Gambia entry requirements, by passport
Gambia visa requirements at a glance: 130 of the 198 passports VisaRadar tracks can enter the Gambia without arranging a visa beforehand: visa-free, with a visa on arrival, or with an electronic travel authorisation. The other 68 must obtain a visa before they travel.
Which passport do you hold?
We'll take you straight to the entry requirements for the Gambia for your nationality.
What we've verified for the Gambia
Beyond the yes/no matrix, we've checked these against an official primary source (last checked 17 September 2026). The specifics depend on your nationality: open your passport's row in the table for the detail that applies to you.
- Entry fee: 20 USD
- Required documents (4)
- Required vaccinations
- Health-insurance rules
- Customs limits (cash, alcohol, tobacco)
- Overstay penalties
- Stay and transit rules
Sources: gid.gov.gm (Gambia Immigration Department: "Entry Requirements" and "Visa": list of countries with a visa exemption agreement, Spain included; disembarkation procedures, disembarkation card, biometric enrolment and the 1,000 dalasi / US$20 Securiport fee; the return-ticket requirement; the fact that a visa does not guarantee entry; "Residential Permit": the 56-day rule for non-ECOWAS nationals and the fact that overstaying is an offence); gambia.gov.gm (Government of The Gambia portal; "Immigration and Visas": visa exemption of up to 90 days for citizens of the EU, the UK, the Commonwealth and ECOWAS; passport and yellow fever requirements by country of origin and by transit of more than 12 hours); gra.gm (Gambia Revenue Authority; customs FAQ: duty to declare currency above US$10,000, excise table for tobacco and alcohol); exteriores.gob.es (Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs travel advice for Gambia: passport validity over 6 months, the exemption described as covering stays under 28 days through Banjul airport, overland entry from Senegal without a visa since August 2020, fees of 20 euros/dollars on arrival and departure, yellow fever by country of origin, poor medical services and the advice to be cautious and avoid road travel after 6 p.m.); tiered extension fees circulated by corporate immigration firms citing the Department's instruction (not confirmed on an official Gambian page); whc.unesco.org (World Heritage List) (checked 17 September 2026).
This table summarises the exact entry mechanism for every passport we track. The difference between entering visa-free, with an electronic authorisation, with an e-Visa, or with a traditional visa is explained in visa, e-Visa, and electronic authorisation: what's the difference. How we verify every row before publishing it is on methodology.
Base entry rules refreshed 2 November 2026. Published: 18 September 2026.
| Passport | Requirement | Max. stay |
|---|---|---|
| Visa-free | ||
| Albania | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Algeria | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Andorra | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Angola | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Australia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Austria | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Bahamas | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Bangladesh | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Barbados | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Belgium | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Belize | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Benin | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Botswana | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Brunei | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Bulgaria | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Burkina Faso | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Burundi | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Cameroon | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Canada | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Cape Verde | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Central African Republic | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Chad | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Comoros | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Croatia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Cyprus | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Czech Republic | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Denmark | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Djibouti | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Dominica | Visa-free | 90 days |
| DR Congo | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Egypt | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Equatorial Guinea | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Eritrea | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Estonia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Eswatini | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Ethiopia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Fiji | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Finland | Visa-free | 90 days |
| France | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Gabon | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Germany | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Ghana | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Greece | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Grenada | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Guinea | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Guinea-Bissau | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Guyana | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Hungary | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Iceland | Visa-free | 90 days |
| India | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Indonesia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Ireland | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Italy | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Ivory Coast | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Jamaica | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Kenya | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Kiribati | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Kosovo | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Latvia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Lesotho | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Liberia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Libya | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Liechtenstein | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Lithuania | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Luxembourg | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Madagascar | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Malawi | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Malaysia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Maldives | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Mali | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Malta | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Mauritania | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Mauritius | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Monaco | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Montenegro | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Morocco | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Mozambique | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Namibia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Nauru | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Nepal | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Netherlands | Visa-free | 90 days |
| New Zealand | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Niger | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Nigeria | Visa-free | 90 days |
| North Macedonia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Norway | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Pakistan | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Papua New Guinea | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Poland | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Portugal | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Republic of the Congo | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Romania | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Rwanda | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Saint Lucia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Samoa | Visa-free | 90 days |
| San Marino | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Sao Tome and Principe | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Senegal | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Seychelles | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Sierra Leone | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Singapore | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Slovakia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Slovenia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Solomon Islands | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Somalia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| South Africa | Visa-free | 90 days |
| South Sudan | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Spain | Visa-free | 28 days |
| Sri Lanka | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Sudan | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Sweden | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Switzerland | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Tanzania | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Togo | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Tonga | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Tunisia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Tuvalu | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Uganda | Visa-free | 90 days |
| United Arab Emirates | Visa-free | 90 days |
| United Kingdom | Visa-free | 90 days |
| United States | Visa on arrival | — |
| Vanuatu | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Vatican | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Zambia | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Zimbabwe | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Visa required | ||
| Afghanistan | Visa required | — |
| Argentina | Visa required | — |
| Armenia | Visa required | — |
| Azerbaijan | Visa required | — |
| Bahrain | Visa required | — |
| Belarus | Visa required | — |
| Bhutan | Visa required | — |
| Bolivia | Visa required | — |
| Brazil | Visa required | — |
| Cambodia | Visa required | — |
| Chile | Visa required | — |
| China | Visa required | — |
| Colombia | Visa required | — |
| Costa Rica | Visa required | — |
| Cuba | Visa required | — |
| Dominican Republic | Visa required | — |
| Ecuador | Visa required | — |
| El Salvador | Visa required | — |
| Georgia | Visa required | — |
| Guatemala | Visa required | — |
| Haiti | Visa required | — |
| Honduras | Visa required | — |
| Hong Kong | Visa required | — |
| Iran | Visa required | — |
| Iraq | Visa required | — |
| Israel | Visa required | — |
| Japan | Visa required | — |
| Jordan | Visa required | — |
| Kazakhstan | Visa required | — |
| Kuwait | Visa required | — |
| Kyrgyzstan | Visa required | — |
| Laos | Visa required | — |
| Lebanon | Visa required | — |
| Macao | Visa required | — |
| Marshall Islands | Visa required | — |
| Mexico | Visa required | — |
| Micronesia | Visa required | — |
| Moldova | Visa required | — |
| Mongolia | Visa required | — |
| Myanmar | Visa required | — |
| Nicaragua | Visa required | — |
| North Korea | Visa required | — |
| Oman | Visa required | — |
| Palau | Visa required | — |
| Palestine | Visa required | — |
| Panama | Visa required | — |
| Paraguay | Visa required | — |
| Peru | Visa required | — |
| Philippines | Visa required | — |
| Qatar | Visa required | — |
| Russia | Visa required | — |
| Saudi Arabia | Visa required | — |
| Serbia | Visa required | — |
| South Korea | Visa required | — |
| Suriname | Visa required | — |
| Syria | Visa required | — |
| Taiwan | Visa required | — |
| Tajikistan | Visa required | — |
| Thailand | Visa required | — |
| Timor-Leste | Visa required | — |
| Turkey | Visa required | — |
| Turkmenistan | Visa required | — |
| Ukraine | Visa required | — |
| Uruguay | Visa required | — |
| Uzbekistan | Visa required | — |
| Venezuela | Visa required | — |
| Vietnam | Visa required | — |
| Yemen | Visa required | — |
Gambia rules for every passport
Vaccinations, customs limits and penalties are the same for every traveller.
Vaccinations
- Yellow fever: required of travellers aged 9 months and over arriving from a country with risk of transmission or who have transited for more than 12 hours through an airport in one of them. Gambia is in the endemic zone and vaccination is strongly recommended.
- Not an entry requirement, but worth knowing: malaria is present throughout the country and medical services are poor; Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends taking out international medical insurance with repatriation cover.
Customs limits
- Cash
- Currency above 10,000 US dollars or the equivalent must be declared to customs, following the corresponding customs procedure (Gambia Revenue Authority). The national currency is the dalasi; euros, dollars and pounds sterling are commonly accepted.
- Alcohol
- The Gambia Revenue Authority publishes the excise rates on alcohol (100 dalasi per litre of beer, 150 per litre of wine, 175 per litre of spirits), but not a citable traveller allowance. The field is left without a figure rather than presenting a travel-industry number as official.
- Tobacco
- Same caveat as alcohol: the Revenue Authority publishes the excise duty (20 dalasi per pack of cigarettes, 330 per kilo of unmanufactured tobacco), not a traveller allowance.
Overstay penalties
The Gambia Immigration Department puts it bluntly: it is an offence for any non-Gambian to stay in the country beyond the period granted to them. Anyone still in The Gambia when their first authorised period expires must go to a designated immigration office to extend their stay. For non-ECOWAS nationals, cumulative presence of more than 56 days in twelve months triggers an extension fee which, according to the instruction circulated through specialist immigration firms, runs from 200 dollars (up to 90 days) to 1,000 (90 to 180) and 2,000 (180 to 365); we could not confirm those amounts on an official Gambian page. The consequences of not regularising range from a fine to detention and removal with a re-entry ban.
Grounds for refusal
- Not presenting the international yellow fever vaccination certificate when arriving from a country with risk of transmission or after transiting more than 12 hours through one.
- Not showing visible means of sustenance for the stay.
- Not carrying a return or onward ticket: the Immigration Department expressly requires it of first-time travellers.
- A passport with less than six months' validity.
- Refusing the biometric enrolment (fingerprints and iris) of the Integrated Immigration Control System or the Securiport fee on arrival.
- Holding a valid visa but not meeting the remaining conditions: the Department itself warns that a visa does not guarantee entry, which is decided by the immigration officer at the port of arrival.
Travel insurance
Each destination decides whether to require insurance, and some check it at the border. If yours does, make sure the policy covers the whole trip.
See IATI's international site →IATI sells its policies according to the country you live in. Where do you live?
If your country isn't listed, try IATI's international site.
This is an affiliate link: if you buy through it, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Do you need a different visa for Banjul, Serekunda, or Brikama?
No. Gambia sets the requirements, so entering through Banjul asks for the same as entering through Serekunda or Brikama. If you're arriving overland or through a small border post, check that separately: some countries apply their own rules to specific crossings.
What does change is where you file the application when a visa is needed, and that depends on the country you live in rather than the city you're travelling to.
What draws travellers to the Gambia
The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa and fits entirely into a strip along both banks of the river it is named after. That geography is its appeal: the river is travelled by boat from Banjul and packs in mangroves, savannah and one of the highest bird densities on the continent: more than 500 species in a territory the size of Devon: which has made the country a classic destination for European birdwatchers. Kunta Kinteh Island, formerly James Island, with the remains of the fort and the associated sites upriver, has been a World Heritage site since 2003 for its role in the Atlantic slave trade and for the novel "Roots", which made it famous. The second and last site on the list is the Stone Circles of Senegambia (2006), funerary megaliths spread across The Gambia and Senegal, with Wassu the most visited group. Add to that the Atlantic coast beaches (Kololi, Kotu, Bakau) which sustain British and Scandinavian winter tourism, the Abuko forest reserve on the edge of the capital, and Janjanbureh, the old colonial post upriver. Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises travelling with caution, avoiding road journeys after six in the evening and taking out medical insurance with repatriation cover, because health services are poor.
Sources for this section: whc.unesco.org (World Heritage List: 2 sites in The Gambia: Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites, 2003, and Stone Circles of Senegambia, 2006, shared with Senegal); Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs travel advice for The Gambia (caution, night road travel, medical services). Accessed 17 September 2026.
Things to see and do in the Gambia
Tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips, most with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Seeing the featured activities here needs advertising cookies. In the meantime, you can open them directly:
Browse activities on GetYourGuide →This is an affiliate link: if you buy through it, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Where can Gambia passport holders travel visa-free? →
Informational only. Always verify requirements with the official embassy or consulate before you travel.