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Acquiring visas for all 3 countries
For those of u that have done this trip did tauck provide help in getting information on needed visas for this trip? We u able to get a three way E VISA good for all three countries? How soon did u start the process. ??? Start April for July trip?
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I don’t recall you need a visa for Rwanda. If you go to the webpage for the tour it will tell you about which visas you need. We have to get a Tanzania visa for this July which can now be applied for on line. Evisa but no earlier than 90 days before .
I don’t know about Rwanda, but Kenya and Tanzania are separate visas that can be obtained online … evisa, eTA.
@British - can you point to where it says no earlier that 90 days before for Tanzania. I was looking for specifics like that a week or so ago and I was not able to locate anything other than approximately how long it takes and that the multiple entry visa may be issued with a validity for a maximum of 12 months.
EDIT: Well, I did find that 90 day information in Taucks before you go information section. I'll go by that for now, I'm in no rush to make that happen. I am just surprised that I can't find that information anywhere else on the Tanzania eVisa site.
Dog Doctor, if you go on the Kenya visa eTA site and start entering your information. You will quickly get to the point where you have to define the entry and exit dates from Kenya. If those days are more than 90 days out from the date on which you are entering data, the calendar dates from which you make your date selections are "greyed out" prohibiting further progress. Don't ask me how I know!! I am going in Sept 2024 and was trying to get a jump on the visa process and got stumped! I will just have to wait till June now. I communicated the is to Tauck team and they have since changed the verbiage issued to prospective travellers.in a personalised email laying out the visa process that I have pasted immediately below. Hope this helps
_Thank for choosing Tauck for your upcoming exploration of Kenya and Tanzania.
As you’ll recall, we had reached out to you earlier this week with instructions on applying for a Kenya eTA;
the “electronic Travel Authorization” instituted by Kenyan officials to modernize and replace the
paper-based visa system that had been required of visitors to the country.
The language we’d used regarding the optimal time to apply for your Kenya eTA was inaccurate, and we
apologize for any confusion that may have resulted._ Please note that Kenya eTA applications should be
submitted no more than 90 days prior to travel._
For clarity and convenience, we are providing revised eTA application instructions here:
Travelers from the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia and many other countries should apply online for a
Kenya eTA prior to entering the country. Visitors should apply for the eTA at www.etakenya.go.ke and pay
a processing fee of USD $34. All eTA applications for Kenya should be submitted no more than 90 days
prior to travel. It is further recommended that families apply as a group.
What you will need:
∙ A valid passport
∙ A recent passport picture or a selfie picture taken during the application process. For this photo:
○ Glasses (if normally worn) should be removed
○ Face should be relaxed (not smiling)
○ You must use a gray background
○ Image must be less than six months old
○ Image size must be 2×2 in, or 500×500 px
○ Image must be of high quality and accurately reflect your appearance
∙ Contact details (home address, telephone, email)
∙ Travel itinerary, proof of accommodation, and flight info (arrival flight number, date of departure for
connecting flights)
○ This information can be provided to you by Tauck’s Journey Preparation Team, and they
may be reached at JourneyPreparationTeam@tauck.com
∙ Yellow fever vaccination certificate, if coming from an endemic country
○ A list of endemic countries may be found on the World Health Organization (WHO)
website
∙ Credit/debit card information for payment if applicable
Steps:
∙ Click "Apply Now" and follow the instructions
∙ Under arrival details, select “Arriving by land” and enter “Kajiado Namanga” (to indicate your entry
point into Kenya)
∙ If applicable, be sure to answer “NO” to the questions inquiring about a criminal record and
tuberculosis
∙ Double-check that all data has been entered correctly
∙ Submit the application
Following your application:
∙ You'll receive an email confirming receipt of your application, and if payment was made,
confirmation that your payment has been received
∙ After review of your eTA application by Kenyan authorities, an email confirming approval or
refusal will be sent to you via email
∙ If approved, either:
○ 1.) print the attached PDF document
○ 2.) download it to your mobile device
○ 3.) save it in the "Kenya Travel Authorization" mobile app. This will serve as your
electronic travel authorization, required at all arrival and departure points.
∙ If denied, contact support@etakenya.go.ke for assistance
∙ Check your application status anytime at https://www.etakenya.go.ke
Additional Advisory:
Obtaining the correct visa is each guest’s responsibility, so we strongly advise checking with your local
Kenyan Embassy for the latest regulations before arriving in Kenya
Thank you for choosing Tauck for your Kenya and Tanzania safari!
The Tauck Worldwide Operations Team_
I have not read all of this, so I may repeat the info. The Tanzania visa can be obtained I think a year in advance, but the Kenya visa must be obtained no more than 90 days in advance. I’ve not figured out if that number is entry, or whether the 90 days must cover your exit. I’m applying to make sure the visa is valid for our entire stay there. I just digitized our passport photos which is a bit of a pain. I could not find any place where they did digital passport photos. I used an online service due to lack of confidence, but they produced exactly the sam 600 X600 pixel product that I did on my own with my resizing app. I should have the visas done in the next day or two. We have seventy one days until our trip, and the visas are supposed to take only five or maybe ten days. On our first Africa trips we had to mail in our passports for both Tanzania and Kenya. It worked.
Like SeaLord, our other visits to K and T required mailing your passports.
SeaLord, it’s a 90 day rule for Tanzania too. We intend to apply in May for our July Tanzania tour.
We just applied for and received Evisas for our upcoming Vietnam tour, and again ,last time we went we had to mail in our passports. Keeping our fingers crossed it is as straightforward
We got our photos from CVS and asked for digital copies too, no problem.
Sealord and British - if you have a smartphone/digital camera and a white wall in the home, it should be as simple as taking headshots and resizing them in what ever basic photo app/program you have on your computer to the appropriate size/pixels. That said, @British's option of using CVS is convenient if that's the route you want or need to go.
Again, @British - where do you see that Tanzania requires it no more than 90 days in advance? I think that may just be a Tauck default statement to keep it simple and in-line with Kenya.
Dogdoctor…..here is the direct quote from the Tauck page for our up committee tour
A VisaCentral visa kit may be downloaded through the VisaCentral website by clicking here. Visas for Tanzania cannot be processed more than 90 days prior to departure and the process does take several weeks to complete…..
I wish I could apply for them sooner as we are going to be out of the country until early May and we have nine visas to apply for, one of which is with a British passport. We have primed the family to get the photos taken and so on, but you know what the younger generations are like, we have been urging them to sort out their vaccines for months too.
It’s not unique to only be able to apply for visas in a specific time period, other countries are the same.
I certainly could be mistaken. But, look at the Tanzania website, not Tauck, and I think it says you can apply a year in advance.
Ok. Looked earlier and could not see any timings, maybe better for us to wait since it is for 9 and don’t want to screw up as you can’t get your money back
Ok. Here is what I found on the Tanzania application website. Perhaps I’m not interpreting this correctly, but it sounds to me like you can apply up to twelve months in advance:
U.S. citizens must apply for a multiple entry visa.
Validity and Stay Duration of Multiple Visa
Multiple Visa may be issued with a validity of maximum 12 months. However, the maximum stay duration is three months. This means, the holder of Multiple Visa cannot stay in the country for twelve (12) consecutive months. Instead, in each visit a holder may stay in the country for a maximum period of three months.
Still not clear is it, so frustrating
I have my Tanzania visa from 2022 in my hand. It was valid for one year.
The Kenyan Gov't appears to be doing a bait and switch. The president announced (relatively inexpensive) Visas would no longer be required . . . . but instead you will need an eTA, a $34 Electronic Travel Authorization! I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to get one, because Kenya has been getting a lot of blow-back from foreign governments and the travel industry, so things could change.
The government site currently says you can should apply "at least 2 weeks prior to travel" . . . "up to 3 months prior to travel."
Also, there are lookalike sites selling Visas (services), e.g. Kenya-gov.com., evisa-kenya.com, etc. Make sure you visit the official government site: https://www.etakenya.go.ke/en (a different link on the website for Kenya's Embassy in DC will also take you there)
I did a deep dive but could not find a no earlier than date to apply for a Tanzanian evisa. A number of third party sites "suggested" not too early, no earlier than 90 days. I interpret what Sealord posted as evisa is good for 90 days sometime over the 12 month period of validity. I read horror stories about period not receiving their evisa, but most were by people who waited too long. I think you should be safe if you submit your application 45 - 60 days early. American tourists are "fortunate"
they have the "privilege" of purchasing (they MUST purchase) the most expensive multi-entry visa. 
Interesting, I’ll talk to Mr. B. But, as I said, our daughter has a British passport and can apply for a single entry visa, which is $50 rather than $100. Since we are paying, that’s important, wonder if the twelve month rule is the same.
Oh, was that an Evisa SeaLord?
If you are correct, then it’s very naughty of Tauck to confuse people. As our tour only goes to Tanzania, and we were looking at the Tauck informational for there, it’s not as if it can be confused with Kenya. They have the wrong hotel info too, very bad!
I don’t know the rules for single entry visas. Tanzania does only evisas now which is causing me a problem because I have one file, a pdf of my return flight from Nairobi that should not even be required since we are leaving Tanzania by road, that will not upload. I’ve tried Safari and Chrome and I’ve scanned the file several times, and it still will not upload and I can’t proceed any further until I get it to upload. I’ve sent an email to the Tanzania embassy but I’ve not received any response. Maybe they are closed for Ramadan.
I struggled with the upload until it was small enough. Try reducing it further. Send another email and give them another day. Good luck, it’s really a pain to do.
Ramadan does not start for a few days and it’s mainly Zanzibar that is Muslim.This does not bode well.
This is our fifth trip to Africa, and I have always done the visas myself, but I think I see VisaCentral on the horizon. This is a small file I’m trying to upload, and it just will not go. The evisa is the only option, and it is not working.
OK. I figured it out. The problem was not the last file I was trying to upload, it was the previous file(s). None of the files you upload can be more than 300 kb. Primitive. Anyway, make sure you resize your uploads to meet the 300 kb max limit.
So I finished Tanzania and then did Kenya. I had to degrade the images so much for the Tanzania website that the Kenya website could not read them. It totally garbled my wife’s name. So I got on a ‘chat’ on the Kenya website and they corrected it. But, be advised, if you leave the Kenya website for any reason, when you come back you will have to start the whole application process over. It did not save anything, even though I was going to a different window and coming back.
I received my wife’s Kenya visa this morning. That’s pretty amazing since I just sent it in on Friday. Three more to go.
After four business days I have three of the four visas for the K&T. My Kenya visa has not arrived yet, and was submitted the same day but earlier than my wife’s. The apps probably went to different offices.
The rest of the story. I spent a long time on a chat line with the Kenya visa people. My Kenya visa had been approved and emailed several days ago. But, I never got it. Several more attempts were made without success. It was the same email address I used for all the visas. They finally sent me a .pdf file via the chat line, and that worked like a charm. End of the visa story. The chat line worked very well.
how did you get your e visa without issues. I have tried master card and visa....of which of called each bank and they said they unlocked it. yet still not going thru. I have contacted the middle man (paywall) GEPG and have not heard from them. banks telling me it the problem of the other end meaning tanzania and their pay system. It's a 2 hour wait if I wait and do it when I get off flight at 7 pm. figure I don't want to mess with it then. Any tips on how you got your visa or mastercard to go thru. they don't take american express i tried that too.
I don’t know for sure, but I think their server might get overloaded at times. My card did not go through, so after a couple tries I just waited until later and tried it again. It went through.
@JoWeber , your experience with Tanzania is typical. Lack of response from GePG is also typical. If you search "VISA" In the search bar above you will find a post from me laying out my experience getting Tanzania Visas recently. All I can say is mine eventually went through after about a week of trying. It's not your card, it's not your bank. The interface with Tanzania just to me seems unstable.Keep trying.