extend once, for up to 30 more days. To stay longer than that, you’ll need to leave the country and re-enter. See below.
• Border runs work, but only for the per-entry clock. You still can’t exceed 90 days in Mozambique per calendar year.
• Overstaying is expensive. Fines are quoted at MZN 1,000 per day and up. Don’t do it.

Extending your stay in-country

It’s possible, but it’s not a casual errand. If you already know you want more than 30 days, the cleanest option is to apply for a 60- or 90-day e-visa before you fly — it costs more, but you keep your passport and avoid the paperwork. Extensions are a fallback, not a plan.

How many. You can extend once, for up to 30 additional days. If you want to stay longer, you’ll need to leave the country and re-enter.

Where. Extensions are handled at provincial immigration (SENAMI) offices in the larger cities — Maputo, Beira, Nampula, and some provincial capitals. Vilankulo does not have one; the nearest is in Maxixe (about 3 hours south).

When. Apply at least 2–3 days before your visa expires — they often ask for corrections and you’ll want a buffer. Arrive early in the morning; the system goes down semi-regularly and getting there early gives the day time to recover.

What to bring.

• Your passport, plus a notarised photocopy of the bio page and the page with your entry stamp.
• A letter from your first hotel in Mozambique, signed and stamped with the hotel’s official stamp — the stamp matters; immigration won’t accept a plain signature. It must come from your first hotel even if you’ve moved on since. (This is a separate document from the Boletim de Alojamento — you need both.)
• Printed copies of your arrival and departure flights.
• Your original ETA or e-visa approval, plus the entry payment receipt you received at the airport or border.
• A letter requesting the extension, notarised.
• Your Boletim de Alojamento — this one is critical. See the next section for what it is and why you need it.

How to get things notarised. Documents are notarised at the Conservatória dos Registos e Notariado — a public notary office found in most towns. You hand over the document and ask for it to be carimbado (stamped). Small fee, usually in just a few minutes.

On the day. They take a photo — hair tied back, face clear. Dress modestly: shoulders and knees covered. They keep your passport for about a week while the extension is processed, so don’t plan flights, border crossings, or anything else that needs your passport during that window.

Cost. Around MZN 650 for the extension itself, plus notary fees for the photocopies and letter.

The Boletim de Alojamento

Every accommodation in Mozambique is supposed to log foreign guests with the authorities — that paperwork is the Boletim de Alojamento. At a hotel or lodge you’ll barely notice it. Where it gets real is staying with friends or family.

At a hotel or lodge. The front desk fills the Boletim in at check-in and either runs it to immigration themselves or hands you a stamped slip to keep. Ask once at check-in who’s doing what, photograph the slip when you have it, and that’s the end of it. You only need one — from your first place of stay; later hotels don’t generate new ones.

Staying privately — the work falls on the host. Anyone with the right documents and confident Portuguese can do the filing; it doesn’t have to be the host or the guest in person.

Is it worth the trouble? For a one-time tourist trip under 30 days, no plans to come back, no future business with immigration — the realistic risk of skipping is low. For everyone else — repeat visitors, anyone planning to extend in-country, anyone aiming at residency — get it done. Sooner or later, it shows up.

The deadline is five days, counted from arrival to submission inclusive. No working-day arithmetic; public holidays don’t extend the clock. Land on a Thursday with a Friday holiday and you’re still due Monday.

What to bring. Everything on paper — phones and laptops won’t fly.

From the guest:

• Photocopy of the passport bio page
• Photocopy of the entry-fee receipt from the border
• Photocopy of the entry approval — your printed e-visa, or the A4 sheet immigration handed you on arrival
• Photocopy of the passport page with the entry stamp
• The original passport, in case any photocopy is hard to read

From the host:

• Proof of address. A water or electricity bill is the gold standard; bank statements usually don’t pass. If the place is rented and the utility is in the landlord’s name, a copy of the rental agreement works as a fallback. If neither is available, the host can ask the bairro chief for a certificado do bairro — allow a day or two
• A Letter of Invitation. Not strictly required, but offices vary, and travellers get turned away without one often enough that it’s worth carrying

The petition:

• Two printed copies of the request letter, signed in wet ink. Big-city offices are unforgiving on layout — that’s why we put together a template

Where to file it. In a city with a SENAMI immigration office, that’s where you go. In a small town or anywhere SENAMI doesn’t operate, the local police station handles it instead — usually quicker and less fussy than a city office. Vilanculo is in the second bucket — no SENAMI in town, so plan around the police station.

At the office. Submit the pack, keep your originals, hand over only photocopies. The officer reviews, retains the copies, and stamps one of your two request letters before handing it back. That stamped copy is your receipt — file it somewhere safe. Mozambican immigration’s records aren’t always synced; if anyone later asks whether you registered, the stamp is what you wave.

Photocopy shops cluster near every SENAMI office and will run off pages — or even retype the letter — for around MZN 5 a sheet. Useful to know if you turn up missing something.

If you don’t register. The standing penalty is MZN 1,000 per day, calculated from the day you arrived. If immigration decides on top of that you weren’t supposed to enter the way you did, the daily figure can climb to MZN 3,000. Out on the street the rule is barely enforced; at an immigration desk, it’s not something you want to be missing.

Still not sure?

Mozambique’s visa rules are a moving target. If your situation doesn’t fit cleanly into the four buckets above, or if the portal is giving you grief, send us a message on WhatsApp — we help guests through this every week. Tell us your passport country and your rough travel dates and we’ll point you at the right path.

Once you’re in, we’ll take care of the rest. See our travel tips for health, packing, and what to expect on the ground.

Last reviewed: 22 April 2026. The system was last overhauled in February 2026 and the government continues to adjust it — always confirm on evisa.gov.mz before you travel. Sources: evisa.gov.mz (official), IATA Travel Centre (airline-side entry rules), enjoymoz.com, gov.uk travel advice for Mozambique, Wikipedia “Visa policy of Mozambique”.