Bolivia Visa for Indians: Everything You Need to Know

Out of the world landscapes, interesting juxtaposition of traditional customs and modern practices, bountiful nature from snow-capped peaks to llamas and wild vicunas, and a riveting history make Bolivia an interesting destination in South America.

But before we can start absorbing all that Bolivia has to offer, traveling on Indian passports, the first question that pops in our minds is: Do we need visa for traveling to Bolivia? Spoiler, yes we do!

If you are on the same boat and already have a plethora of questions murmuring in your mind, you have come to the right place.

In this article, we will share with you everything you need to know about Bolivia Visa for Indians – why you need it, how much does it cost, for how long is it valid, what are the documents required, what is the application process, and of course, our first-hand experience of Bolivia visa and immigration.

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Traveling on Indian passports? Read our other visa guides:

• Cuba Visa for Indians
• Guatemala Visa for Indians

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Do Indians Need Tourist Visa for Bolivia? Any Exemptions?

For Bolivia travel, India belongs to Group 2 of countries. Hence, people traveling on Indian passports need to have Bolivia Tourist Visa for entering the country.

For many countries in Latin America, Indian passport holders can be exempt of the visa requirements if they hold a valid US visa or other powerful visas like Canada or UK or Schengen. However, Bolivia offers no such exemptions for Indian travelers.

Traveling on regular Indian passports, you absolutely need to have Bolivia Tourist Visa for entering Bolivia. No exemptions.

One can get a visa on arrival in Bolivia or can apply at the nearest consulate in advance. We recommend the latter. Read the next section to know why.

Also, check out our YouTube video on Bolivia Visa for Indians.

Cost of Bolivia Visa for Indians

Please note, Bolivia Visa for Indians is no longer free of charge.

• Prior Visa Application at the Consulate costs 30 USD
• Visa on Arrival costs almost about 100 USD

Of course, we applied in advance! Requires a little more paperwork (not too complicated) but the visa costs one-third.

Validity of Bolivia Visa for Indians

Indian passport holders get Bolivia Tourist Visa with a validity of 30 days starting from the date of entry. This is a single entry visa that needs to be used within 6 months from the date of issue.

If you fall in love with Bolivia while traveling in the country (you probably will!) or if circumstances require, you can also choose to get your Bolivia Tourist Visa extended for another 60 days, that is, allowing a total of 90 days stay in Bolivia.

So, to summarize, this is the validity of Bolivia Visa for Indians:

• First use: Within 6 months of Visa issue
• Validity: 30 days from the date of entry to Bolivia
• Number of entries: Single entry
• Visa extension: Yes, for up to 60 more days, totaling 90 days max

Documents Required to Apply for Bolivia Visa for Indians

The documentation required for Bolivia Tourist Visa application is pretty standard and intuitive.

Here is a list of documents that you will need with an explanation of what we had provided for our applications.

1. Passport: It needs to have at least 6 months validity as of the time of entering Bolivia.
2. Visa Application Form: We had filled the forms online and took printouts of the same.
3. Photo: We followed the size, resolution, lighting and background guidelines and got our photos taken on our phones. We uploaded the same while filling out the application form (#1 on this list) and the consular office accepted them. However, we recommend getting professional photos taken for the purpose of visa applications.
4. Bolivia Visit Itinerary: We created excel documents with day-wise travel plan and also included screenshots of flight options and hotel bookings. We had not actually booked the flights, just got screenshots of the flight itinerary we were planning to take. For hotels, we had made reservations with free cancellation options.
5. Bolivia Exit Ticket: We had not actually booked it, but provided a screenshot of tour that would enable us exit Bolivia and enter Chile by land.
6. Proof of Economic Solvency: We had provided copies of our individual bank statements, month-till-date at the time of application.
7. Yellow Fever Vaccination: No site lists this as a requirement, however we were categorically asked for copies of our yellow fever vaccination cards by the officer at the Bolivia Embassy in Costa Rica.
8. Visa Fees Payment Receipt: For visa application from Costa Rica, we had to physically visit a BCR bank branch, make the payment at the teller counter and get the yellow receipt. This yellow receipt (comprobante), in original, is what we had to attach. No online payment or no online payment confirmation was accepeted.

Actual Paid Reservation or Tentative Itinerary?

For all the tickets and reservations, where we had not actually made the reservations but just grabbed screenshots of the intended travel itineraries, we were honest about it. We explained the officer at the Embassy that we could not risk booking such expensive flights and tours before actually receiving the Bolivia Tourist Visas. She understood and agreed with the logic.

Application Process for Bolivia Tourist Visa

We had applied for our Bolivia Tourist Visas at the Bolivia Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica. Depending on which Embassy or Consular Office you are applying from, the experience may differ a bit. But the process should be largely be the same.

Here are the steps to apply for Bolivia Tourist Visa:

1. Fill out the form online. From the time we had applied for our Bolivia Tourist Visas, the website seems to have been updated. Now, you need to create an account on this Bolivia government site to initiate the visa application process.
2. Upload documents as and when required while filling out the online form.
3. Get printouts of the form as well as all the documents.
4. Schedule an appointment at the Embassy/ Consular Office for a chosen date and time. If there is no option to schedule an appointment online,
   • Search on the internet for the phone number or the email address of the local Bolivia embassy.
   • Call them or send an email for scheduling the appointment.
5. Arrive at the office as per scheduled appointment and submit original passport and copies of all required documents.
6. Once your Bolivia visa is ready, the Embassy will give you a call asking you to come and collect the passport. This usually takes less then 24 hours, unless there is some holiday or weekend in between.
7. Go to the office and get your passport back, with freshly stamped Bolivia Tourist Visa. Remember to check if all details are correct.

Our Experience of Bolivia Visa Application from Costa Rica

Although the process for Bolivia Visa application seems fairly easy, we ended up being in continuous back and forth, primarily due to delay or gap in communication.

But whenever there was any face-to-face communication with anyone, whether the security personnel or the representative at the consular office or the men who helped us with the direction – every interaction was pleasant, friendly and respectful, and always garnished with a smile. This kind of treatment is something one can fathom only if they have had the chance of living or traveling in Costa Rica and interacting with the people of this beautiful country.

In Costa Rica, you do not always get things done in one go. But, packing a little patience, you always come out smiling. We had the same experience with our Bolivia Visa application from Costa Rica.

First Contact

Before even starting with our Bolivia Visa application process, I had written to the Bolivia Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica, just to confirm the steps we needed to follow for the visa application. I sent the email to embocr@ice.co.cr, the email ID listed on the official website of Bolivia Embassy in Costa Rica. I waited for about 3 weeks, but there was no response.

Where is the Bolivia Embassy Office?

So, no longer expecting any response to my email, we anyway started the online application and once we had everything ready, we went to the Bolivia Embassy in Costa Rica. After driving for a while, we reached the location only to realize that the office location had shifted a while ago. The people near the door of the new business at that location were friendly (of course! it’s Costa Rica! :-)) and they helped us track the correct location by calling up the landline phone of the Embassy.

This is new location of the Bolivia Embassy in Costa Rica: about 280 meters from the Pops Ice-cream Shop of El Prado. Do not be confused by the markings on Google Maps – I repeat, go to the correct location.

Appointment Needed

When we arrived, the security guard (police) informed us that we could not meet the consular officer without a prior appointment.

What is the way to schedule an appointment? Call or email. Umm, didn’t my email remain unanswered for 3 weeks?

But again, given it’s Costa Rica, the guard was kind to us, asked us to wait and went inside to see if the officer could see us. The representative at the office did kindly agree to see us.

Documents Check

We went inside and explained our case and shared all the documents in original, including the visa application form and the passports. The copies of the supporting documents were already uploaded to the online application. She checked all our documents, understood our travel plan in detail and even asked us if this was a good time to visit the Uyuni Salt Flats of Bolivia :-). Turns out she was a Tica working in the office, not someone from Bolivia.

During this conversation, she explained that we still needed to submit physical copies of the documents that we had attached to our online applications. She said we also needed to include copy of our Yellow Fever Vaccination cards. (This was not mentioned anywhere according to our research, but the Embassy in Costa Rica asked for it. Thankfully we already had those due to our previous trips to South America.)

We asked her if we could go out and get the printouts and return in a few minutes to submit everything she needed. Not yet. It seemed we still had to make the visa fees payment before we could proceed with the documents submission.

Visa Fees

At the time of our visa application, the last available information was that prior visa application at a consular office for Bolivia travel was free for Indians. There was no visa fees required. That is what the Bolivia immigration site too stated.

However, the person on the other side of the table explained us that it was not the case anymore. There had been a recent change in the visa fees structure. She in fact logged in to the system on her computer and checked our applications, verified her claim and confirmed that indeed there was a visa fee payment pending for us, 30 USD per visa application.

We asked her what was the process of the payment and if we could do it then and there online.

It was a Friday, almost noon. What do you think she said?

She asked me to send an email to her on Monday morning asking for the Embassy’s account details, to which she would reply how to make the payment at a Banco de Costa Rica branch. What is the email ID? The same one where I had sent an email 3 weeks back!

Pura vida! 😉

Visa Fees Payment at BCR

So, on Monday we had the email exchange as previously discussed. I got the required bank account details. So, I thought we could fast track the process if I could make the payment online. There were a few more email exchanges and she repeatedly reminded me that the payment had to be done physically at a BCR branch, individually for both of us, and the yellow paper slips (comprobantes) are what we needed to include with the rest of our documents. No online payment or no online payment confirmation would do.

Documents Submission

The next day, we went to the Embassy office again, early in the morning, armed with every document that we had been asked to bring. She checked all of those and confirmed that all was right. They could issue the visas right away but the person who would sign it off was not present in the office at that moment. Hence we were sent back home. She told us that we would receive a call the same afternoon or the next morning once our passports were ready with the Bolivia Tourist Visas.

Our Bolivia Tourist Visas

The next morning, I indeed received a call from her, asking us to go to the office and pick up our passports. So we did.

Finally, after unanswered email, arriving at wrong office location, discovering about new visa fees, paying visa fees the old school way, every back and forth was worth it. Because our passports had now been stamped with the Bolivia Tourist Visas!

Our Travel and Bolivia Immigration Experience

We traveled to Bolivia from Dominican Republic with a layover in Colombia. Unfortunately this journey was not a pleasant experience for us, for various weird reasons. Want to get the scoops? (Coming soon!) Read about our terrible experience at Santo Domingo airport in Dominican Republic and this one about an unanticipated incident at Bogota airport in Colombia.

However, at the end of this long and wicked travel day, upon arrival in Bolivia at 2:00 in the morning, we were greeted with the cold of La Paz city and the warmth of its people. With minimum questions asked (which hotel are you staying at), the immigration officer smilingly put the entry stamps on our passports with 30 day validity. We were now all set to explore this beautiful country. Welcome to Bolivia!

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