Visas & Fees for Bolivia
When planning your trip to Bolivia get ready for the visa fees. U.S. citizens must pay $135 USD to enter the country, and that includes all border crossings, not just when arriving by air as is the case for Chile. Canadians can enter the country and visit for 30 days without any charge, yet must pay $30 USD and obtain a Tourist Visa if they want to stay longer.
Coat of Arms of Bolivia
British and Australian nationals do not have to pay upon entry and are granted up to 90 days, free of charge. If you get a 30 day stamp when crossing the border, just visit an Immigration Office in Bolivia and request an extension.
Maximum stay for visitors for Canadian, British and Australian tourists is 90 days. After 90 days you need to leave the country and re-enter with a new visa stamp in your passport. Not too difficult considering Bolivia shares borders with Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Chile and Peru.
Important Note for Americans traveling to Bolivia: United States passport holders are allowed ONLY 90 DAYS PER YEAR, as of 2011. U.S. citizens CANNOT extend their tourist visit as other nationalities can.
If not a U.S. citizen… you can also extend your 90 day visa at an Immigration office within Bolivia, and pay for the additional time. If you overstay your visa past the 90 days illegally, you’ll be charged 20 bolivianos per day overstay fee at the border when you leave.
The visa fee charged to U.S. citizens is called a ‘reciprocity fee’ as it is the same amount that citizens of Bolivia are charged when visiting the United States. All fees quoted above are subject to change. If the corresponding country raises its entry fee for Bolivian nationals, Bolivia will then in turn raise its fee to enter their country. How the game is currently being played.
If you have questions, contact your countries embassy or consulate in Bolivia: Living in Bolivia – Embassies of the USA, Canada, Australia & UK
U.S. citizens can purchase a Tourist Visa before entering the country, or at any border crossing. Bolivia also requires a Yellow Fever Certificate but is not enforced across the board. A vaccine may be administered at the border if you have not already had the shot – or you may be allowed to enter without it.
Officially, the requirements for the visa for U.S. citizens also includes proof of income (bank statement, credit card, etc.), passport photos, return ticket out of the country (if arriving by air) and a hotel reservation or ‘letter of invitation’ from a Bolivian national. When entering the country by land, you most likely will only need to show your passport, Yellow Fever Certificate and pay the fee, but there is no guarantee.
Most importantly – to make the process go smoothly – have your $135 USD reciprocity fee ready to hand-over in U.S. dollars. The visa is valid for five years, multiple entries. Do not lose your passport (that has the visa stamp) or you will have to pay for another visa ($80 USD for replacement) and redo the process all over again.
Departure tax when leaving Bolivia
They don’t let you off the hook when you leave the country either. Bolivia charges a departure tax of $25 USD for international departures. If you are flying within the country, the fee is minimal – only 15 Bolivianos ($2 USD). To save any hassle, have the correct amount ready to pass over to the Immigration money collector, in U.S. dollars.
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It is good to have information like this about Bolivia, but unfortunately it is misleading and incomplete. The fees for Visas etc above relate to Tourist Visas only. If you want to live in Bolivia you need to apply for a Objeto Determinado Visa which costs USD85.00 and is valid for 30-Days.
For reliable and up-to-date information check out either the Altiplano Bolivia Services for Expats or BoliviaBella sites. Both are specialists in Bolivia.
Hi Altiplano – thank you for taking the time to post this info – the information above is for Tourist Visas (and is accurate) and that should be clear… I actually found your info confusing… why would anyone pay for a ’30 – day’ visa – and how would that be anything close to ‘Residency Status’? Does not make any sense, as Tourist Visas give you longer stays in the country.
Molly – the Objeto Determinada Visa allows one to apply for a one or two year temporary residency in Bolivia. Foreigners cannot apply for permanent residency in Bolivia under a visitor visa. Therefore, if one plans on staying in Bolivia beyond 90 days without being charged for overstaying, applying for temporary residency in this way is an option. Objeto Determinada visas may also be extended for 90 days to allow time to complete residency application requirements.
Beyond ridiculous… and again, confusing – can you apply for “temporary residency” when arriving with a Tourist Visa and wanting to then live in Bolivia?
My site is in phase 2 will cover obtaining residency in all countries for foreigners, right now building out travel section and completing an eBook.
Hi Molly, Looking forward to your residency info. Everything I’ve read about residency in Bolivia is frustrating, especially for Americans. Before one can obtain residency he must, before entering Bolivia, obtain in his home country the special 30 day visa named above from his country’s, or the nearest with one, Bolivian embassy. This allows him to go to Bolivia and begin an arduous red tape process that is complicated enough that he’ll probably have to extend that 30 days and, at least in my case, would want to obtain professional help. I’d like to live in Sucre, but am now looking at Ecuador as the process there is straight forward and easy. Plus Ecuador offers retirees various price breaks on goods and services.
Hi, the best folks for info on residency in Bolivia are Altiplano Bolivia – http://altiplanobolivia.blogspot.com/p/altiplano-expat-services.html – they live in Tarija and help folks through the residency process.
Don’t give up on Sucre… at the very least, land in Bolivia (or maybe Peru) and travel the area, spend a month in Sucre and enjoy it, then head to Ecuador if you want. Ecuador is not easy either, be sure to start the process before your three month tourist visa expires or your six-month extension (can only stay up to 180 days per year in the country unless you have become a resident).
Do you have to get residency? Is it because you want to buy property and retire full-time (the main reason for going through all the hassle)? If not, you may want to consider a great alternative of six months in Ecuador, and then some time in Bolivia — don’t leave out Peru, great country and can stay as long as you want, just enter and leave every 6 months to get a new stamp in your passport. Best of luck, Molly
Molly and Wade I find it hard to believe the two adults who are smart enough to get on the net ask questions that a 10 year old could figure out with ease! If you´re going to start complaining before you ever leave please dont´t bother to come as I am sure you couldn´t handle it.
Totally inappropriate comment. Residency issues are complicated for all countries, and one of the most common questions/concerns prospective expats have when thinking of where to relocate to. cheers, Molly
I want to enter the country from Argentina, am a US citizen, and would like to know if there is a way to obtain USD at the border. I have been traveling for a few weeks and have run out of USD, and as one can’t purchase USD in Argentina very easily, I would like to know how to get the $135 once I’m in Bolivia. Has anybody run into this problem? Know any solutions? Thank you for any help!
You have to have cash in USD. They won’t accept anything else, I am 99.9% sure. But you can get USD out of many ATM machines, have you tried that? I’m trying off the top of my head (must be three years ago or so now that we did this crossing) how I got the cash… pretty sure out of an ATM.
And don’t forget… you are entering Bolivia – have to have the cash BEFORE you enter, so will be getting it in Argentina.
You cannot pull USD out of Argentinian ATMs any longer. It’s a new rule as of July 2012, I think. Therefore, I’d need to pull out money in Bolivia in order to accomplish paying in USD. I’m assuming this is not possible considering I need to go through immigration before having access to an ATM. This leaves me with a bit of a problem.
Oh, and thank you Argentina… sigh. Here is another idea! You can (it is a pain in the arse but possible) set-up a Western Union account online and then send money to yourself. Then you can get USD at a Western Union office. Either that, or have someone send to you, no? Or just bit the bullet and exchange somewhere.
Sorry, the whole thing is a pain in the arse not to mention that fact that we even have to pay at all… but don’t get me started. Bolivianos (most – not all – with little to no money and wanting to become illegal immigrants we can assume) coming into the U.S. is a SLIGHTLY different issue than Americans (with cash) visiting Bolivia to spend and travel. Just slightly. Anyways, have a great time. Molly
I’ll be entering the country in Villazon, just to clarify. Thank you!
We did too
Here is the write-up I did with some basic info: http://www.southamericaliving.com/border-crossing-la-quicaca-argentina-to-villazon-bolivia/
A rare report back on a blog:
For any US citizen stumbling upon this blog in fear of not having enough USD for the Bolivian reciprocity fee, don’t worry. At the time of this post, anybody can just walk into Bolivia and get USD from an ATM. No worries. The border at La Quiaca/Villazon is an easy crossing. Just walk past the immigration windows (nobody says anything) go into Villazon for about 5/6 blocks and ask for an ATM. We had to try two before we found one that would give us USD, but we got them, made our way back to the immigration office for stamps, and are currently sitting in Tupiza full of cheap asado.
TL;DR– You can get USD across the border in Villazon BEFORE having to go through immigration.
Safe Travels!
Awesome Eric & thanks for the info, I know there are money changers on the Bolivia side (Villazon) and they would probably let you go change cash if you leave your luggage with them and show them you have Argentinian pesos or whatever but couldn’t remember if it was easy to get USD and the ATM as I remember was about 6 blocks or so (we took a cab, needed pesos after we entered). Didn’t think they’d let travelers enter and then return for a visa but if you did it it can be done.
Note: This still has a slight risk… you could arrive and get immigration officials not in a good mood, demanding you have cash on hand, make you return to La Quicaca, etc. At least that is probably what they would have done to me… LOL!
Thanks for the info, loved Tupiza glad your having a good time, Molly
Hmmm…there were dozens of people walking back and forth across the border, both on the road and across the creek on either side of the bridge. I guess there is a slight risk, but there didn’t seem to be anybody who cared that we walked right past the window…in fact, one Bolivian police officer watched us do it.
I think with the new restrictions on purchasing USD in Argentina, they must realize that acquiring USD will most likely require a 5/6 block jaunt into Bolivia before paying the fee. The Bolivian immigration officials even gave us change in USD (only $100 bills are given at ATMs), so I think they understand the situation.
Ok, and that is great news, but I have to take into account the audience here, and the simple fact that things do change, and that it is NOT normal at all to be able to walk by an immigration office at a border crossing and have no one stop you. That’s all. Hope that makes sense & have fun!
THANK YOU ERIC! I am sitting in Tilcara, JuJuy with the same exact dilema, and was seriously thinking about just saying forget it to Bolivia and heading back through Chile. Given the prices in Chile, I´d say I owe you a belly full of asado!
Forgot to reply, sorry this is late! Again, that is not the norm, Bolivia can (and most likely will) change this ‘allowing tourists to walk through Immigrations without paying’ thing going on (have no reason to not believe Eric though that wasn’t the case when we crossed this border) and then you will be stuck, having to travel back to possibly JuJuy, Argentina (6 hour bus ride) for a Western Union office. Info on this border crossing here: http://www.southamericaliving.com/border-crossing-la-quicaca-argentina-to-villazon-bolivia/
best of luck, Molly
Hi, i’m an American with a Visa to travel to Bolivia that expires on July 19th of this year, is there a way to renew this Visa, or do i have to go through the application process all over again?
and also if I travel to Bolivia and get there, lets say July 18 or 19 (before day that Visa expires), will the Visa still be valid or will there be a problem?
if anyone can help me with these questions, it will be greatly appreciated. thanks!