Visa requirements for Ethiopian citizens

Ethiopian 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, Ethiopia and 22 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).

97 countries ask holders of the Ethiopian passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Ethiopia without one: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria and 92 others.

The reverse holds for 20 countries: holders of the Ethiopian passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Ethiopia (Bangladesh, Barbados, Cambodia, Dominica, Eritrea and 15 others).

103 countries ask holders of the Ethiopian passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 44 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Ethiopia.

59 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Ethiopia, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Ethiopia, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Kenya (4), Saudi Arabia (3), Yemen (2) and South Sudan (2).

The United States refused 54% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Ethiopia in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 150 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 46 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Ethiopia refused 34% 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 17th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Ethiopian passport

By continent, the Ethiopian passport is visa-free in 5 countries in Africa, 4 countries in the Americas, 2 countries in Asia and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Ethiopian citizens are allowed in Barbados (90 days), Benin (90 days), the Gambia (90 days), Haiti (90 days), Kenya (90 days) and the Seychelles (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Ethiopian citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea and 22 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Ethiopian citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia and 46 others. Ivory Coast and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Ethiopia’s neighbours

Kenya admits Ethiopian citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Eritrea (visa on arrival for up to 30 days), Sudan (visa required), South Sudan (e-Visa for up to 90 days), Somalia (visa on arrival for up to 30 days) and Djibouti (visa on arrival for up to 90 days).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Kenyan passport ranks 127th (67 destinations), the Djiboutian passport ranks 176th (46 destinations), the South Sudanese passport ranks 181st (42 destinations), the Sudanese passport ranks 186th (40 destinations) and the Eritrean passport ranks 190th (37 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 2 can enter visa-free, 117 get a visa on arrival, 78 need an e-Visa and 1 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for Ethiopia.