Visa requirements for Cape Verdean citizens

Cape Verdean 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, Cape Verde and 64 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).

134 countries ask holders of the Cape Verdean passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Cape Verde without one: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda and 129 others.

90 countries ask holders of the Cape Verdean passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 8 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Cape Verde.

82 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Cape Verde, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Cape Verde, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Senegal (12), Portugal (3) and Spain (2).

The United States refused 54% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Cape Verde in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 151 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 45 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Cape Verde refused 21% 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 32nd highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Cape Verdean passport

By continent, the Cape Verdean passport is visa-free in 24 countries in Africa, 6 countries in Asia, 6 countries in the Americas, 2 countries in Oceania and 1 country in Europe. The longest visa-free stays for Cape Verdean citizens are allowed in Barbados (90 days), Benin (90 days), the Bahamas (90 days), Ivory Coast (90 days), Ecuador (90 days) and Ghana (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Cape Verdean 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 Cape Verdean citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana and 37 others. Suriname asks instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

How the passport compares

Of the 198 passports in the data, 60 can enter visa-free and 138 get a visa on arrival for Cape Verde.