Do you need a visa for Mongolia? The rules, by nationality

The honest headline: for most of the travelers we host, Mongolia requires no visa at all. The details depend on your passport, and the rules have been unusually generous since 2023, so plenty of older advice online is out of date. Here is where things stand, nationality by nationality, with the official sources to check before you fly.

One caveat before the lists. Visa policy is set year to year and can change; the exemption program below has been renewed annually since 2023, but always confirm your case on the Mongolian Immigration Agency site or with your nearest Mongolian embassy before booking flights. When you book with us, we check the current rule for your passport as part of planning, in writing.

Visa-free for 90 days

• United States — visa-free for up to 90 days, a long-standing arrangement. Stays over 30 days require registration with the Immigration Agency within the first week.
• South Korea — visa-free for up to 90 days for tourism under the current exemption, extended alongside the Visit Mongolia program.

Visa-free for 30 days: the 34-country list

Since 2023, Mongolia has exempted citizens of 34 countries from tourist visas for stays of up to 30 days, and the exemption is confirmed as running through 2026: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Thirty days covers every itinerary on this site, including the 22-day grand expedition. If you want longer, the stay can be extended once, by up to 30 further days, at the Immigration Agency in Ulaanbaatar.

A number of other countries, including Japan, Singapore, and Türkiye, hold their own long-standing bilateral exemptions. If your passport is not named on this page, check the official exemption list rather than assuming either way.

Neighbors: Russia and China

• Russia — visa-free under a bilateral agreement: up to 30 days per visit, with a cap on total days across a six-month period.
• China — no general tourist exemption for ordinary passports as of this writing. Chinese citizens apply for a tourist visa in advance; the e-visa below is the usual route. Rules between the two countries are under active discussion, so this is the one to re-check closest to travel.

Everyone else: the e-visa

If your passport is not on an exemption list, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Africa, and most of the rest of the world, Mongolia runs a straightforward electronic visa at evisa.mn. The 30-day tourist e-visa is applied for online, issued electronically, usually within a few working days, and shown at the border on arrival. There is no reliable visa-on-arrival for tourists, so treat the e-visa as a before-you-fly task, ideally two to three weeks out.

At the border

Whatever your passport, three practical rules:

• Six months’ validity. Your passport should be valid at least six months beyond entry, with a blank page. Airlines enforce this at check-in.
• Registration over 30 days. Staying longer than 30 days? Register with the Immigration Agency within seven days of arrival. We handle the reminder for guests on long custom routes.
• Keep the entry stamp legible. You will want it at extension time and at exit.

Visas are the last thing that should shape a Mongolia trip, and for most of our guests they shape nothing at all. Tell us your passport and your dates when you write to us, and we will confirm the current rule for your nationality as part of the plan, before you book anything. For what the trip itself costs, see what a Mongolia tour costs; for when to come, the month-by-month guide.