South Africa to Burkina Faso visa requirements

South African ordinary passport holders need a visa to enter Burkina Faso. There is no visa-free entry and no visa on arrival for South Africans — a visa must be obtained before travel. The simplest route is the official online eVisa at visaburkina.bf for a short tourist stay of up to 90 days. A South Africa (ZA) ordinary passport holder traveling to Burkina Faso for tourism requires a visa obtained in advance. Burkina Faso's visa policy explicitly lists South African citizens as requiring a visa prior to arrival at all times, including transit, so visa-on-arrival is not an option for them. The recommended channel is the official electronic visa portal (visaburkina.bf), launched in 2023, which lets travelers apply, upload documents (passport copy, photo, hotel reservation), and pay online without visiting a mission. The short-stay tourist eVisa permits a stay of up to 90 days; official fees are 33,000 XOF for single entry and 55,000 XOF for multiple entry, with typical processing of around 5 business days. Although Burkina Faso has announced visa-fee waivers for African nationals, in practice the official portal still required African applicants to pay processing fees as of late 2025, so travelers should be prepared to pay and treat fee-free entry as unconfirmed. Burkina Faso is not in the Schengen area, so the Schengen 90/180 rule and ETIAS do not apply. Travelers should also note the elevated security situation in Burkina Faso when planning.