Mali entry requirements, by passport

Vaccinations

• Yellow fever: compulsory. The international vaccination certificate is already required when applying for the visa and the authorities may also ask for it at the border. It does not depend on where you are travelling from: Mali requires it across the board.
• Not an entry requirement, but worth knowing: malaria is present throughout the country all year round and medical services are very limited outside Bamako.

Customs limits

Cash

Mali is part of UEMOA and the CFA franc zone (fixed parity, €1 = 655.957 FCFA). Under Regulation No. 09/2010/CM/UEMOA on external financial relations, a non-resident traveller must declare in writing the currency and other means of payment they carry when it exceeds the equivalent of 1,000,000 CFA francs (~€1,525), both on entry and on exit. The BCEAO has proposed raising that threshold to 2,000,000 CFA francs as part of the regulation's revision: until that is confirmed in force, the applicable figure remains the one million.

Alcohol

No official alcohol allowance published by Mali's General Directorate of Customs on a citable page was found. The field is left without a figure rather than presenting a travel-industry number as official.

Tobacco

Same caveat as alcohol: no official Malian customs tobacco limit was found.

Overstay penalties

Overstaying is a criminal offence under Article 20 of Law 04-058 of 25 November 2004: 3 months to 3 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 to 500,000 CFA francs (roughly €305 to €762 at the CFA franc's fixed parity), or only one of the two penalties, for anyone who stays or settles in Mali without the appropriate authorisation or once the period that authorisation set has expired. Short of that, Article 19 allows the stay visa to be cancelled or the resident card withdrawn for failing to meet the law's conditions. For someone who enters or re-enters despite a ban already served on them, Article 22 raises the penalty to 3 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 to 1,000,000 CFA francs. Worth knowing too: Article 12 requires every foreign national over 18 to obtain a temporary stay authorisation three months after entering the country.

Grounds for refusal

Apply to: Visa-free, Visa on arrival

• Not presenting the international yellow fever vaccination certificate, required both when applying for the visa and, where applicable, at the border.
• A passport with less than six months' validity on the date of travel.
• Carrying out journalism, photography or filming without the special authorisation requested together with the visa.

Apply to: Visa required

• Turning up at the border without a visa: Mali does not issue visas on arrival and anyone arriving without one faces a non-admission procedure.
• Not presenting the international yellow fever vaccination certificate, required both when applying for the visa and, where applicable, at the border.
• A passport with less than six months' validity on the date of travel.
• An incomplete visa file: missing form, missing the two white-background photos, missing the return booking or the accommodation proof or invitation letter.
• Not attending in person: the Embassy requires the applicant's physical presence and an appointment to process the file.
• Carrying out journalism, photography or filming without the special authorisation requested together with the visa.

What to do if you are refused entry →