Visa requirements for Beninese citizens

Beninese citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Benin and 37 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

24 countries ask holders of the Beninese passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Benin without one: Algeria, Angola, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon and 19 others.

The reverse holds for 22 countries: holders of the Beninese passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Benin (Bangladesh, Barbados, Cambodia, Cuba, Ecuador and 17 others).

94 countries ask holders of the Beninese passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 16 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Benin.

78 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Benin, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Benin, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Nigeria (8) and Ghana (6).

The United States refused 65% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Benin in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 173 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 23 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Benin refused 30% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 23rd highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Beninese passport

By continent, the Beninese passport is visa-free in 22 countries in Africa, 7 countries in the Americas, 4 countries in Asia and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Beninese citizens are allowed in Barbados (90 days), the Bahamas (90 days), the Central African Republic (90 days), Ivory Coast (90 days), Cuba (90 days) and Ecuador (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Beninese citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Iran and 18 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Beninese citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana and 38 others. Suriname asks instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Benin’s neighbours

Niger, Togo, Burkina Faso and Nigeria admit Beninese citizens without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Togolese passport ranks 150th (56 destinations), the passport of Burkina Faso ranks 153rd (55 destinations), the Nigerien passport ranks 156th (54 destinations) and the Nigerian passport ranks 184th (41 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 61 can enter visa-free and 137 need an e-Visa for Benin.