Eritrea

All nationalities must apply for a visa in advance before entering the country.

Some Eritrean Embassies have websites where a visa application can be downloaded and printed out, saving you some time. When you apply for a visa to Eritrea, you must do it at an Eritrean Embassy in - or accredited to - the country where you are a citizen and nowhere else. If there is no Eritrean Embassy or mission in your country, contact your foreign office/ministry to verify the nearest accredited Eritrean mission. Below is a list of Eritrean Embassies around the world.

These are the Eritrean Embassies in

Europe

London Paris BrusselsThe HagueBerlinRomeStockholm Moscow And consulates in Athens, Milan, Frankfurt and Geneva.

If you come from a European EU or EES country without an Eritrean mission, you contact the Eritrean Embassy in Brussels by default.

Americas

Washington D.C. Ottawa permanent mission to the U.N. in New York.

Africa

PretoriaAbuja NairobiKampalaDjiboutiKhartoum +consulate in KassalaCairoTripoli

Middle East

Riyadh consulate in JeddahSanaaAbu Dhabi consulate in DubaiDohaKuwaitTel Aviv Ramat GanDamascus

Asia and Oceania

IslamabadNew DelhiSingaporeTokyoBeijingCanberra.

When traveling overland, as of December 2008 it was NOT possible to obtain visas in Sudan neither in Khartoum nor Kassala unless you're a Sudanese national. The border with Djibouti has been indefinitely closed as of December 2008 and with Ethiopia as of May 1998.

For a tourist visa, you need to submit specific information about when and at what border post you will arrive and depart, so it is wise to have already made some plans such as buying a ticket.

By ship

Ports and harbors: Assab Aseb, Massawa Mits'iwa.Sadaka Shipping Lines and Eritrean Shipping Lines serve the route Massawa - Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They serve mainly Muslim pilgrims, and it is quite difficult for non-pilgrims to enter or transit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. If you are sailing or cruising in on a private boat, you can apply for a special permit upon arrival in the ports of Massawa and Assab, to re-fuel, buy supplies and make reparations. Consult your country's foreign ministry and the Eritrean mission in/accredited to your country of origin in advance for details.

By bus

There are Sudanese pickup taxis running from Kassala in Sudan to the Eritrean border a half hour away daily, and Eritrean taxis from the Eritrean border to Tessenei Tessenei is located 45 kilometer from the Sudanese border, about an hour away.

The bureaucracy of the border crossings can take hours so start in the morning or early afternoon from Kassala in Sudan as it is not possible to enter Eritrea after dusk border posts are closed.

By car

You can enter Eritrea driving from Sudan Kassala border crossing provided you have a valid certificate of ownership of the vehicle you're driving no rentals and all your including your passengers' passports and visas in order as well as a customs declaration if necessary. Visas should be arranged in your country of origin, before arriving in Sudan unless you are a Sudanese national. The roads on the borders are very poor so you should be driving a 4WD. The first gas-station entering Eritrea from the Sudanese border is in Tessenei, a distance of about 40 Km. Diesel is more easily available than petrol.