For years, getting into Afghanistan meant finding an embassy that would talk to you. You posted your passport somewhere, waited, and hoped. People planned trips around which consulate happened to be issuing that month.
That is over. You can now do it from your kitchen table in about twenty minutes.
How do you get a visa for Afghanistan in 2026?
Online, through the government's e-visa portal, and most applications are approved within 24 hours. No embassy visit, no courier, no passport out of your hands for a month.
The e-visa is single entry, allows a stay of up to 30 days, and expires 90 days from the date it is issued — so apply close to your trip, not six months ahead.
The one restriction that catches people out: the e-visa is currently accepted only when you arrive at Kabul International Airport. If you are planning to come overland, it will not get you through the gate. See the Torkham guide for how land entry differs.
What it costs
The fee arrives in two parts, which is why quoted figures vary:
- Application fee — around $8–9. Paid up front to submit and have the application reviewed.
- Visa fee — around $120. Paid only after approval, to have the visa actually issued.
All in, budget roughly $130–135. The two-stage structure is deliberate: you are not paying the large fee until you know you have been approved.
What you need before you start
- A passport valid at least six months beyond your travel dates, with blank pages
- A clear scan of the photo page
- A recent passport photograph, plain background
- Your itinerary — dates, and where you intend to go
- Accommodation details, or your operator's confirmation
- A card that works for international payments
Scan properly. A photograph of your passport taken at an angle on a kitchen counter is the most common reason an application comes back.
Step by step
- Create an account on the e-visa portal and start a tourist application.
- Fill in the form. Names exactly as printed in the passport — not a shortened version, not the name you actually go by.
- Upload the documents.
- Pay the application fee to submit it.
- Wait. Usually hours; allow a couple of days.
- Pay the visa fee once approved.
- Download the PDF and print it. Twice, and keep the copies separately.
Print it. Do not rely on having it on your phone. Your phone will be at 4% exactly when someone official asks.
The mistakes that cost people their trip
- Applying too early. The visa dies 90 days after issue, whether you have used it or not.
- A name that does not match. "Mike" on the form, "Michael" in the passport, and you are re-applying.
- Assuming it works at a land border. It does not, today.
- Forgetting it is single entry. A side trip to Tajikistan and back means a second visa.
- Leaving no margin. Apply two to three weeks out, not two days.
The part the visa does not cover
This is the thing most travellers do not discover until they are standing in Kabul: a visa lets you into the country, not around it.
Travelling between provinces requires separate, physical, stamped permits obtained from the Ministry of Information and Culture, and registration with the local directorate in each province you enter. Without them you get turned around at the provincial boundary — not fined, just sent back, after however many hours of driving it took to arrive.
It is genuinely the most underestimated part of planning a trip here, and it is covered properly in the permits and checkpoints guide.
Arriving in Kabul
Have your printed visa, your passport, your accommodation details and your onward ticket accessible — not in the overhead locker. Expect questions about why you are visiting; "tourism" is a real and accepted answer, and increasingly a common one.
Check the entry stamp before you walk away from the desk. An unstamped or wrongly-dated entry becomes a problem at every checkpoint afterwards and a much bigger one when you try to leave. Ten seconds now saves a very bad afternoon later.
What we do
Most of our guests handle the e-visa themselves — it is genuinely straightforward now. What we do is check the application before you pay, so a mismatched name or a bad scan gets caught while it is still free to fix. Then we handle the provincial permits, meet you at arrivals, and take care of the registrations before you leave Kabul.
See the trips, or send us your dates and we will tell you exactly what to apply for.
One caveat worth taking seriously: Afghanistan's entry rules have changed several times in recent years and can change again with little notice. Everything here reflects the position as of August 2026. Confirm the current requirements before you book flights.