When we were planning our East Africa Tour, we really wanted to add this landlocked country called ‘Burundi’ to our tally. Burundi is right next to Rwanda and DR Congo.
So I sent a few emails to embassies in that region hoping to get positive responses. My first email was to their embassy in Addis Ababa as this is where we had to land first. The feedback from their embassy in Addis was not helpful as they actually wanted us to send our original documents via courier to Addis, the idea of which was really crazy. After a few emails explaining them that it was not the best idea, I gave up.
Then I emailed their embassy in Rwanda. Prior to that I read the reports that you need to submit the visa application in person and then wait for the outcome that can take upto a week. Spending a week at one place was not part of our plan, so I requested them an alternate.
To my surprise, the embassy not only responded within minutes, they also sent a visa application form and asked for normal documents like scanned version of passport and photo. I sent them he documents and got the response in 10 days that my application was approved.
After that we had to go submit the passports in their embassy in Kigali whenever we plan to arrive there. So we went there early morning the very next day we arrived in Kigali, had to wait in embassy lobby for around an hour after the lady at reception took our passports and asked when we were planning to arrive in Burundi. An hour later we had our passports with stamped visas. Smoothly done and we were thoroughly impressed.
Documents needed for Burundi Visa.
- Download and fill out following visa form.
- Send an email to ambabukgl1@yahoo.fr requesting for visa and attach following documents with it:
- Scanned copy of your passport
- Scanned Photo
- Filled visa application form.
- Invitation letter (if any) – I asked whether this was necessary and they said attach only if you have it, otherwise it’s not needed.
- Wait for the approval email. The visa application takes around 10 days as they send all applications to Bujumbura for approval.
Visa Fee
They have a strange visa fee structure.
02 Nights visa = USD 40 (Single Entry)
03 to 30 days visa = USD 90 (Multiple Entry)
02 months visa = USD 180 (Multiple Entry)
03 months visa = USD 270 (Multiple Entry)
So our obvious choice was 2-nights visa which would give us 3 days entry.
Visa Fee Submission
You may get the approval through email in around 10 days or so. Once you get the approval you need to go to Kigali, get the visa fee submitted to following Bank account which belongs to Burundi Embassy.
Account No. 00040-0020220-08
Account type: USD
Bank: Bank Of Kigali (BK)
Keep the receipt with you as you need this for embassy.
Passport Submission and Visa stamping
Once the fee is submitted, bring the bank slip/receipt and passport to their embassy located at KG 7 ave, Kigali (Right in front of Chinese Embassy). The lady at reception would ask you what your travel date is. Mention this carefully because with 2 nights visa you would only have limited time to visit.
Submit the passport and wait in the lobby. We had to wait for over an hour before she got our visa stamped and handed over the passports.
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