Eritrea: visa and entry rules
What you need to get in, how long you may stay, and what an overstay costs
Eritrea's borders: every crossing point
Airports 1
Eritrea's land border crossings, neighbour by neighbour:
With Ethiopia: the crossings opened after the reconciliation of 2018, but the regime then changed; traffic is unstable.
With Sudan: Teseney in the west. The route is affected by the conflict in Sudan.
With Djibouti: the border is closed because of an unresolved territorial dispute.
By sea — the ports of Massawa and Assab on the Red Sea.
The main way in is Asmara International Airport; there are few flights, most of them via Cairo, Dubai and Addis Ababa.
The practical conclusion: land routes into the country are unreliable, and almost everyone arrives by air.
Driving to Eritrea
Check the period for which a car is allowed into Eritrea, and the carnet question, case by case. The rules change, and a general figure for the region will not help here.
Insurance is bought locally.
An International Driving Permit is required.
Travel outside the capital requires a separate permit for each destination — this is the main restriction on moving around the country.
Travelling to Eritrea with a pet
An international veterinary certificate is required, endorsed by the state veterinary service of the country you are leaving.
A rabies vaccination must be valid on the date of entry.
An import permit is arranged in advance.
Ask your country's veterinary service for the list of documents needed to bring an animal into Eritrea, and put the same question to your carrier. Any single missing item means the animal will not be let in.
When the situation is unstable, veterinary services work erratically, and the paperwork takes an unpredictable amount of time.
Overstaying your visa in Eritrea
A fine is charged for exceeding your permitted stay and is paid on departure.
Exactly how much will be decided when you leave. The amount cannot be confirmed in advance in Eritrea, as the rates change. Keep cash on you and do not book a tight connection.
When the situation is unstable, an overstay is more dangerous than usual: document checks are more frequent and the consequences less predictable.
Extensions are arranged in advance, before your permitted stay runs out.
What else to check before you go
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Entry rules change faster than anything else on this site, and they change without notice. We cross-check every page against several sources and state the date it was verified, but that does not replace the main step: before you travel, check an official source — the country’s consulate, its immigration service or its e-visa portal. Especially if more than a couple of months have passed since our check.