Customs border Ethiopia | Customs and Immigration

It is very hard to enter to Ethiopia now
Some rules have been changed and it is very hard process now
At first you need contact travel agency to get permission from Ministry of tourism. 
We have a lot of contacts who could help before but no one could help this time.
Only one guy - Ashenafi - +251944363356 (price 1000$) and it is not garanted (read more)

Also you need help from your Embassy. Some letters and permissions. Not every Embassy can help, so you need contact them to ask.

So only together travel agency and Embassy could help you enter. 

We leave 2 (!!) weeks on a border to wait when we can enter (Metema border from Sudan).

So we recommend not to go through Ethiopia and Sudan now. It is good idea to ship from Mombasa to anywhere.

Also it is information only for travellers by car. If you come by foot or by bicycle - it is no problem.

This guy can’t help
Minyamir - +251913970068
Tariko - +251910146234 - price 500$
Girum - +251910053200
Muller - +251925300538 - price 600$

Report Check-In

Now Carnet not suffisant for Ethiopia. We did cross Ethiopia thanks to Ashenafi according to the conditions he indicates on the Facebook group « Overlanding Africa ». Ashenafi and our guide Tesfaya said Tes were very efficient at all times. So no surprise to cross this beautiful country that is Ethiopia. Except for the bad surprise at the Sudanese embassy in Addis Ababa, which asked us for a "permit" to submit our Sudanese visa application without further details and without any kindness;(. After 5 days we was able to receive this "permit" thanks to a contact in Khartoum. Finally our biggest surprise was the cost of the passage to Sudan. 250 $ ppp for the "permit" which was transmitted to us from Khartoum by our contact and 100 $ ppp for visa .. Not to mention the registration fees after 3 days in Sudan. Ashenafi will inquire for this "permit" requested from the Sudanese embassy in Addis Ababa (while other French descendants of Egypt have had their visa in Aswan without this famous "permit" On the other hand, they had to pay $189 to obtain this "permit" when they crossed the Egypt/Sudan border in a truck. A Dutchman in a 2V Citroën paid $70 for it on the way in Sudan). Ashenafi will I think very quickly clarify this issue of the Sudanese visa to obtain in Addis Ababa. If you are in Kenya, go to the Embassy of Sudan in Nairobi, a friendly staff of the Embassy told us that we could have this "permit" for a small fee. Hence the bad surprise in Addis Ababa!! Sorry, a bit long message.
Contact Ashenafi Kassa.
Mail : [email protected]
N° Wattsapp : +251944363356

Report Check-In

Use John to help you and pay him well if possible. Great guide and border assistance +254 11 4442072

Report Check-In

I want to confirm, we got our truck into/out of Kenya on a C32 TIP. No Carnet. Truck registered in South Africa. No issues crossing into Etheopia with eVisa obtained a week prior online (issued in 24hours of application). No road tax required. 30 Day TIP issued for Ethiopia as well (probably could have gotten longer but our visa was only for 30 days).

We had a concern that immigration would not accept eVisa at the border as it states on the Etheopia Immigration Website the eVisa is only accepted at the Airport. We stopped at the Etheopia Embassy in both Malawi and Kenya to confirm. Both said it would be accepted. And it was.

The Moyale border was very relaxed and organized. They have the entrances gated off so you dont get the usual (coming from South 2 North) collection of hustlers looking to sell you insurance, money exchange, SIM Cards, etc....

Contact Person:
Yohanas (Moyale Border Fixer)
251933966377 - WhatsApp/Cell

The customs agent that filled out our TIP was SUPER helpful and very welcoming of us. I forgot his name though.

BE ADVISED: The customs agent explained to us that on the way out of Etheopia, customs will inspect the vehicle for, the engine number, spare car parts, spare tires, and all electronics. If you did not declare these items and have that written on your TIP, you will be asked to produce receipts for them showing tax paid in Ethiopia. If you do not have the receipts and you did not declare the items on entry, YOU WILL BE TAXED FOR THEM AT THE BORDER.

COVID NOTE: Although we had printed coppies of our Kenyan COVID Tests... the Port Health official would not accept them unless we also had an email with the attachment from the lab that did the test (which we did not have). We had to pay 2000 Birr/each ($40) for rapid tests. "

Report Check-In

Free Rapid Test at one stop border post available, no pcr test necessary in both directions (entering ethiopia or kenya)

Report Check-In

All very smooth, immigration on the first floor and Carnet in room 13 on the same floor.

All done in 30 minutes.

Customs close for lunch from 12 till 2.

Report Check-In

Technically open 7 days a week but on Sundays if you arrive with a vehicle to clear through Ethiopian customs they will call someone in to process you (even though this is their only ‘day off’ it seems).

Report Check-In

EVisa works for the land border despite what the website says.

We crossed on a Sunday, there was no issues for passport control, however customs had to be phoned to deal with the Carne.

The official came within 40min and did not charge any "overtime fee" as was expected.

Report Check-In

Nairobi doesn’t extend visas to land borders in Ethiopia (Moyale) and they said to get the E-visa
We’ve got any problem at the border and our passports where stamped without any problem.Didn’t take more than 15 minutes.
They even didn’t verify anything at the computer (didn’t work by the way)
Just wanted a proof of payment and we showed the Aproval mail we received in our phone.

Report Check-In

Wish I could say "fast and easy." I was there for four hours while Immigration claimed the computer system was down.

turns out, it was only down for Mzungus.

I eventually walked over to the poster that listed the anti corruption hotline and told them I was calling to find out the status of the system failure. Immediately, the system was fixed and, without doing anything, the man handed me my already-completed paperwork from his back pocket and begged me not to call.

just be assertive!

I'll attach a photo of the corruption number.

Report Check-In

We just entered at Moyale into Ethiopia. The do accept Evisa. It takes 30 minutes to validate depending on system spread but it was no problem. Just take a print of the visa with. We got 30 days from entry.

Report Check-In

Fast and easy clearing, Carnet de passage 1. floor, passeport 2. floor, very nice staff

Report Check-In