BOTSWANA: Tourist Visa On Arrival Introduced In Botswana

In an effort to improve the ease of doing business in Botswana,Botswana will offer TOURIST VISA at point of entry effective 24th November 2018. This announcement was made by HE, The President of Botswana, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi at the HLCC meeting held today( 15-Nov-2018)

Botswana has become the latest African nation to relax visa requirements in a bid to improve tourism and the ease of doing business in the country.

The Southern African nation will offer tourist visas on arrival effective November 24, the president announced.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who is expected to attend this weekend’s extraordinary African Union summit in Ethiopia, announced the new visa development on Thursday.

While the African Union (AU) set a 2018 deadline for the removal of visa requirements for all African citizens in all African countries, a recent AU report found that Africans can travel without a visa to just 22% of other African countries.

Rwanda, Benin and recently Ethiopia, are some of the African nations that relaxed visa requirements for all African citizens this year.

It is exactly 53 days before the year comes to an end and we usher in 2019. Many of us made resolutions in the beginning of the year, well we have a few days left to accomplish our goals. With this in mind I would like to go back to a major goal that encompasses our continent.

The African Union set a 2018 deadline for the removal of visa requirements for all African citizens in all African countries.

The Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport policy was adopted by the African Union at the 27th ordinary session held in Kigali, Rwanda in July 2016.

African states were expected to adopt the African passport and work closely with the AU Commission to facilitate its issuance at the national level based on international, continental and national policy provisions and continental design and specifications.

How far along have we come one may ask? A recent AU report found that Africans can travel without a visa to just 22% of other African countries.

What is Visa?

A visa is the authority given to foreign nationals to enter Botswana.

Who is eligible to apply for this service?

All Citizens of Commonwealth countries do not require visa except those from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Foreign nationals whose countries have signed a Visa Abolition Agreement with Botswana are also not required to apply for a visa.

N.B. Those who have permits but decide to stay outside the country for more than six months are required to apply for a visa when they come back to Botswana.

What is required for application of this service?

- Covering letter from the host.

- Certified copies of permits (work and residence) from the host or the National Identity Card (Omang).

- Application form filled by the applicant.

- Itinerary or flight schedule

- Copies of business documents (if the host is running a business).

- Copies of marriage certificate, birth certificate, and ordination certificate (pastors)

- Bank statements and hotel bookings.

Where can I apply for a visa?

There are 20 diplomatic missions in 17 countries around the world where visa applications can also be made: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa (Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town), Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United Nations(New York), Zambia and Zimbabwe.

List of countries whose nationals/citizens do not require a visa for entry into Botswana.

- All Commonwealth countries (except for Bangaldesh,Cameroon,Ghana, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).

- Agentina

- Angola

- Austria

- Bahrain

- Belgium

- Brazil

- Bulgaria

- Chile

- Czech Republic

- Costa Rica

- Croatia

- Cuba

- Denmark

- Dominican Republic

- Estonia

- Federal Republic of Germany

- Finland

- France

- Greece

- Holy See

- Iceland

- Israel

- Italy

- Japan

- Kuwait

- Latvia

- Liechtenstin

- Luxembourg

- Mexico

- Monaco

- Netherlands

- Norway and Colonies

- Oman

- Paraguay

- Peru

- Poland

- Portugal

- Qatar

- Republic of Ireland

- Romania

- Russian Federation

- San Marino

- Slovak Republic

- Slovania

- South Arabia

- South Korea

- South Sudan

- Spain

- Sweden

- Switzerland

- Turkey

- United Arab Emirates

- United States of America

- Uruguay

- Venezuela

- Zambia

- Zimbabwe

NB: All countries that are not listed require visa for entry into Botswana.

Applicants can also submit applications at Regional and District Offices around the country.

How long does it take to get a visa?

7 - 14 days

NB: Customers are expected to collect their passports within seven days and if they don’t they are phoned to come and collect them. Those who applied at the Regional and District Offices are posted back to the responses at their respective offices.

Downloadable Form


Visas for Botswana

IMMIGRATION AND VISAS

Passport Requirements
A passport is required by all travellers except the following:
1. Travellers with a 'Laissez Passer' that is issued by the United Nations.

2. Travellers with a document issued to people without nationality or citizenship and refugees according to the UN Convention.

Document Validity

Passports and alternative papers, or either of them, must be valid on arrival.

Visa Issuance

Before arrival: A visa may be issued, if necessary, by the Immigration and Passport Control Office (Post Office Box no. 942, Gaborone); or by representations of Botswana abroad; or by British embassies or consulates in countries where Botswana hasn't representation. However, applicants from South Africa may apply directly to the Immigration and Passport Control Office (Post Office Box no. 942, Gaborone, Botswana).

Visa Exemptions

All travellers must hold a visa except the following:
1. Citizens of Botswana.

2. Travellers staying for no more than 90 days for the following travellers:

2.1. Travellers with British passports regardless of endorsement in passport concerning their citizenship.

2.2. Travellers with passports issued by Hong Kong (A Special Administrative Region of China).

2.3. Citizens of Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lesotho, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Samoa San Marino, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uruguay, United States of America, Vanuatu, Vatican City, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

2.4. Travellers with United Nations travel documents so long as such documents are issued by the Botswana Government and endorsed with a return clause; other travellers with United Nations travel documents need an entry visa.

2.5. Travellers with documents issued to refugees and people without nationality or citizenship according to the UN Convention. However, a visa before arrival is required if those travellers are not visa-exempted according to their nationality.

3. Travellers with a residence permit that is issued by Botswana.

TWOV (Transit Without Visa)

TWOV is permissible for travellers continuing their trip via the same or first connecting plane without leaving the airport.

Additional information

1. Travellers must have enough money for their stay in Botswana and return or onward tickets.

2. Any traveller, whether requiring a visa or not, who wants to stay in Botswana for more than 90 days should apply for a prior permission for an extended period. This permission should be applied to the Immigration and Passport Control Office (Post Office Box no. 942, Gaborone). No visitor is allowed to work or to look for work.

CUSTOMS AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Import regulations

Travellers are allowed free import of:
- 50 millilitres of perfume and 250 millilitres of toilet water.
- One litre of alcoholic drinks and two litres of wine.
- Gift articles up to a total value of BWP 500.
- 250 grammes of tobacco, 50 cigars and 400 cigarettes.

Export regulations

Free export of souvenirs and presents up to a value of BWP 500.

Pets

Pets are allowed to enter. As for cats and dogs, they must be accompanied by an import permit from the Director of Veterinary Services (located at Private Bag 0032, Gaborone, Botswana). Furthermore, a health certificate is required indicating that the animal was immunized with the Flury or Kelev vaccine against rabies not less than 30 days and not more than 3 years before importation for dogs; and not less than one month and not more than one year before importation for cat.

Baggage Clearance regulations

A traveller's luggage should be cleared at the airport of final destination in Botswana.
* Exemptions:
Luggage of transit travellers whose destination is outside Botswana.

Airport tax

Travellers are not required to pay any airport tax upon their departure from the airport.

Currency Import regulations

There are no restrictions on importing local currency (Botswana Pula-BWP) and foreign currencies provided imported sums are declared.

Currency Export regulations

Travellers are allowed to export local currency (Botswana Pula-BWP) up to BWP 50.

Travellers are allowed to export foreign currencies up to the amount that is imported and declared.

Additional Information on regulations

Travellers have to declare all articles with serial numbers by means of form no. DA65. On their departure day, travellers have to endorse that form by the Customs Officer on duty. On the other hand, all valuable commodities without serial numbers have to be declared via an NEP-form, which travellers can acquire, fill in and stamp at any commercial bank. On their departure day, travellers have to endorse that form by the Customs Officer on duty.

Arms and Ammunition regulations

Ammunition and firearms have to be declared upon arrival. If goods are re-imported, the traveller must show the DA65 form or the NEP form that was issued on his/her departure.



a href="http://www.tourismobserver.com">Tourism Observer

Restrictive African Airspace

Making his opening remarks at the just concluded Africa Aviation 2017 conference in Kigali, President Paul Kagame threw his weight behind the Africa Open Skies crusade.

But he wasn’t just lending a voice to a cause that’s been much talked about with little progress made towards its achievement by African states, Kagame was also letting his peers know that his government was actively working with others who are willing to liberalise African airspace.

The highlight of his opening address was when he asked why an African travelling to another country within the continent should transit outside the continent, a question that left many policy makers hanging their heads in shame.

The issue is not new. In 1988, an aviation meeting of African states in Cote d’Ivoire came up with the much talked about Yamoussoukro Declaration.

Ten years later, in 1999, nothing much had happened except for the commitment of 44 signatory countries to deregulate air services, and promote regional air markets open to transnational competition.

It was not until the year 2000 that Africa heads of state and governments made this declaration binding – a very long time for an idea that would have made significant changes in how air travel on the continent is carried out.

In January 2015, under the auspices of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African governments gave their solemn commitment towards the establishment of a single African air transport market by 2017.

The Yamoussoukro Declaration remains largely on paper, except for a few countries that agreed bilaterally to implement it.

What does open skies mean? And who closed the skies in the first place?

Simply put, it is an international regulatory framework to promote air services by allowing unrestricted traffic rights between treaty partners.

So essentially, country A will enter a bilateral air services agreement with country B with clear stipulations of the designated carrier(s), airports to be served, frequencies per week, and in some cases seats allocated and fares to be charged.

Back in 1919 a meeting dubbed the Paris Convention gave countries sovereign rights or control of their airspace.

Later in 1944, another meeting in Chicago – USA established an international air transport framework that defined among other things how counties will exchange air traffic rights or “Freedoms of the Air”.

As most of Africa was just gaining Independence in the 1960s, many countries launched national carriers not only to assert their newfound Independence but also as symbols of national pride.

Since most of these newly established carriers were not motivated by economic motives or intra-Africa connectivity, they embarked on restricting their air services market to protect these symbols of national pride.

The irony here is that while African governments were busy blocking or restricting their airspaces from each other, they remained very generous with non-African carriers. As such, nearly 80 per cent of African air traffic is still carried by non-African lines.

These freedoms of the air or privilege to carry passengers and cargo between territories are globally restrictive by nature.

Take for instance Ethiopian Airlines, which serves both Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya with several flights a day, but cannot operate a triangular flight of Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Mombasa-Addis Ababa.

Hence, if you want to fly the airline from Nairobi to Mombasa, you would have to go via Addis Ababa. There is no direct flight.

On the other hand, RwandAir cannot operate a Mwanza–Kisumu flight and neither will Kenya Airways operate Eldoret–Arusha route regardless of demand, since the traffic rights do not allow it.

In other parts of Africa, governments still have restrictions on the number of passengers or volumes of cargo that a foreign airline can uplift from their territory.

These kinds of restrictions are largely responsible for the poor connectivity, high fares and unsafe air transport services.

Liberalised African skies would see passengers enjoy better and reliable, affordable, safe intra-Africa travel and boost economic growth and tourism.

As per World Bank data, 20 per cent of Africa’s tourism-related jobs are supported by visitors arriving by air, compared with only four per cent in North America.

Until then we can only wait for the coalition of the willing — Benin, Cape Verde, Congo Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe — to implement the open skies agreements with each other.

ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Airlines Celebrates 70 years

Ethiopian is delighted to celebrate its 70 years of dedicated and highly successful air transport services to, from and within the continent of Africa.

With its strong mission of bringing Africa together and closer to the world, Ethiopian has expanded much needed air connectivity within Africa and with the rest of the world in the last 70 years. Leading the way in the past, present and the future; Ethiopian has been an aviation technology leader in Africa and has introduced many new aircraft and systems to the continent.

The result of such a long journey of dedicated service has now culminated in connecting 51 cities in Africa with the major trading centers of the world in five continents and 41 cities around the world.

Every single day, we are operating 240 flights with an efficiently designed network of connectivity through our main hub in Addis Ababa with 76 aircraft in service. Along with our Star Alliance partners, we cover the entire world.

The fast, profitable and sustainable growth we have registered in the last 10 years has made us the largest, most profitable and fastest growing airline on our continent. We operate Africa’s largest cargo service, largest and most advanced Aviation Academy and best MRO services.

Group Chief Executive Officer, Tewolde Gebremariam, said “Seventy years is a long time, but Ethiopian is still young, strong, forward looking and ready to contribute its own share of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena in line with the African Union agenda 2063.

“The billions of dollars we invested in our modern fleet, aviation infrastructure, human resource development and operating systems are a testimony that shows Ethiopian is positioned in a solid foundation to scale up the growth in its Vision 2025. With the next generation advanced fleet of B-787 Dreamliners, Airbus A-350 and the B-737 MAX, we are very excited to continue to lead the 21st century aviation development in the continent of Africa.