Visa requirements for Rwandan citizens

Rwandan 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, Rwanda and 61 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).

136 countries ask holders of the Rwandan passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Rwanda without one: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda and 131 others.

The reverse holds for 1 country: holders of the Rwandan passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but its citizens need one for Rwanda (Tuvalu).

95 countries ask holders of the Rwandan passport 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 Rwanda.

77 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Rwanda, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Rwanda, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Kenya (7), Uganda (7), Ethiopia (6) and Tanzania (2).

The United States refused 65% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Rwanda in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 174 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 22 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the Rwandan passport

By continent, the Rwandan passport is visa-free in 17 countries in Africa, 6 countries in the Americas, 3 countries in Asia and 3 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Rwandan citizens are allowed in Dominica (180 days), Kenya (180 days), Vanuatu (120 days), Barbados (90 days), Burundi (90 days) and Benin (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Rwandan citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau and 24 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Rwandan citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia and 34 others. Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Rwanda’s neighbours

Tanzania, DR Congo, Burundi and Uganda admit Rwandan citizens without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Tanzanian passport ranks 127th (67 destinations), the Ugandan passport ranks 135th (63 destinations), the Burundian passport ranks 170th (48 destinations) and the passport of DR Congo ranks 181st (42 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 108 can enter visa-free, 89 get a visa on arrival and 1 need an e-Visa for Rwanda.