Border Rwanda - Uganda | Customs and Immigration

May 4th, 2024 by TornadoTim

Crossing from Rwanda to Uganda

Arriving at the border post we first went into a little hut to get written in some book. Afterwards we went to the main building. There were two guys approaching the car right after we parked and said we had to give them our vehicle document and drivers license as they are customs officers. They aren’t and don’t hand out your documents and you don’t need any help as everything is straight forward.

There’s a scanner in front of the door where you have to scan all the bags in your car. We showed the officer how much stuff was in our car so we just had to scan one suitcase and two backpacks. In the building immigration on both sides was really fast as we had an East Africa visa. The Ugandan officer actually was on his phone and didn’t speak a single word to us, just a look in the passport and stamp.
The Rwandan customs just stamped out our Carnet. The Ugandan customs didn’t know how to fill in a Carnet and wanted to rip out the whole page and in the end he wanted to stamp also the exit part. We managed to get him to only stamp on the entry part, although he really only stamped it and didn’t fill out the information, guess I’ll have to do that myself before leaving Uganda. We were already leaving when we were reminded to pay for the road tax and sent back to the customs, so just tell him that your car is outside the EAC as he assumed ours was Rwandan. He will give you a paper for the bank where you have to pay 231.000 UGX plus 2.000 UGX bank fees. We exchanged USD at the exchange beauraus just outside the building. When we wanted to leave for the first time a man came to change money and we exchanged our last 10.000 Rwandan franc, he gave me 10.000 Shilling and just started walking away. Don’t change with the guys at your car. Just go to the exchange beareaus and they will give you the same rate for Rwandan Francs and don’t cheat you. For USD we had to negotiate, we had 62$ and he wanted to give us 3650 for the 50$ and 3600 for the rest even though on his own sign there were different amounts. We asked at another beaurau and they gave us 3700 for all bills, so ask around and get a better rate.

November 16th, 2023 by 287182

road tax $60
easy fast one stop boarder
you can buy sim card just pass Uganda boarder there is MTN

August 7th, 2023 by laurakraus93

Uganda -> Rwanda. The border crossing took 70 minutes, with a fixer organised by our rental company. Rwandan immigration wanted to see booking confirmations for where we’re staying. Our bags were scanned.

March 15th, 2023 by Heeling

Crossing from Uganda to Rwanda on a Motorbike. This is a one stop order crossing and therefor very straight forward.

This Wednesday was very quiet.
- First stop at Uganda side.. They take note of your vehicle and ask for road tax receipt (which I did not have and was not an issue),
- After the barrier you are already in Rwanda, I was stopped to scan all my luggage. Bit of a pain with a motor bike.
- Next building on the left is immigration and customs for both countries. From left to right immigration Uganda, Immigration Rwanda, Customs Uganda (stamping carnet out), Customs Rwanda (stamping Carnet in). Nobody checked my bike. I had an east African visa. Rwanda Immigration wanted to see my hotel reservation, this seems to be mandatory. As there was nobody this went smooth
- On the up stairs there is an insurance office. I bought my yellow card here.
- When leaving the border area you need to show passport stamp, proof of insurance and carnet.
- Note: there are no sign and nobody is telling you that in Rwanda you drive on the right. By the way. Amazing road to Kigali.

February 27th, 2023 by nickianddave

Easy, easy border Uganda into Rwanda. One stop border post, stamped out of Uganda no problem and stamped in to Rwanda at the next window, no visa charge for UK residents. Uganda customs stamped the CDP out and next window Rwanda customs stamped us in, no vehicle charge. Changed our Ugandan shillings at the Forex office and used the ATM for some extra cash. Police had a quick look at the inside of the vehicle, checked our camera equipment (no drones allowed) only took 5 mins. whole crossing in about 40 mins.

February 24th, 2023 by hanntomps

crossing Uganda into Rwanda. Met by a very friendly soldier who inspected CPD wrote down our reg and directed us half a km down the road to a building.

policeman wanted to scan our luggage bag, then he wanted to scan everything in the truck but after opening a few draws he wanted to see our camera equipment. He constantly asked about a drone and this seemed to be what he was asking for.

moved up to immigration and custom, easy process accept Rwandan immigration wanted accommodation booking (made one of booking.com).

over all an easy order with no rea hassle

June 3rd, 2022 by OverlandEastAfrica

Rwandan exit easy. As mentioned previously you enter the new building to stamp out your visa and CDP. Next to the office is Forex bureau, very useful.

On Ugandan side we had to show the Exit form we received at the gate once we officially drove out of Rwanda. Since we already had our East Africa Visa that also went smooth. We got our CDP stamped and didn’t need to pay anything extra. When we wanted to leave, a policeman came and told us to drive back a little. Did a very thorough search of the car, opening all boxes etc., but all was fine.

It was really quiet when we were there (Friday afternoon), so border crossing took us less than an hour. Quite a lot of fixers around on Ugandan side, but since the process is fairly straightforward I’d say you don’t need one.

March 3rd, 2020 by Khayaonwheels

Exit Rwanda was easy from the new building, exit stamp passport, stamp Carnet at Revenue Authorities and use the forex office to change to UGX, 20 min in total.

Entry Uganda, first a form at the gate with 2 policemen, then to the Revenue Authority on the right for UGX75.000 payment for a Road License, then Immigrations for the visa and lastly the police again at the gate to check it all, 30 min total and everyone is very helpful and friendly.

You can buy a sim card just past the border at one of the small shops for UGX2000.

October 20th, 2019 by instagram.com/africabiketheway

[Uganda -> Rwanda] I'm cycling around Africa. Already had the East Africa visa. It was so fast... They didn't check any of my bags. 20mn in the area in total!

October 17th, 2019 by amc_boogaard

We were here around 9, easy border but the new buildings still not finished so you have to find your way a bit. Uganda exit: go to immigration, customs and police (he wanted some ‘chai’ but didnt gave him). Then go to the Rwanda side, immigration and customs, pay visa etc at the bank. We are driving a Kenyan car, So if you stay below 2 weeks in Rwanda its free (same for Uganda).

It was not busy at all so the police wanted to check our belongings, dont know what they were looking for though.. but they found it very interesting to see all our stuff :). Took us 1,5h in total.

September 20th, 2019 by instagram.com/earth_wandererz

Rwanda- Uganda.

Leaving Rwanda very simple, Immigration stamped the passport
Customs to sign your road tax/import permit to say you are exiting
Then police for the gate pass.

Ugandan side.
First customs to pay for the car, $20 or 74,000 UGX but when we tried to pay in dollars said he would only accept UGX. CASH ONLY!
Then to immigration for stamps and finger prints to be taken.
Then to the building opposite to register.

Whole process crossing both boarders took just over an hour.
Very quick and everyone was very helpful.

February 12th, 2019 by adventurism.tv

UGANDA > RWANDA

Leaving Uganda
Skipped the long line of trucks waiting at the border. Really busy with busses and people. Checking out with Immigration and Customs went really fast. Registered at the last barrier with the police.

Entering Rwanda
First get your temperature checked for Ebola. When cleared you are allowed to enter. Don’t forget to swap to the other side of the road. Still constructing all the buildings so the customs and immigration was on the rights side in the temporary buildings. Quickest entry ever. No vehicle check on the bikes. There is an official forex office here to change money but we already got a good rate on the black market.

Fastest and easiest border crossing in Africa so far coming from the North. And the road to Kigali is beautifully green and twisty. A joy to ride with the bikes.

November 17th, 2018 by wildwonderfulworld.com

Relatively quick border crossing. No ATM, closest places to get cash is either Kigali or Kabali. No card payments possible at the border, cash only. No vehicle checks.

February 17th, 2018 by oneroadoneworld.com

Pretty crowded border crossing, exiting Rwanda took us 30 minutes. Uganda side took us 1 hour. We are traveling with 2 motorcycles incl. CDP. They are building new offices on both sides, it looks pretty chaotic at the moment. There are a lot of big busses passing from Kigali.