Visa requirements for Somali citizens

Somali 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, Somalia 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).

2 countries ask holders of the Somali passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Somalia without one: Tanzania and Uganda.

The reverse holds for 26 countries: holders of the Somali passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Somalia (Bangladesh, Benin, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Dominica and 21 others).

111 countries ask holders of the Somali passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 6 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Somalia.

105 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Somalia, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Somalia, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Kenya (25), Ethiopia (10), South Sudan (2) and Uganda (2).

The United States refused 84% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Somalia in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 194 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 2 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the Somali passport

By continent, the Somali passport is visa-free in 5 countries in Africa, 3 countries in the Americas, 2 countries in Asia and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Somali citizens are allowed in Benin (90 days), the Gambia (90 days), Haiti (90 days), the Seychelles (90 days), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (90 days) and Kenya (60 days).

Visa on arrival

Somali citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia and 14 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Somali citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana and 45 others. Ivory Coast asks instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Where Somali citizens are not admitted

According to the visa data used here, Somali citizens are currently not admitted to Australia, Canada and the United States.

Somalia’s neighbours

Kenya admits Somali citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Ethiopia (visa on arrival for up to 90 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) and the Ethiopian passport ranks 180th (43 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 2 can enter visa-free, 6 get a visa on arrival and 190 need an e-Visa for Somalia.