Tanzania’s official eVisa costs $50. You apply at visa.immigration.go.tz, the Tanzania Immigration Department’s own portal. Fill in your details, pay the government fee, wait a few days for approval, and you’re done.

The problem is finding that portal. Search “Tanzania eVisa” or “Tanzania visa online” right now and the first results are frequently not the government. They’re third-party sites — tanzaniavisas.org, africantravelling.com (which also runs as ta.africantravelling.com), and others with government-adjacent names and designs — charging $130 to $150 or more for a form that costs $50 directly. Some charge a “service fee” on top of the government fee. africantravelling.com, according to documented traveler reports, was billing €75 in service charges on top of the €44 government fee — totaling around $130 for an application worth $50 at the source.

The Embassy of Tanzania in Tokyo has issued a formal warning to all visa applicants naming fake websites specifically — including eVisa.com and Africantravel.com — and directing all applications to the official portal at eservices.immigration.go.tz.

This matters most right now. July through October is peak Serengeti Great Migration season. That’s when Mara River crossings happen, when camps fill up a year in advance, and when search traffic for Tanzania visas spikes as people who just booked a once-in-a-decade trip start looking up entry requirements. Scam sites know this. Their ad placements are calibrated for safari planning season.

Get the eVisa wrong — use a fake site, receive a delayed or mismatched authorization — and you find out at the airline’s check-in counter. Not at the Tanzanian border. Airlines verify travel documentation before they issue boarding passes. A failed eVisa check at that point means the flight leaves without you, the camp can’t refund a no-show, and the migration doesn’t wait.

Quick Facts — Tanzania eVisa 2026

Detail	Info
Official cost	$50 single entry (most nationalities); $100 multiple entry (US citizens — required)
Official portal	visa.immigration.go.tz
Who needs it	Most foreign nationals; some nationalities are visa-exempt — check immigration.go.tz
US citizen requirement	Multiple-entry visa only, valid 12 months, max 90 days per stay — $100
Stay allowed	Up to 90 days per entry
Processing time	Up to 10 business days; apply at least 2–3 weeks before travel
Application window	Up to 3 months before arrival
What scam sites charge	$130–$150+ per person
Scam markup per person	$80–$100+ above the actual fee
Official government domain	immigration.go.tz — ends in .go.tz
Embassy warning	Tanzania Embassy Tokyo warning names eVisa.com and Africantravel.com

In one sentence: Tanzania’s eVisa is $50 (or $100 for US passport holders) at visa.immigration.go.tz — scam sites charging $130+ for the same authorization are documented across traveler reports and official embassy warnings, and safari season is exactly when they’re most active.

What Is the Tanzania eVisa?

Tanzania’s eVisa is an electronic travel authorization issued by the Tanzania Immigration Department through the government portal at visa.immigration.go.tz. The system replaced the process of obtaining visas at the border or through embassy appointments, letting travelers sort their entry authorization before departure.

The Tanzania Immigration Department’s visa fees page lists the $50 ordinary visa for most nationalities visiting for tourism. US passport holders are a specific exception: they’re required to purchase the multiple-entry visa at $100, valid for 12 months, though any single stay can’t exceed 90 days. This is a policy distinction — not an upsell — and it’s one that scam sites typically obscure while charging $150+ regardless of what the traveler actually needs.

The application asks for the basics: full name as it appears on your passport, passport number and expiry date, travel dates, purpose of visit, and an email address for the approval document. Processing takes up to 10 business days — which means applying at the last minute before departure is a real risk, especially during peak safari season when volume is high.

Why Safari Season Makes This Worse

June through August is when most of the Tanzania eVisa search traffic happens, because it’s when travelers who’ve booked safari camps for July–October start preparing. And there’s a specific vulnerability: people who’ve already committed to the trip.

A traveler who just booked a $7,000 camp stay in the northern Serengeti for the August crossings isn’t casually browsing. They’re in execution mode — flights booked, camp deposit paid, itinerary locked. They search “Tanzania eVisa,” click the first result, pay whatever it asks because the alternative (losing the camp deposit) feels more expensive than the fee. A scam site charging $130 when the government charges $100 is $30. Fine. Except the $30 difference isn’t the problem — the problem is whether the document you get back is valid and correctly matches your passport.

The Great Migration draws roughly 1.5 million wildebeest across the Serengeti ecosystem year-round, but the Mara River crossings from July to October are the centrepiece. Premium camps in the northern Serengeti — the ones positioned for that specific window — book out 9 to 12 months in advance. An eVisa problem discovered at the boarding gate doesn’t get solved in time for the lions and crocodiles.

How the Scam Works

The mechanism is identical to what we’ve documented in Cambodia’s eVisa scam pattern and Turkey’s eVisa scam.

Third-party operators buy Google ad placements targeting search terms like “Tanzania eVisa,” “Tanzania visa online,” and “Tanzania safari visa 2026.” Those sponsored results appear above organic results — including, frequently, above the government’s own portal. Someone who clicks the top result and sees a site that looks official, asks for the right information, and has a payment flow, may not question it.

The pricing is where the tell shows up, but only if you already know what the government charges. tanzaniavisas.org and africantravelling.com aren’t running modest processing fees. They’re charging $30 to $100 more per person and, in africantravelling.com’s case, doing it transparently by splitting the charge into a “government fee” and a large “service fee.” The government fee line makes it look like the government is charging you — the service fee is their revenue. A traveler who doesn’t know the Tanzania government charges $50 or $100 has no reference point to recognize this as unusual.

Some of these operations do actually submit the application to the Tanzania Immigration Department on your behalf — paying $50 themselves and keeping the difference — so the traveler receives a technically valid document. But their passport data went through an unauthorized server. Others generate authorization-looking documents that don’t hold up when an airline’s check-in agent runs the document through their systems.

Scamadviser’s assessment of tanzaniavisas.org shows a very low trust score, with user reviews noting non-responses to inquiries and delays of over a month for a form that officially processes in 10 business days. The Tanzania Embassy warning names different sites — eVisa.com and Africantravel.com — and directs all applicants to the official portal. For tanzaniavisas.org, the documentation is Scamadviser ratings and traveler reports. Same practical outcome.

The US Citizen Wrinkle

American passport holders face an additional layer of confusion here.

Most nationalities applying for a Tanzania tourist visa get the $50 single-entry option. Americans don’t. US citizens are required to purchase the $100 multiple-entry visa — a 12-month authorization allowing multiple entries, with any single stay capped at 90 days.

Scam sites typically don’t explain this. They show one price — usually $130 to $150 or more — and don’t mention that US citizens have a different government fee than other nationalities. A British traveler and an American traveler using the same scam site may both pay $130, but the British traveler’s actual government fee is $50 while the American’s is $100. Different rip-off magnitudes for the same scam.

From the official portal’s standpoint: US citizens selecting their nationality in the application will be directed to the $100 multiple-entry visa. There is no $50 single-entry option for American passports. The Tanzania Immigration Department’s own guidance makes this explicit — “nationals from America (USA) who wish to visit Tanzania for holiday or tourism are required to apply for Multiple Visa.”

For most safari trips, this is actually a useful authorization. A 12-month multiple-entry visa covering the Serengeti and Zanzibar extension or a Kenya leg over the border isn’t the worst outcome. But it’s a $100 government fee, and any site charging $150 for it is taking $50 from you.

How to Apply for the Tanzania eVisa

The only portal that produces a valid Tanzania eVisa is visa.immigration.go.tz. The broader Tanzania Immigration Department e-services hub is at eservices.immigration.go.tz — the official domain both officially point to the .go.tz government extension, which is Tanzania’s equivalent of .gov. No legitimate Tanzania eVisa portal exists outside these domains.

The application:

1. Go to visa.immigration.go.tz. Type it directly. Confirm the domain shows .go.tz in your address bar — not .com, .org, .net, or anything else.
2. Select your nationality. For US citizens, the portal will confirm the $100 multiple-entry requirement. For most other nationalities, $50 single-entry is shown.
3. Enter your personal details: full name exactly as it appears on your passport — middle name included if it’s in your passport. Passport number, issue and expiry dates, nationality, and date of birth. Name mismatches cause rejections.
4. Enter your travel information: intended arrival date, departure date, and the email address where the approval document will be sent.
5. Review the fee. US citizens should see $100. Most other nationalities see $50. Any figure higher than that, on any site, is not the government.
6. Pay. The Tanzania Immigration Department accepts major credit and debit cards. No service fees on top of the government charge.
7. Submit and wait. Processing takes up to 10 business days. Apply at least two to three weeks before travel — not the week of departure. The document arrives as an email attachment.

Save the approval document in multiple places: email inbox, downloaded to your phone, and a printed copy. The airline scans it at check-in. Have it accessible, not vaguely somewhere in your email.

Timing

Apply within three months of departure. The eVisa has a fixed validity window, so applying too far ahead creates a different problem — an authorization that expires before your trip ends.

For safari travelers: if you’re locking in camp bookings six to nine months ahead (which you should be, for peak season), you can’t apply for the eVisa simultaneously. Mark your calendar to apply three months before departure, no later than six weeks out. The processing buffer matters because 10 business days includes weekends and can stretch during high-volume periods.

What does the Tanzania eVisa cost?

Tanzania’s eVisa costs $50 USD for most nationalities applying for a single-entry tourist visa, paid directly through the official portal at visa.immigration.go.tz. US citizens are required to purchase the $100 multiple-entry visa — there is no $50 option for American passport holders. Both fees are set by the Tanzania Immigration Department and cover no service charges, processing fees, or additional costs. Any website charging more than $50 (or $100 for Americans) is not the Tanzania government.

The Scam Sites by Name

Three operations are specifically named in official warnings or well-documented across traveler reports:

• tanzaniavisas.org — Not part of the Tanzania government. Scamadviser rates it with a very low trust score, and traveler reports on Trustpilot and Tripadvisor describe weeks-long delays for a form that officially processes in 10 business days, along with minimal responsiveness to follow-up requests. Despite the .org extension, it has no affiliation with the Tanzanian government.

• africantravelling.com / ta.africantravelling.com — Named in the Tanzania Embassy in Tokyo warning under the “Africantravel.com” designation. The site itself acknowledges it is a private company not affiliated with the Government of Tanzania. Traveler reports document charges of €75 in service fees on top of the ~€44 government fee — totaling around €119 to €130 per application depending on exchange rates and any additional handling charges. One traveler reported being charged $119 USD without prior notice of the full cost.

• Generic pattern: Sites with names like “TanzaniaImmigration.org” and “TanzaniaEVisa.com” follow the same playbook — government-adjacent names, similar form layouts, prices that vary by session (a real government fee doesn’t vary based on who’s applying for the same visa type). The variable pricing is itself a tell.

The Tanzania Embassy warning links back to eservices.immigration.go.tz for all applications. That’s the definitive guidance. Any other domain, regardless of how official it looks, is not where the Tanzania Immigration Department processes visas.

If You Already Used a Third-Party Site

Apply again at visa.immigration.go.tz before travel. Your valid eVisa needs to exist in the Tanzania Immigration Department’s system — a document generated by a fake site won’t save you at an airline’s check-in counter.

Before your departure, confirm the approval document:

• Shows Tanzania Immigration Department branding and an official reference number
• Lists your name exactly as it appears on your passport — character for character
• Includes your travel dates and the correct visa category
• Arrived from an official immigration.go.tz email address

Any name discrepancy between the approval document and your passport is a problem. Address it before travel, not at the airport.

If you paid and received nothing: dispute the charge with your card issuer. There’s no functional customer service channel at these operations. Your card’s dispute process is the practical recovery path.

On the data angle: the Tanzania eVisa form requires your full name, passport number, date of birth, travel dates, and sometimes address. If that information went through an unauthorized third-party server, monitor your identity documentation accordingly.

Tanzania vs. Kenya: The Entry Document Parallel

This same pattern plays out across East Africa. The Kenya eTA costs $30 at etakenya.go.ke, with scam sites charging $80 to $150 for the same authorization. Many Tanzania safari itineraries cross into Kenya’s Masai Mara — which means travelers may face two separate entry requirements and two separate sets of fake portals optimized for safari planning searches.

If your trip covers both countries, handle both entry documents at the official government portals before you’re in execution mode. The Serengeti and Masai Mara share the same migrating herds but maintain independent entry systems. Getting both right on the official portals costs $130 for most nationalities (Tanzania $50 + Kenya $30 + whatever Kenya’s system shows for your nationality). Getting them wrong costs significantly more, in multiple ways.

The Bottom Line

Tanzania’s eVisa is $50 for most nationalities. US citizens are required to pay $100 for the mandatory multiple-entry version. The official portal is visa.immigration.go.tz — a .go.tz domain, which is Tanzania’s government domain extension.

Documented scam operations — tanzaniavisas.org and africantravelling.com — charge $130 to $150+ for the same authorization and are most active during safari planning season because that’s when the search traffic justifies the ad spend. africantravelling.com is formally named in the Embassy of Tanzania in Tokyo’s warning; tanzaniavisas.org is flagged across Scamadviser and traveler reports.

The defense is one habit: type visa.immigration.go.tz directly, skip sponsored results when applying for any government authorization, and check the domain before entering passport details. The .go.tz extension is the tell. Everything else is noise.

The Serengeti Great Migration runs July through October. Wildebeest don’t care about visa forms. But airlines at check-in do.

Don’t spend a year planning one of Africa’s great wildlife experiences and lose the first leg of it to a $130 fake portal charging for a form you could fill in yourself in ten minutes.

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Official Tanzania eVisa portal: visa.immigration.go.tz. Tanzania Immigration Department: immigration.go.tz. Embassy of Tanzania warning about fake visa websites: jp.tzembassy.go.tz. Information current as of June 2026 — verify current fees and requirements before travel.