Bosnia and Herzegovina: visa and entry rules

Bosnia and Herzegovina's borders: every crossing point

Bosnia and Herzegovina's land border crossings, neighbour by neighbour:

With Croatia: Izacic near Bihac, Bosanska Gradiska, Bosanski Brod, Brcko, Klobuk — Metkovic on the way to the sea.
With Serbia: Raca on the Belgrade route, Zvornik, Karakaj, Visegrad.
With Montenegro: Scepan Polje by the Tara canyon, Vilusi — Klobuk, Hum.

There are more Croatian crossings than any others, and the main tourist flow to Mostar and Sarajevo goes through them as well.

Neum is an outlet to the sea a little over twenty kilometres long, and the Split — Dubrovnik road crosses the border twice. Since the Peljesac bridge opened the Croatian transit can be bypassed, but the Bosnian corridor itself has not gone anywhere.

The Serbian route is the one people take from Belgrade, and it is also used in the opposite direction to renew the Serbian thirty-day allowance.

Driving to Bosnia and Herzegovina

A Green Card is mandatory, and it is the only policy accepted.

There are few toll roads — only the A1 motorway on the stretch running north from Sarajevo is tolled.

The roads are mountainous and winding, especially on the Sarajevo — Mostar route; the estimated travel time is worth increasing against what the navigation app says.

The road along the Croatian coast crosses the Bosnian Neum corridor, which means leaving Croatia and entering it again — two borders in twenty minutes.

Travelling to Bosnia and Herzegovina with a pet

A microchip is mandatory, ISO standard, implanted before the rabies vaccination.

Rabies vaccination — no later than 21 days before entry.

A rabies antibody titre test is required only for pets from a country not on the EU's approved list. The US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK are on the list, so this does not apply to pets travelling from those countries; Russia is one of the countries it does apply to. The test is done no earlier than 30 days after the vaccination.

A veterinary certificate is drawn up before the trip and endorsed by the state veterinary service.

There is no quarantine if the paperwork is complete.

Overstaying your visa in Bosnia and Herzegovina

What you have to count is the sixty-day window, and that is exactly where people get it wrong: someone is sure that every exit gives a fresh thirty days, while the window keeps running.

The fine is issued on departure.

The lack of registration is a separate offence with its own fine.

An entry ban is imposed for a substantial overstay.