Namibia’s visa policy will require citizens of 31 countries to obtain a visa upon arrival starting April 1, 2025. This change aims to enhance security and streamline admissions for foreign visitors. The new policy responds to these countries’ refusal to lift visa restrictions for Namibians. Learn more about the updated visa fees and impacted nations.
These changes will go into effect on April 1, 2025, and are intended to enhance security and expedite the admissions procedure for foreign guests. They are also a response to these countries’ unwillingness to lift their visa restrictions on citizens of Namibia. VisaGuide.World discloses.
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E-Visa Required for Citizens of Countries Without Visa Waiver for Namibians:
Countries who have not returned Namibia’s gesture of a visa waiver will also be allowed to get an electronic visa, or e-Visa, as explained by Namibian authorities.
That being said, the original plan was for this decision to take effect in October 2024. Namibia declared in May of last year that it would start requiring visas for citizens of nations where Namibian nationals are required to have one.
The following nations are on the list of those who do not provide Namibian visitors reciprocity for their visa waivers and are also impacted by this new policy:
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Belarus
- Canada
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Liechtenstein
- Luxembourg
- Moldova
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Tajikistan
- Turkmenistan
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
Namibia claims that these nations have treated it unfairly by removing visa requirements for its visitors, but these nations have not responded.
Namibia Reveals New Visa Fee Structure:
Additionally, starting on April 1, 2024, the Namibian Cabinet announced an increase in visa fees. The following fees are associated with visas:
- For citizens of nations outside the African Union, N$1,600, or roughly US$88.
- N$1,200 (US$67) for citizens of member states of the African Union who fulfill the requirements to get a visa upon arrival.
This new visa policy is in response to information that, in 2023, the EU denied over 670,000 out of 2.5 million African applicants for Schengen visas. Nearly 41% of the money the EU received from worldwide visa fees in 2023 came from African applicants who had their visa applications denied.
Namibia has made an effort to bring the number of visitors back to the pre-COVID-19 levels, which were 1.8 million annually.
Because of this, the nation welcomed 1.05 million tourists in 2023, according to the most recent tourism statistics report from last year.
In comparison to the 461,027 foreign visitors registered in 2022, the country received 863,872 foreign tourists over the same period.
The Namibian passport is ranked 128th in the world as of July 2024 according to the VisaGuide Passport Index. As a result, inhabitants of Namibia are entitled to enter 53 nations worldwide without a visa. In contrast, holders of a Namibian passport need to apply for a visa ahead of time to access the other nations.
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