Visa requirements for citizens of DR Congo

Citizens of DR Congo 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, DR Congo and 6 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).

1 country asks holders of the passport of DR Congo for a visa beforehand, although its own citizens enter DR Congo without one: Republic of the Congo.

The reverse holds for 35 countries: holders of the passport of DR Congo get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for DR Congo (Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Cambodia, Cape Verde and 30 others).

107 countries ask holders of the passport of DR Congo for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 32 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in DR Congo.

75 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in DR Congo, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for DR Congo, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Nigeria (5), Uganda (2), the Republic of the Congo (2) and Angola (2).

The United States refused 63% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of DR Congo in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 170 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 26 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in DR Congo refused 40% 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 13th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the passport of DR Congo

By continent, the passport of DR Congo is visa-free in 9 countries in Africa, 4 countries in the Americas, 2 countries in Asia and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for citizens of DR Congo are allowed in Kenya (180 days), Barbados (90 days), Burundi (90 days), Benin (90 days), the Gambia (90 days) and Haiti (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Citizens of DR Congo can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana and 17 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how citizens of DR Congo enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia and 43 others. Ivory Coast and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

DR Congo’s neighbours

Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda admit citizens of DR Congo without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Tanzania (visa on arrival), the Central African Republic (visa required), South Sudan (e-Visa for up to 90 days), Zambia (visa on arrival for up to 90 days), the Republic of the Congo (visa required) and Angola (visa required).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Tanzanian passport ranks 127th (67 destinations), the Rwandan passport ranks 135th (63 destinations), the Zambian passport ranks 135th (63 destinations), the Ugandan passport ranks 135th (63 destinations) and the passport of the Central African Republic ranks 168th (49 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 4 can enter visa-free, 3 get a visa on arrival and 191 need an e-Visa for DR Congo.