It’s understandable that a lot of people get concerned about African visa requirements. It’s quite a long way to go and you don’t want to arrive to find you should have filled out your African visa application before you left home!

No need to worry. Although you can apply for your African visa before you leave, most volunteer organisations (us at COLT included), will recommend that in many cases you get your visa when you arrive. Technically it’s called your “port of entry”. We’ll look at specifics in a minute.

There are a couple of reasons. First, it’s quite simple to do. It might take a little while but it all works, so long as you know the rules. Secondly, it’s usually cheaper at the airport when you land than via an embassy.

On that note, there are various online services that offer to get your visa for you. We can’t comment on how efficient they are because we’ve never used one but it appears they apply to the embassy on your behalf (more expensive) and then they want about $40 or so for the service they provide. If it usually takes you just a short while after you land in Africa to do the same thing, why pay $60 or so more than you need too?

Anyway, let’s get down to details. We’ll concentrate on the countries where we offer African volunteering experiences so that’s visa requirements for Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Whichever country you visit your passport will need to be valid for at least 90 days although we recommend six months – it’s just easier. You will also need at least two blank visa pages. If you are extending your visit for a vacation after your African volunteer work bear in mind you’ll need an extra visa page for each African country you visit.

Each country will have a visa fee which can vary depending on where you travel from. Mozambique for example is $30 (US) as I type this. These fees change frequently so we don’t publish them – best to check with your country’s embassy in the relevant country shortly before you leave.

It’s also best to carry enough US dollars to pay these visa charges because in Africa the US dollar is the currency of choice. They might well have your local currency but equally they may not – and you’ll find some don’t take credit cards either. Getting enough US dollars to cover your African visa requirements isn’t hard so why make things difficult for yourself?

If you are volunteering to work in Mozambique for longer than one month you do need to apply for a 90 day visa in your country before you leave. There is also a multiple-entry visa available in Mozambique so if you are going to pop in and out of the country while you are in Africa this would be your cheaper option.

If you are visiting Mozambique for a month or less than you can get your visa at the airport when you arrive and it will cost you about $30.00. Taking small denomination notes is a good idea (as it is at anywhere you are getting an African visa) because they often don’t have change at immigration.

If volunteering in South Africa you will find that a tourist visa is free of charge for Commonwealth countries, most European Union countries and the USA. Others will probably need to get a visa before they travel but again, check with your embassy or ask us – we’ll be happy to help.

For Zambia you need to get a 30-day business visa which is very simple and can be extended beyond this. If you need a multi-entry visa (if you are going to a neighboring country and then returning) you need to apply before you leave home.

Visa requirements for Zimbabwe are similar and it’s easiest to get your visa at port of entry. A holiday visa can last for up to three months (although you may not automatically be given this). After arrival it’s possible to extend a holiday visa to six months.

Wherever you are doing volunteer work in Africa there is no need to be concerned. African visa requirements are quite simple and straight-forward and although they change from time to time a quick call to your embassy shortly before you leave should get you all the information you need.

If you are volunteering with us we will, of course, keep you up to date at all times – that’s the nature of the personal service we provide!