Visa requirements for Malian citizens

Malian 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, Mali and 23 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).

3 countries ask holders of the Malian passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Mali without one: Cameroon, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates.

The reverse holds for 27 countries: holders of the Malian passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Mali (Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Burundi, Cambodia and 22 others).

99 countries ask holders of the Malian passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 21 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Mali.

78 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Mali, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Mali, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Senegal (4), Nigeria (3), Ghana (3) and Sierra Leone (3).

The United States refused 56% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Mali in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 153 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 43 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Mali refused 42% 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 10th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Malian passport

By continent, the Malian passport is visa-free in 21 countries in Africa, 5 countries in the Americas, 3 countries in Asia and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Malian citizens are allowed in Barbados (180 days), Benin (90 days), the Bahamas (90 days), Ivory Coast (90 days), Algeria (90 days) and Ghana (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Malian citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Iran and 12 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Malian citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana and 42 others. Morocco and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Mali’s neighbours

Senegal, Niger, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mauritania and Burkina Faso admit Malian citizens without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Senegalese passport ranks 146th (57 destinations), the Algerian passport ranks 153rd (55 destinations), the passport of Burkina Faso ranks 153rd (55 destinations), the Nigerien passport ranks 156th (54 destinations) and the Ivorian passport ranks 156th (54 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 24 can enter visa-free, 2 get a visa on arrival and 172 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for Mali.