Visa policy of Sierra Leone

Visitors to Sierra Leone must obtain an e-Visa unless they are citizens of one of the visa-exempt countries or citizens who may obtain a visa on arrival.

Visa policy map

  Sierra Leone

  Visa not required

  Visa on arrival / eVisa

  eVisa

Visa exemption

Ordinary passports

Citizens of the following countries may enter Sierra Leone without a visa:^[1]

Benin  Burkina Faso  Cape Verde  Côte d'Ivoire  Gambia  Ghana  Guinea

Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali  Niger  Nigeria  Senegal  Togo

Date of visa changes

Visa-free 30 April 1980: ECOWAS: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo[2] Visa on arrival 5 September 2019: BRICS countries, Commonwealth countries, European Union countries, Gulf Cooperation Council countries; Bolivia, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Macau, Norway, Samoa, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam[3]

Non-ordinary passports

• A maximum stay of 1 month without a visa is allowed for holders of diplomatic, service and public affairs passports issued to citizens of China.
• A maximum stay of 1 month without a visa is allowed for holders of diplomatic and service passports issued to citizens of Iran.
• A visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and service passports was signed with Rwanda in August 2019, but it has yet to be ratified.^[4]

Future changes

Sierra Leone has signed visa exemption agreements with the following countries, but they have not yet entered into force:

Country	Passports	Agreement signed on
Saint Kitts and Nevis[5]	All	February 2017
Kazakhstan[6]	Diplomatic, service	February 2017

Visa on arrival

The government of Sierra Leone began issuing visas on arrival on 5 September 2019.^[7]
Citizens of the following countries may obtain a visa on arrival (valid for 1 month) at Freetown International Airport, Jendema (bordering Liberia) and Gbalamuya (bordering Guinea) for a fee 80 USD (unless otherwise noted):^[8]

African Union member states (except ECOWAS, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia)^1 All European Union member states  Antigua and Barbuda  Australia  Bahamas^2  Bahrain  Bangladesh  Barbados^2  Belize  Bolivia  Brazil  Brunei  Cambodia  Canada  China  Dominica  Fiji^2  Grenada  Guyana  India  Indonesia  Iran  Israel  Jamaica^2  Japan  Kiribati  Kuwait  Lebanon  Liechtenstein  Macao  Malaysia^2  Nauru  New Zealand  Norway  Oman  Pakistan  Papua New Guinea  Qatar  Russia  Samoa  Saint Kitts and Nevis^2  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Saudi Arabia  Singapore^2  Solomon Islands  South Korea  Sri Lanka^2   Switzerland  Thailand  Timor-Leste  Tonga  Trinidad and Tobago^2  Turkey  Tuvalu  United Arab Emirates  United Kingdom  United States  Vanuatu  Vietnam

_{1 - Citizens of Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and Mauritius are issued a free visa on arrival. Other eligible African Union citizens are charged 25 USD for a visa issued on arrival.
2 - Free visa on arrival}

Only Timatic lists Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan as countries whose citizens are eligible for visa on arrival, while the official public notice of the Sierra Leone Immigration Service makes no mention of those countries.^[7]

Electronic Visa (e-Visa)

Citizens of other countries must obtain an e-Visa.^[9]

See also

• Visa requirements for Sierra Leonean citizens

References

1. "Visa and passport". Timatic. International Air Transport Association through Emirates. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
2. "Treaty Establishing the Economic Community of West African States - Protocol A/P1/5/79 on Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Establishment". Archived from the original on 2018-11-21. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
3. @AfricaTradeLink (6 September 2019). "Sierra Leone has announced new Visa on Arrival policy. Visa is free for ECOWAS @ecowas_cedeao member states & Visa…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
4. @onduhungirehe (5 July 2019). "Signing bilateral agreements with #SierraLeone🇸🇱, in the margins of the working visit of @PresidentBio in #Rwanda🇷🇼…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
5. "Saint Kitts and Nevis and Sierra Leone commit to free movement of citizens". 15 February 2017.
6. [1]
7. Abdul Rashid Thomas (5 September 2019). "Sierra Leone takes a step closer to become a popular tourist destination". The Sierra Leone Telegraph. Sierra Leone Telegraph. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
8. "Visa on Arrival". Sierra Leone Immigration Department. Government of Sierra Leone. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
9. "Sierra Leone eVisa".