Visa requirements for Syrian citizens

Syrian 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, Syria and 3 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).

22 countries ask holders of the Syrian passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Syria without one: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Georgia and 17 others.

The reverse holds for 23 countries: holders of the Syrian passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Syria (Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Comoros, Djibouti and 18 others).

119 countries ask holders of the Syrian passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 46 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Syria.

73 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Syria, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Syria, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Israel (14), Turkey (12), Lebanon (4) and Egypt (4).

The United States refused 51% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Syria in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 140 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 56 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the Syrian passport

By continent, the Syrian passport is visa-free in 3 countries in Asia, 2 countries in the Americas, 1 country in Africa and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Syrian citizens are allowed in Haiti (90 days), Iran (90 days), Malaysia (90 days), the Seychelles (90 days), Micronesia (30 days) and Dominica (21 days).

Visa on arrival

Syrian citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Lebanon and 10 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

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

Where Syrian citizens are not admitted

According to the visa data used here, Syrian citizens are currently not admitted to Libya.

Syria’s neighbours

For the neighbouring countries, the rules are: Iraq (e-Visa), Jordan (visa required), Israel (e-Visa), Turkey (visa required) and Lebanon (visa on arrival).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Israeli passport ranks 50th (141 destinations), the Turkish passport ranks 86th (112 destinations), the Jordanian passport ranks 165th (50 destinations), the Lebanese passport ranks 179th (44 destinations) and the Iraqi passport ranks 196th (30 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 9 can enter visa-free, 16 get a visa on arrival, 171 need an e-Visa and 2 are not admitted for Syria.