Visa requirements for citizens of the Republic of the Congo

Citizens of the Republic of the 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, the Republic of the Congo and 9 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).

6 countries ask holders of the passport of the Republic of the Congo for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter the Republic of the Congo without one: Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, Togo and United Arab Emirates.

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

101 countries ask holders of the passport of the Republic of the Congo 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 the Republic of the Congo.

83 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in the Republic of the Congo, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for the Republic of the Congo, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in DR Congo (8), Nigeria (6), Uganda (2) and Angola (2).

The United States refused 65% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of the Republic of the Congo in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 176 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 20 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in the Republic of the Congo refused 49% 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 4th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the passport of the Republic of the Congo

By continent, the passport of the Republic of the Congo is visa-free in 13 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 the Republic of the Congo are allowed in Barbados (90 days), Benin (90 days), DR Congo (90 days), the Central African Republic (90 days), Ivory Coast (90 days) and Cameroon (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Citizens of the Republic of the Congo can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia and 18 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

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

Where citizens of the Republic of the Congo are not admitted

According to the visa data used here, citizens of the Republic of the Congo are currently not admitted to the United States.

The Republic of the Congo’s neighbours

The Central African Republic, Gabon, DR Congo and Cameroon admit citizens of the Republic of the Congo without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Angola (visa required).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Gabonese passport ranks 146th (57 destinations), the passport of the Central African Republic ranks 168th (49 destinations), the Angolan passport ranks 170th (48 destinations), the Cameroonian passport ranks 173rd (47 destinations) and the passport of DR Congo ranks 181st (42 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 5 can enter visa-free, 10 get a visa on arrival and 183 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for the Republic of the Congo.