Passport Fees From Southern African Countries: Zimbabwe’s Passport Is The Most Expensive And Difficult To Get

How expensive is a Zimbabwean passport compared to the cost in neighbouring countries? Is it true that Zimbabwe has the cheapest passport fees among it’s neighbouring countries? How long does it take our neighbouring countries to process passport applications?

Well, we went out looking for answers and suffice to say some results were expected but others were not. For example in Botswana passport normal applications are take less than a week (3-5 days). That’s so quick they don’t even have information on how you can get an emergency passport. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the application fee for that normal passport is US $23.

Not only do Zimbabweans have to wait indefinitely to receive their passports, but Zimbabwe also has the highest passport fees compared to its neighbours. It costs US $318 fees to get a 24-hour emergency passport if you apply abroad. That would be enough to cover three 24 hour Mozambican emergency passports and leave you enough change to get a Lion Slicer.

In Zambia, Namibia and South Africa applicants can also opt to get a passport with 10 more pages than the ordinary passport. This is especially useful if you are a frequent traveller. Here you get a passport.