Burkina Faso customs
Apply for visa
Free import
• Personal effects (clothing, toiletries and other used items a traveler needs for the trip, not for commercial use) are cleared on a verbal declaration. Visitors may bring their personal effects in temporarily without paying duties and taxes.
• Some goods carried by travelers may be imported duty-free within quantities and values set by order of the Minister of Finance. Declare to customs anything you are not sure about; where airports use green and red channels, take the red channel if you have goods to declare.
Currency
• Foreign currency may be brought in freely.
• Non-residents must declare in writing, on arrival and on departure, cash and other means of payment in foreign currency worth more than XOF 500,000. Keep the declaration: you need it to take more than XOF 500,000 in foreign banknotes out of Burkina Faso.
• Residents of Burkina Faso returning from outside the UEMOA must sell foreign cash worth more than XOF 500,000 to an authorized bank or exchange office within 8 working days.
Prohibited
• Narcotics
• Counterfeit goods and goods infringing trademarks or other intellectual property rights
• Foreign goods bearing a false indication of Burkinabe origin
Restricted
• Firearms and ammunition need a purchase authorization signed by the Minister in charge of security, which also serves as the import permit, and a permit to carry the weapon.
• Live animals, animal products and products of animal origin need an import authorization from the livestock (veterinary) services.
• Cats and dogs need an official veterinary health certificate from the country of departure showing that the animal is free of infectious diseases, and a valid rabies vaccination. For pets from the United States, the certificate is valid for 30 days after issue.
• Protected species of animals and plants and products made from them (CITES) need permits.
• Personal effects (clothing, toiletries and other used items a traveler needs for the trip, not for commercial use) are cleared on a verbal declaration. Visitors may bring their personal effects in temporarily without paying duties and taxes.
• Some goods carried by travelers may be imported duty-free within quantities and values set by order of the Minister of Finance. Declare to customs anything you are not sure about; where airports use green and red channels, take the red channel if you have goods to declare.
Currency
• Foreign currency may be brought in freely.
• Non-residents must declare in writing, on arrival and on departure, cash and other means of payment in foreign currency worth more than XOF 500,000. Keep the declaration: you need it to take more than XOF 500,000 in foreign banknotes out of Burkina Faso.
• Residents of Burkina Faso returning from outside the UEMOA must sell foreign cash worth more than XOF 500,000 to an authorized bank or exchange office within 8 working days.
Prohibited
• Narcotics
• Counterfeit goods and goods infringing trademarks or other intellectual property rights
• Foreign goods bearing a false indication of Burkinabe origin
Restricted
• Firearms and ammunition need a purchase authorization signed by the Minister in charge of security, which also serves as the import permit, and a permit to carry the weapon.
• Live animals, animal products and products of animal origin need an import authorization from the livestock (veterinary) services.
• Cats and dogs need an official veterinary health certificate from the country of departure showing that the animal is free of infectious diseases, and a valid rabies vaccination. For pets from the United States, the certificate is valid for 30 days after issue.
• Protected species of animals and plants and products made from them (CITES) need permits.