Visa requirements for citizens of Burkina Faso

Citizens of Burkina Faso 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, Burkina Faso and 17 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).

2 countries ask holders of the passport of Burkina Faso for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Burkina Faso without one: Mauritania and United Arab Emirates.

The reverse holds for 37 countries: holders of the passport of Burkina Faso get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Burkina Faso (Bangladesh, Barbados, Burundi, Cambodia, Chad and 32 others).

96 countries ask holders of the passport of Burkina Faso for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 18 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Burkina Faso.

78 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Burkina Faso, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Burkina Faso, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Nigeria (5), Ghana (5), Mali (3) and Ivory Coast (2).

The United States refused 71% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Burkina Faso in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 186 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 10 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the passport of Burkina Faso

By continent, the passport of Burkina Faso is visa-free in 20 countries in Africa, 5 countries in the Americas, 4 countries in Asia and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for citizens of Burkina Faso are allowed in Barbados (90 days), Bangladesh (90 days), Benin (90 days), the Central African Republic (90 days), Ivory Coast (90 days) and Ecuador (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Citizens of Burkina Faso can get a visa at the airport or land border of Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Iran, Laos and 16 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how citizens of Burkina Faso enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia and 41 others. Morocco and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Burkina Faso’s neighbours

Niger, Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo and Mali admit citizens of Burkina Faso without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Ghanaian passport ranks 132nd (65 destinations), the Beninese passport ranks 141st (60 destinations), the Togolese passport ranks 150th (56 destinations), the Nigerien passport ranks 156th (54 destinations) and the Ivorian passport ranks 156th (54 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 19 can enter visa-free and 179 need an e-Visa for Burkina Faso.