Zambia Immigration Office | Customs and Immigration

Exit Zim within 10 minutes.

Into Zambia.
They make it on purpose confusing by letting you go back and forward between people, basically adding no value.

They tried to bribe me because I have a Creditcard like registration book. Just carry a copy, just in case....

Insurance 150 kwacha
Customs, carbon tax 264 kwacha
20 US dollar for road tax

Was easy despite 1 guy trying to make problems.... But just don't give in

Exchanged 1 dollar against 23.50 kwacha outside

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Zim to Zam. European passports and spanish 4x4, without CPD.

Zim : very easy and quick, friendly staff. stamped our passports, gave back the TIP, and 1$ per car for the dam. 5 minutes, no hassle.

Zam. 2 hours. what a nightmare :-(
immigration : free visa for european, so stamped our passports with 30 days (had to explain our itinerary). we can extend to 90 days for free in any big city.
customs : wanted to see an Interpol police clearance to edit our TIP (we dont have CPD and it was the first time an officer ask for this!). so we stayed quiet and polite but straight, we dont need this paper. we felt the officer wanted a bribe to do the FREE TIP, we didnt give anything and we were waiting. finally, the officer did it after 2 hours with no money ;-)

finaly, we had to pay : (everything with receipts)
- 20$ the road tax (only dollars, no kwachas, only cash, no credit card).
- 150 kwachas the insurance outside the customs (necessary to edit the free TIP, only kwachas, no dollars, only cash, no credit card).
- 264 kwachas for carbon tax (only kwachas, no dollars, only cash, no credit card). it depends of the size of your car.

money exchangers at the border, 1$ for 22 kwachas but we exchanged the minimum just to pay the insurance, the carbon tax, the toll to go to Lusaka (20k for a 4x4 or 50k for a truck), the council fee at some kilometers (50k for everybody with receipt).

so be prepared and smile : this is Africa ;-)

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- comments below are correct. But please note the guys who are changing currency outside are charging a very uninteresting fee. We asked a local ambulance officer to do it for us and he negotiated but we still lost 30$ on 200$
- visa to entry Zambia is free of charge (they changed it recently) - at least for us (Dutch passport holder)

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The border comes earlier than they coordinates. Before the gate, park to the right and go down some stairs. Leaving Zam was quick and easy. We paid 17,- Kwacha toll fee for the dam. Arriving at the dam we found the Zimbabwe side more interesting, but on both sides are parking areas.

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Very simple, easy exit from Zambia. CPD stamped efficiently.

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when leaving Zambia keep 17 Kwacha for the dam toll

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Quite a smooth crossing, very quiet at Zambian side what may have helped.

Exiting Zim:
- exit stamp in passport at immigration
- gate pass at immigration
- Interpol outside in a tent, they asked for a police clearance but we explained that we have a European car and the Carnet shows its our car. It was fine, he stamped the gate pass
- Customs stamped the Carnet and gate pass
Good to go in 15 minutes.

Entering Zambia
- Health check vaccination at most right counter
- Visa at Immigration counter. 25 dollar pp for single entry 1 month. Longer was not possible, but they said we could extend if we wanted to.
- Customs to stamp the Carnet, had to pay 250 kwacha roadtax. We couldn't pay in dollar or with card, so we had to change with the guys outside.
- Roadtoll at the building on the parking lot. 20 Dollar.

Good to go. At the gate a check of the carnet from the police.

After the gate you can arrange insurance. We got an insurance for 30 days for 150 Kwatcha.

All in all this bordercrossing cost us 1.5 hour.

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NOTE: KAZA Visa not valid here. Only for entry in the Vic Falls area.

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here we can easily extend our Zambia visa for one month more. free of charge.

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Went through this border just to visit the dam wall from and if staying in Zambia. The exact location for this immigration is not where these coordinates are, but a few hundred metres before this north. We left our passports with immigration and paid ZMK14 for our vehicle. Signed in at the control gate and drove down to the wall. After checking out the wall we drove back up and picked up our passports. Nothing else required for our vehicle or us personally just to view the dam wall.

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Zam to Zim on motorbikes

easy crossing, bikes dont pay to cross the dam. just signed out the carnet and passports.

entering zim was easy too. we had comesa and kaza visa therefore only payed 1usd for road tax per bike. smooth and friendly. stamped passports and carnet. all in all it took us an hour for 2 bikes.

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WARNING: KAZA Visa (combined Zim-Zam visa) is NOT valid to enter Zambia with at the Kariba border post.
The explanation we were given at the Kariba border post, by the Zambian officers, is that the combined visa was created for tourists that want to see the falls from both countries, not for travelers transiting through Zimbabwe. There is no logic to it, but the guys at the border post in Kariba weren't trying to scam us and felt ashamed for the weird limitation of the KAZA visa and the fact that they had to charge us for a completely new Zambian visa...

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BEWARE: Zambia did not accept my Kaza visa for entry. They said it is only valid at Kazangula and Vic Falls. The official website says nothing like that. I fought and fought, but no dice. I was forced to buy another single entry visa for$50. After he stamped it in, I realized that he had only given me 7 days! Too late to argue. Also, customs tried to charge me 200 Kwacha for carbon tax until I showed him the receipt for 70 kwacha valid for 90 days that I paid in Kazangula, he then relented. Be prepared...

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Exit with German Passport, Tanzanian registered car on CIP
Immigration and Customs no problem.
Interpol police officer was asking for a police clearance of my car which I don't have, as the car is registered in my name and I'm carrying the original logbook and the Tanzanian Export Permit. Long discussion and waiting but eventually he let me through without it. I paid no fine and did not bribe. I cannot say if it's really a requirement by law to have this clearance if the car is registered in ones name, but it's a hassle not to have it.
You also are required to pay 10 KW fee for crossing the dam at the customs office.

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police clearance for south african vehicle required at this border.
there is no clear information to as whether it is a formal requirement to enter zambia, however they would not let us pass without

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Entering Zim: Although it was very quiet here it took over an hour to complete all the paperwork and stamps. We paid USD 50 for our car at customs (USD 30 insurance, USD 10 carbon tax, USD 10 road tax if I remember correctly), but in addition we had to buy a commercial vehicle guarantee from a clearing agent who was posting outside. We thought this was strange as we had a good South African insurance and a letter proving it. Anyway, the guy wanted USD 100 for it and we ended up negotiating down to USD 50, but we felt pretty screwed. We also paid USD 30 pp for our single entry visa. No CASA visa (combi Zim/Zam) available.

If your travelling to Zim bring plenty of cash money. Banks are completely out of cash and it is not always possible to swipe, especially if you have an international credit card (although VISA is a bit more widely accepted). If you are staying in Zim a bit longer, ecocash might be a good option. Just ask around.

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Exiting Zimbabwe and entering Zambia... Kariba is a quiet border post. We didn't see any trucks or buses. Just two other personal vehicles.

Zimbabwe side: stamp passports, stamp carnet, Interpol stamps a slip of paper. We were in and out in 10 minutes.

Zambia side:
- stamp passport at Immigration. We paid $50 cash in dollars for a single entry visa valid for 30 days and renewable for up to 90 days. (We are US citizens)
- stamp carnet at customs in the same building, at the window next door. The customs official handed us the carnet "import" slip to give to the security guard at the gate as we exit.
- the same customs officer charged us for the Carbon Tax. 275 kwacha, payable in kwacha. There is no ATM here, so one must work with the money changers right outside.
- go across the parking lot to the Road Tax building. Pay $20 cash in dollars. As you travel throughout the country, you show the paper you receive at all toll booths and you don't need to pay any additional toll fees.
- exit the gate. Turn in the Carnet import paper
- immediately after the gate, there is a man collecting the 30 kwacha council fee. He gave us a receipt which we were required to show at two council roadblocks on the way to Lusaka.
- immediately after the council fee is a container with insurance salesmen. We paid 130 kwacha for one month of Zambian insurance. A disk shaped sticker is placed in the windshield. We didn't ask about Comesa at the border.

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Exiting Zimbabwe is relatively stress free. Interpol want to see all original documents, photocopies are not accepted.

Entering Zambia it is $50USD (local currency not accepted, USD only) per visa. Took over 1.5 hours at customs, only original documents are accepted. 200kwacha for carbon tax (local currency only, comical really), you can change USD for kwacha outside at fairly poor rate ($31usd for 250kw at time of writing) . There is a bank in the town 8km west to withdraw kwacha once in Zambia at a better rate. Make sure you have Comesa or equivalent insurance that states Zambia, otherwise insurance will cost a further $50usd.

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Zambia Immigration Office

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