What you need to enter Ethiopia with a Surinamese passport
Surinamese citizens need an electronic visa for Ethiopia, applied for online before the trip.
- Minimum passport validity
- 6 months
Why is this passport validity required? →
Last verified: 23 September 2026
Verified practical details
The visa is applied for before your trip, and the procedure is Immigration and Citizenship Service electronic visa (e-visa). Here are the verified details:
Authorisation system
Immigration and Citizenship Service electronic visa (e-visa)
The tourist visa is requested before travel on the official Immigration Department website. Although a visa at the border is possible, Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that airlines quite often demand it before boarding. The tourist visa is single entry for 30 days: Ethiopia no longer issues multiple-entry visas, so one is needed for each entry. No visas are issued at land borders. Working as an aid worker or volunteer, doing business or filming requires the specific visa: entering on a tourist visa for those purposes can lead to heavy fines, expulsion or prison, and the visa type cannot be changed once inside.
Apply on the official site →Visa, e-Visa, or electronic authorisation? What's the difference →
Required documents
- Passport valid for at least six months.
- Visa obtained before travel (online), rather than relying on a visa at the border.
- Since May 2025 the authorities have at times required prior authorisation from the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to travel to Tigray or Afar.
- Travellers arriving from some countries with mpox cases must first complete an Ethiopian Ministry of Health survey.
Transit rules
Transit through Addis Ababa airport needs no visa as long as you stay in the international zone; if you have to cross the border to collect luggage and check in again, a visa is required. Extensions must be requested before the visa expires, at the immigration office in Arat Kilo (Addis Ababa), for about 100 US dollars for a tourist visa and 200 for a business visa, and are not granted automatically.
More Ethiopia rules
They don't depend on your passport, so they are on the Ethiopia page:
Official portal: https://www.evisa.gov.et/. Destination data verified on 23 September 2026. Sources: exteriores.gob.es (travel advice of Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation for Ethiopia, updated 23 September 2026: visa types, Embassy of Ethiopia in Paris, end of multiple entries, land borders, authorisation for Tigray and Afar, extension at Arat Kilo, overstay fine, airport transit, vaccinations, currency, areas to avoid); gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ethiopia (UK Government: 30-day single entry visa, USD 30 daily fine, birr and cash declaration limits, mpox survey); evisa.gov.et (official e-visa portal); who.int (WHO) and sanidad.gob.es (Spain's Ministry of Health, "Listado de países"): yellow fever; data.unesco.org (World Heritage List). All checked on 23 September 2026.
Travel insurance for Ethiopia
It isn't listed as mandatory for this entry, but without insurance, medical care during the trip can get expensive.
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Things to see and do in Ethiopia
Tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips, most with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
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This pair in context
In the other direction, citizens of Ethiopia need an electronic travel authorisation to enter Suriname. See the Ethiopia → Suriname page.
All 12 passports from South America that VisaRadar tracks need a prior authorisation or a visa on arrival to enter Ethiopia. Same result as Suriname: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.
With a passport from Suriname, in the rest of Eastern Africa you can enter Mauritius, Seychelles and Zambia visa-free; you need a prior authorisation or a visa on arrival for Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe; you need a visa for Eritrea.
A passport from Suriname ranks 120 of 199 in the VisaRadar passport ranking and reaches 69 of 198 destinations without applying for a visa in advance.
Counts from the same requirements matrix behind this page's verdict, using the UN M49 subregions.
Frequently asked questions
Do Surinamese citizens need a visa for Ethiopia?
Yes, but it's processed online before you travel (e-visa), no consulate visit required.
What minimum passport validity is required?
Passport valid for at least six months.
What currency is used in Ethiopia?
Ethiopian Birr (ETB).
What do Surinamese passport holders need for the countries near Ethiopia?
With a passport from Suriname, in the rest of Eastern Africa you can enter Mauritius, Seychelles and Zambia visa-free; you need a prior authorisation or a visa on arrival for Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe; you need a visa for Eritrea.
Related pages
See Ethiopia requirements for other passports →
Informational only. Always verify requirements with the official embassy or consulate before you travel.