Visa requirements for Bhutanese citizens

Bhutanese 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, Bhutan and 3 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).

No country asks holders of the Bhutanese passport for a visa beforehand while its own citizens enter Bhutan without one.

The reverse holds for 46 countries: holders of the Bhutanese passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Bhutan (Barbados, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Colombia and 41 others).

95 countries ask holders of the Bhutanese passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 0 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Bhutan.

95 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Bhutan, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Bhutan, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in India (25), Vietnam (5), Bangladesh (5) and Nepal (5).

The United States refused 56% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Bhutan in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 154 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 42 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the Bhutanese passport

By continent, the Bhutanese passport is visa-free in 7 countries in Asia, 7 countries in the Americas, 2 countries in Africa and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Bhutanese citizens are allowed in Barbados (90 days), Bangladesh (90 days), Colombia (90 days), Ecuador (90 days), Haiti (90 days) and Panama (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Bhutanese citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau and 23 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Bhutanese citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Benin and 47 others. Ivory Coast, Kenya and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Bhutan’s neighbours

India admits Bhutanese citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: China (visa required).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Chinese passport ranks 113th (78 destinations) and the Indian passport ranks 150th (56 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 3 can enter visa-free and 195 need an e-Visa for Bhutan.