Tanzania: passport and entry requirements
Tanzania needs six months' validity on every passport and a tourist visa for each traveller, arranged online before you fly. Zanzibar has one requirement the mainland doesn't, its own compulsory travel insurance.
Your passport
Each passport needs to be valid for at least six months after the day you arrive, with at least one blank page for the entry stamp.
Check every passport when you book, children's included. Theirs are the ones most likely to be close to expiry, since they're renewed more often than an adult's, and it's easier to renew a short one now than to be caught out at the airport.
Getting in
You need a tourist visa, and the straightforward way is an e-visa, a visa you apply for and receive online before you travel, tied to your passport. Apply through the official Tanzanian immigration portal ahead of the trip at eservices.immigration.go.tz. A visa on arrival is possible at the main ports of entry, but sorting it online in advance saves a queue when you land.
A yellow fever certificate is needed only if you're arriving from a country where the disease is a risk, which can happen on a multi-country safari, rather than on a direct flight from the UK.
Every child needs their own passport, at any age, meeting the same rule, and their own e-visa alongside the adults'.
Zanzibar's own travel insurance
Every non-resident visitor to Zanzibar has to hold the island's own inbound travel insurance for the length of their stay, bought through the official Zanzibar portal. It costs $44 an adult (about £35) and $22 for children aged 3 to 17 (about £18), with under-3s covered free (last checked August 2026). It's separate from your own holiday travel insurance and separate from the visa. A trip to mainland Tanzania alone doesn't need it, and where it does apply it covers every visitor, children included.
Official sources
Last checked 11 August 2026. Passport and entry rules change, so always confirm on GOV.UK before you book or travel.
