Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania Plan Joint Visa for 2027 AFCON to Ease Fan Travel Across Borders

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are developing a joint visa arrangement to facilitate cross-border travel for football fans during the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, as the three East African co-hosts seek to turn the tournament into a wider tourism and business opportunity.

Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, chairperson of the East African Community Council of Ministers and Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister, announced the initiative during an inspection of the Arusha Pamoja AFCON Stadium by members of the East African Legislative Assembly. Kadaga said the three host countries were working on a special visa framework to ease supporters’ movement between them during the tournament. The proposed arrangement could allow fans to attend matches in different countries while visiting tourist attractions, creating business opportunities for hotels, tour operators, transport providers and other service businesses.

The 36th edition of the AFCON will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from June 19 to July 17, 2027, marking the first time the tournament is staged across three countries. The tournament will bring 24 national teams and thousands of supporters to East Africa, requiring coordinated movement of teams, officials, media and fans across three sovereign nations.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni endorsed the proposal in July 2026 during a high-level meeting with the AFCON Local Organising Committee at State House, Entebbe. The proposed visa would allow football fans, tourists, officials and participating teams to move freely between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania for four months without requiring separate entry permits. “This is common sense. I support it,” Museveni said, directing that discussions be initiated with his counterparts in Kenya and Tanzania to make the arrangement possible before the tournament.

The proposal was presented by Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, who said the issue of the entry visa was very important. “If somebody is coming to Uganda, they should also be able to access Kenya and Tanzania using the same visa for four months,” she said. Uganda’s Acting Commissioner for Citizenship and Immigration Control, Col. Geoffrey Brian Kambere, informed the President that Uganda already operates a similar arrangement with Kenya and Rwanda under the Coalition of the Willing framework. “That is the spirit of Africa, having one visa so that people can move freely within East Africa. Currently, the arrangement exists between Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. The objective now is to mobilize our neighbors under the Pamoja arrangement so that Tanzania also joins,” he explained.

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The visa discussions build on consultations that began in April 2026, when sports ministers from the three host countries met with the Confederation of African Football and formally agreed to continue discussions on what CAF described as the Pamoja Visa Framework. The framework would consider several immigration measures, including special entry arrangements, possible visa exemptions, expedited immigration procedures, harmonised customs arrangements, easier processing for teams and officials, provisions for accredited media, and arrangements for sponsors and suppliers.

The current East African Tourist Visa, which allows eligible travellers to visit Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda for up to 90 days, does not include Tanzania. A separate arrangement covering all three AFCON hosts would bridge this gap for supporters planning to follow matches in different countries. However, important details remain unresolved, including eligibility, fees, visa validity and the procedures travellers would follow at border crossings. The three governments have not yet announced a final agreement or an implementation timetable.

Tanzanian East African Legislative Assembly member Abdullah Makame cautioned that the visa’s effectiveness would depend on clear rules and consistent implementation across the participating countries. Its impact will depend on the final visa rules and their effective implementation at border crossings.

For the hosts, the potential economic opportunity extends beyond ticket sales. Easier movement could help distribute visitor spending across multiple destinations and give fans more opportunities to combine football with regional tourism. But those gains are not guaranteed and will depend on the number of visitors, their length of stay and the ease of travel between match venues. During the inspection, the delegation was informed that construction of the Arusha Pamoja AFCON Stadium, designed to accommodate about 32,500 spectators, had reached 95 per cent completion.

The three countries are also racing to complete other infrastructure projects ahead of the tournament. In Uganda, priority projects include the upgrading and expansion of Mandela National Stadium, completion of AFCON training grounds, completion of Kabalega International Airport’s passenger terminal, construction of roads around Hoima City Stadium, and completion of the 148-kilometre Busunju–Kiboga–Hoima Road. Prime Minister Nabbanja noted that the country was time-bound, with a completion deadline of December 31, 2026 for several strategic projects.

The joint visa plan reflects a broader push for regional integration in East Africa, where the free movement of people and goods remains uneven despite the existence of the East African Community’s Common Market Protocol. For the millions of football fans expected to travel to the region for AFCON 2027, the proposed visa could make the difference between following their teams across borders and staying in one country. For the three host nations, it could determine how widely the economic benefits of the tournament are spread.

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