Last updated: January 2025

First things to consider when planning a trip to Angola relate to your visa. Depending on your nationality and the purpose of your visit, you might be qualified for either a traditional Angola visa or for the more convenient option, which is the Angola eVisa. Major differences between the Angola Visa and the Angola eVisa are explained in great detail below.

What is an Angola Visa?

An Angola visa is the conventional form of visa provided by the government, meant for persons to actually visit an embassy or consulate in person in order to present their documents and be interviewed in person. The nature or categories may include, tourist, business, or work visas, depending on the purpose of your travel. Typically, an Angola visa will be stamped or attached inside your passport after its actual approval.

The key features of Angola sticker visa include:

• Application Process: Applications are to be made in person at an embassy or consulate in your home country.
• Types of Visas: Includes tourist, business, work, and residence visas, among others.
• Processing Time: Getting the visa will take several days or even weeks, depending on the workload of the embassy concerned and the type applied for.
• Cost: The cost will vary depending on the type of visa being obtained and your country of origin.
• Complexity: Involves form filling, attaching passport photos, travel itineraries, invitation letters concerning the purpose of visit-in cases of business or family visits-and even proof of financial capability in some cases.

What is an Angolan eVisa on Arrival?

The Angola eVisa is an electronic visa adopted by the government in a bid to make things easier for tourists and business people from eligible countries. It provides an online application platform available anywhere in the world; the visa applications are also sent electronically. This class of visa is intended for short-term stays, such as tourism, business, or for medical purposes, and is valid for entry at designated points of entry.

Key Features include:

• Application Process: Fully online, which requires attaching digital copies of the required documents such as your passport, travel itinerary, and a recent photo.
• Eligibility: Not all nationalities are qualified for eVisa; hence, you will need to look into Angola's list of eligible countries for qualification.
• Visa Types: Mainly tourist and business visa, with limited options on other visa types.
• Processing Time: Normally, this is faster than the usual or standard visa. It usually takes 3 to 5 business days.
• Cost: This is generally cheaper compared to the traditional visa; however, this cost depends on the nationality of the applicant and the type of visa applied for. 
• Convenience: No need to visit any embassies or come for an interview in person. The approval of the eVisa is sent via email to the applicant, and the visa will be stamped at Angolan arrival.

Key Differences Between Angola Visa and Angola eVisa

Advantages of the Angola eVisa on Arrival

The Angola eVisa has a number of advantages compared to the traditional visa, which makes it very appealing to eligible travelers: 

• Convenience: the whole process is online, and you can apply for an eVisa from anywhere, provided there is access to the internet. You will not need to make any appointments or visit an embassy.

• Speed: Processing times are often faster, enabling you to plan your journey on time. For many nationals, the eVisa approval is usually done within just 3 days.

• Cost-Effectiveness: eVisas tend to be cheaper, as there are no consular fees involved, and also, no trips to an embassy.

• Less Documentation: The documentation for the application is fewer than if you were applying for a normal visa, which again makes the process painless to go through.

Ports of Entry of Angola eVisa on Arrival

Once pre-visa is approved, visitors can get a visa on arrival at the following ports of entry in Angola:

• Quatro de Fevereiro Airport (Luanda): This is the major international airport serving the capital city of Angola, Luanda, and is the most frequently used port of entry by air for travel to the country.
• Lubango Airport: It serves the city of Lubango, southern Angola.
• Massabi, on the border with the Republic of the Congo, is one border crossing between Angola and the Republic of the Congo and one of the most strategic entry points for people traveling from that country into Angola.
• Luau (bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo): This is an entry point along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, important for travel between the two countries by road.
• Curoca: This is the entry point on the Angola-Namibia border; it is mainly used by people in the southern regions of Angola.
• Calai: This is the entry port at the borderline with Namibia and is important but a bit smaller for travel into Angolan territory by Namibians.
• Katwitwi is further west, on the border with Namibia, providing more options to cross when coming from Namibia.

Benefits of the Traditional Angola Visa

Although the eVisa of Angola is gaining momentum, this type of document also has some advantages over the traditional one:

1. Wider Availability: This is because all nationalities can get a traditional visa as long as they fulfill the requirements.
2. Variety of Visa Types: With traditional visas, you can apply for a wider range of purposes such as work, study, residency, which makes them more adequate for longer-term stays and specialized ones. 
3. No Entry Restrictions: You are allowed, with a traditional visa, to enter Angola through any official border post or airport. 

Which to Choose?

The choice of whether to get an Angola visa or an eVisa would depend on your nationality, the purposes of your trip, and your planned period of stay. Here are some basic considerations that can help you in making the decision:

Apply for an e-Visa if:

• You qualify for one, and you are going to Angola either for tourism or business.
• You want a faster, more convenient, and preferably less costly way to get a visa.
• You will be in Angola for a short-term period of time, usually 30 days or even less.

Apply for a Traditional Visa in case:

• Your country is not in the list of visa-free countries.
• You plan to work, study, or live in Angola for a long period.
• You want to get a class of visa that is currently unavailable via the eVisa system.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main differences between the Angola Visa and the Angola E-Visa on Arrival?

Angola Visa: This is the traditional type of visa that one gets from an Angolan consulate or embassy before traveling. The application and processing must be in person.

Angola E-Visa on Arrival: It allows visitors to apply for a provisional pre-departure clearance online. The applicants will be issued a visa upon arrival in Angola at select ports of entry.

Which one takes less time to obtain?

Angola Visa: It generally takes a few days or even weeks, depending on the different embassies and consulates for processing.

Angola E-Visa on Arrival: This is an online pre-visa application, and it gets processed in a few days, thus enabling quicker entry than the normal visa process,

For which one am I supposed to personally visit the embassy?

Angola Visa: With the Angola Visa, a personal visit is required at the embassy or consulate for the purpose of submitting the documents or attending interviews or biometrics.

Angola E-Visa on Arrival:The application for an E-Visa is web-based, and one would collect the visa upon arrival, which, by definition, would not require one to make so many trips to the embassy.

Are there designated entry points for the Angola E-Visa on Arrival?

Angola Visa persons with a regular visa can enter at any international border/airport while the Angola E-Visa on Arrival allows entry only at designated entry points, which include Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda and various border crossings with neighboring countries.

Which is better for frequent travelers or for people who stay longer?

Angola Visa - This would be better to apply for when one travels for a longer period of time or gets to enter the country more frequently because there can be visas that allow multiple entries.

Angola E-Visa on Arrival: This is more appropriate for short visits, such as tourism or business trips, as it may have a shorter validity period and normally allows entry only once.

Disclaimer: The information on this page is for general guidance and subject to change. For current information, refer to the official websites before lodging an application. Please note that this page was last updated in October 2024; thus, some visa rules and traveling norms might change.