Visa requirements for Ugandan citizens

Ugandan 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, Uganda and 31 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).

9 countries ask holders of the Ugandan passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Uganda without one: Angola, Cyprus, DR Congo, Ireland, Malta and 4 others.

The reverse holds for 31 countries: holders of the Ugandan passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Uganda (Bangladesh, Benin, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Djibouti and 26 others).

94 countries ask holders of the Ugandan passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 26 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Uganda.

68 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Uganda, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Uganda, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Kenya (10), Ethiopia (6), the Republic of the Congo (2) and South Sudan (2).

The United States refused 58% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Uganda in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 158 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 38 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Uganda refused 37% 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 15th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Ugandan passport

By continent, the Ugandan passport is visa-free in 16 countries in Africa, 10 countries in the Americas, 4 countries in Asia and 4 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Ugandan citizens are allowed in Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Barbados (180 days), Dominica (180 days), Kenya (180 days), Rwanda (180 days) and Fiji (120 days).

Visa on arrival

Ugandan citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau and 19 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Ugandan citizens enter Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and 35 others. Ivory Coast, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Uganda’s neighbours

Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan and Rwanda admit Ugandan citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: DR Congo (e-Visa for up to 7 days).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Tanzanian passport ranks 127th (67 destinations), the Kenyan passport ranks 127th (67 destinations), the Rwandan passport ranks 135th (63 destinations), the South Sudanese passport ranks 181st (42 destinations) and the passport of DR Congo ranks 181st (42 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 40 can enter visa-free and 158 need an e-Visa for Uganda.