Ethiopia Visa and Entry Requirements

Ethiopia requires a visa from most visitors, applied for online before departure. For readers with Ethiopian roots there is a second document that changes the answer entirely, and it is the first thing this guide covers.

The exemption that matters to this readership

You do not need a visa if you hold a valid Ethiopian Diplomatic ID Card, an Ethiopian Temporary Residents Permit, or an Ethiopian Origin ID, the document commonly called the Yellow Card.

That last one is the reason this section leads. A great many people of Ethiopian descent abroad are eligible for an Origin ID and do not hold one, and it removes the visa question for every future trip rather than the one in front of you. It is worth asking about before you apply for anything else.

The visa itself

The FCDO recommends applying online before arrival. The official Ethiopian e-visa platform issues a thirty day single entry tourist visa, and the application asks for a scanned color copy of your passport and a color passport sized photograph.

A tourist visa does not permit employment of any kind, and that includes voluntary work. The penalty is heavy fines or imprisonment. If you are traveling to volunteer with a church, a school or a clinic, that is not a tourist trip and the visa has to match.

Yellow fever, in both directions

You must hold a yellow fever vaccination certificate to enter Ethiopia if you are arriving from a country listed as a transmission risk. It is not required of everyone, which is the difference from Nigeria, where the rule is unconditional.

The certificate also matters on the way out. Because yellow fever is present in Ethiopia, you may be asked for one when traveling onward to some other countries. Check the rules of your next destination before you leave, not on arrival there.