Rusumo One Stop Border Post | Customs and Immigration

Everything still as described below. There is an ATM right outside of the main building. If you want to change money, there are many people before or after the border.
East Africa visa is easy to get on arrival. Took us about 2.5 hours including the scanner.

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As said before when you enter Rwanda you have to go directly at the second border post to checkout for Tanzania and check in to Rwanda. Don't stop at the first custom building.

Warning you drive on the right side of the road from the bridge. There is a little sign.

Everything is done in the same building. If you have a CPD they will stamp the checkout of Tanzania at the little gate of the entry point. There is a man in suit who knows how it works.

After that go directly at the building. All step are written in a board. Easy and clear.

First checkout Tanzania.
Second desk check in Rwanda. If you want the East African Visa they will give you a little paper with the price. You go to the custom with you little paper, they stamp in the CPD there. (they give a free tip for 15 days, you have to extend it if you stay longer)

They will give you an other paper to go to the bank and pay the 100 dollars for the visa and 1000 FrancRwandais for admin. We could pay in TSH with not a good rate (5000 TSH)
After that you go back to the Rwanda entry desk. They will put the visa on your passport.

And done! Easy. A bit long. Took us 3 hours to get out and in.

They asked if we had a drone.

When you get out of the building cars must go on the left side to be checked. It's a bit busy with truck so you have to squeeze in the lane.

Officer where not very nice, they said that they will check everything. They absolutely wanted to open bags... What we did, very slowly 😜 and after 15 minutes they said it was okay...
Again they asked for a drone or special equipment.

Little restaurant at the border.
Only one guy exchange money with a very bad rate. So be care.

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Border is open, no pcr needed. If you enter Rwanda from Tanzania. Ignore the first customs and continue over the bridge to the last customs section in Rwanda. If you need Francs, there are people exchanging money on the Tanzania side (before the bridge). On the bridge drive on the right side. Getting your exit stamp for Tanzania and getting your visa for Rwanda is all done in the the building on the Rwanda side (after the bridge). If you are on a bike, you can also register your bike for Rwanda there.

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TZ to RW, RSA citizens with CDP:
- At gate, stamped out CDP for TZ, and exit stamp for CIP/TIP. Another person tested for Ebola.
-In Hall:
1) Stamp out TZ in passport.
2) Go to RW immigration, get visa slip.
3) Go to customs to get document for visa payment. Stamped into RW in CDP.
4) Go to bank and pay for visa (card or cash).
5) Go back to immigration to get visa and entry stamp in passport.
-Drive towards exit:
1) Official search car and luggage.
2) One official asks for vehicle exit stamp under exit roof. Show CDP.
3) Last official at boom checked visa in passports and asked where we heading.
All done in 1 hour. Very pleasant!

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3h same mess as usual, Rwanda or not Rwanda..

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The Rwanda Holiday Visa is now 50$ instead of 30$ (since November 2019)! Transit Visa for 30$ (valid for 3 days) and East African for 100$ (without online application) also available. Main Hall has all necessary process Steps with clearly marked signs. ATM did not work at the time and only gives Rwanda Franc. Visa has to be paid in US Dollar. Did not find any Money Exchange office so instead had to ask some local guys. They also checked our car and luggage.

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Can buy East Africa Tourist Visa here. $100 USD. Cash only. 14-day entry card for vehicle=15,000rwf. Cash only. There's an ATM to get rwf or can exchange USD at bank there. COMESA checked by border guard at exit gate.

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I showed up and applied for the East African Visa in person, with no prior online application, and had no problems. The whole process, including getting the carnet processed by both countries took about an hour. I paid in cash for the visa, 100usd, but it was possible to use a visa card.

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It was busy but queues flowed and very helpful and in and out under one hour. Buying insurance is a bit of a walk and took another half hour and the police check vehicle more than any other country we’ve been to but still just a basic check. . The road from Tanzania to the border for the last 100 km is very bad and you average 20 km/h

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Rwanda to Tanzania (one stop building Tanzania side)
I guess we were unlucky. The Tanzania custom guy was anoying! The officer just said that we had to pay him $25. He did not explain anything. In the end we talked to two different guys who tried to explain it. We had to pay roadtax of $25,- and because it was Sunday the bank was closed and it had to be transferred with mobile money. Somebody else did that for us and we had to pay the custom guy but only got the receipt after the money was transferred. So be aware of this when you cross on a Sunday, at first it seemed ridiculous but I guess it’s legit. Roadtax was 7 days free, 25$ for 1 month and $20 for every additional month. You can also pay this in Shilling. There is an ATM in the building. Getting the Tanzania visa was painless.

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We applied for an Eastafrican Visa on the Internet and showed the approval to the Immigration officer. Somehow he did'nt have the data on the computer so we just got a new application. 100$pp, you pay at the bank on spot. Entry very easy. No search on plasticbags. We had a Comesa Insurance nobody asked about insurance but you can buy on spot.

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Tanzanian exit - exit stamp for visa and TIP. Very quick.

Rwandan entry - we paid for our EA visas online ($100 USD) and printed our confirmation at a local town. Quick and easy to get our visa.
15 day TIP was free (no carnet), no road tax charged (possibly because we have a Kenyan car), and we had comesa insurance already.

(Applying for the EA visas online isn't always successful, in many cases you receive a confirmation of application and then never receive your approval email as it gets lost in the system. My partner got his, and I didn't get mine, emailing was unsuccessful but get hold of the Rwandan immigration on FB and they will sort it).

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As described, very quick easy border crossing, perhaps the easiest I’ve experienced in Africa yet! Took around 30 mins, although it was very quiet on a Saturday afternoon.

We have UK passports and a carnet, and already bought COMESA insurance in Tanzania. We applied and paid for the East Africa Tourist Visa in advance online. We showed the confirmation letter on our phone as we hadn’t been able to print.

All very easy and we didn’t need any cash at all. They seemed amazingly organised and professional, and the building was clean and smart. Very unlike most other border posts I’ve experienced in Africa!

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From TZ to RWA:
Everything perfect described. We just want to add, that if you have a carnet and don't need a TIP, you don't need money at the border except the USD for the VISA. But you don't have to change in RWF at the border.
They also have a sign, that they would take credit card there, but we don't know if it works because we had the USD cash.

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+250783033502 I got my COMESA and Rwanda insurance at rusumo, Rwanda side by the person whose number I have given . I paid 45000 rwf including both the insurance... it all happened in 15 mins .
if you want to exchange Tanzania shilling to Rwanda Frank... do it at the Rwanda side ... they give better rates ...

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One Stop Border Post meaning you do everything in the Building on the Rwanda Side if entering Rwanda.

Inside the Building we did the following:
1) Security Check, nobody was there.
2) Passports got stamped out from Tanzania.
3) Applied for a Rwanda Visa as we didn't want to activate our East Africa Visa (we'll have to use that when we come back from the DRC). He said he can give us a Transit Visa with 30 Days... :) So we took it. It costs 30 USD pp (German Passports).
4) Stamped out TIP at Tanzania Customs. No Fees.
5) Stamped in Carnet de Passage at Rwanda Customs. Also got a Clearance Paper that we had to show at the Bank. No Fees.
6) Went to the Bank to pay the 30 USD pp for the Visa.
7) Returned to Rwanda Immigration, Visas got stamped in.
8) Went outside and got checked once more before we could leave the Border Post (they had a quick Look inside the Car and checked Documents. We already had a COMESA Yellow Card from Tanzania).
All in all it took us 1,5 Hours.

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This is a one-stop border crossing from Tanzania to Rwanda. If you are traveling Rwanda to Tanzania then cross the bridge to Tanzania for your border crossing. Very straight forward. Enter the main hall and Start with officials on your left to stamp out of Tanzania. Next office stamp into Rwanda. Cost for British visa US $30 paid in US dollars (crazy!). We don't have a carnet so we import out motorbikes easily and pay 15000 Rwanda Francs per bike. Finally if you have pets the next building up the hill is Dept Agricultural to check pet documents, but beforehand go to www.minagri.gov.rw to register with e-rabis because you need this document at the border. You can get money from atm in Rusumo, Tanzania, then change it to Rwanda Francs and US $. There is no atm on the Rwanda side and they'll send you back to Tanzania to get the money.

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