The government will impose visa requirements on New Zealand and Denmark due to their lack of reciprocal visa exemptions.
Namibia is set to start implementing visas on arrival for citizens of countries that have not reciprocated the country’s exemption gestures from 1 April 2025.
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security Lucia Witbooi said Namibia has expanded its visa requirements to encompass 33 countries, following a government review that added two additional nations to the list.
“The entry requirements in respect of Namibia include, but are not limited to, a return ticket, medical insurance, proof of means of sustenance while in Namibia, not wanted by any country for criminal activities and passport valid for at least six months on the date of arrival. The implementation date has been set to commence on the 1st of April 2025. As before, we assure the Namibian nation that all decisions are made to further the interest of Namibian nationals,” she said.
Thus, she added that the government will always look at how Namibians are treated elsewhere for the system to take reciprocal measures where engagement has not yielded the desired outcome.
This comes as earlier this year, Namibia resolved to introduce entry visa requirements for countries that have not reciprocated its visa exemption policy. Namibia had visa exemptions for around 55 nations, with only 18 of those having reciprocated the exemptions.
Notably, 18 countries such as Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and others will remain unaffected by the changes, as they have reciprocal visa agreements with Namibia.
However, only 31 countries were impacted by the new visa requirements.
These include nations such as Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Uzbekistan.
The Ministry said to streamline arrival processes, the visa-on-arrival form will be merged with the arrival form, and departure forms will be discontinued.
