Burundi has a single embassy in France, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. It issues visas itself — there is no separate consular section, everything happens at the same address — and there is one honorary consulate, in Bordeaux. Here are the contact details, the visa counter's hours, and the two ways to get a Burundian visa from France in 2026.
Address and contacts
- Address: 10-12, rue de l'Orme, 75019 Paris
- Telephone: +33 1 45 20 60 61
- General email: ambabu.paris62@gmail.com
- Visa service email: consulat.paris62@gmail.com
- Official website: www.ambabuparis.mae.gov.bi
- Nearest metro: Télégraphe, line 11
Be careful with online directories: several still circulate old wanadoo.fr and orange.fr email addresses, and a site with a name very close to the embassy's own is in fact a travel blog, not an official source. The details above are the ones the embassy publishes itself.
Opening hours
The embassy is open Monday to Thursday from 09:00 to 17:00, with a break from 13:00 to 14:00, and on Friday morning. The embassy's own pages contradict each other slightly about Friday afternoon, so assume Friday mornings only and call ahead if you need to go in that day.
The visa counter keeps its own, narrower hours:
- Submitting a file: Monday and Tuesday, 10:00 to 12:00
- Collecting your passport: Thursday 10:00–12:00 and 14:00–16:00, Friday 10:00–12:00
The honorary consulate in Bordeaux
The only other Burundian post in France is the honorary consulate in Bordeaux, at 43 rue d'Aviau, 33000 Bordeaux, on 05 56 52 33 80. An honorary consulate provides limited services and does not issue visas — visa files go through Paris. Consulates in Lyon and Montpellier are sometimes mentioned online, but they appear in no official source.
Do you need a visa for Burundi?
Yes. A visa is required, and it comes with a health requirement: yellow fever vaccination is mandatory, must be done at an approved centre, and the international vaccination certificate is one of the documents in the application. Plan it early — the vaccine has to be given at least ten days before departure.
Two ways to get the visa in 2026
This is the confusing part: two official procedures run side by side, at different prices. Here is what you need to know, current as of October 2026.
1. Apply online, visa issued on arrival
This is the normal route today according to the French authorities. You complete the application form on the Burundian immigration portal (migration.gov.bi), attach the required documents, receive a certificate by email, print it, and the entry authorisation is issued when you land at Bujumbura airport.
The official fee is 90 USD for one month, 180 USD for two months and 270 USD for three, and the one-month visa can be extended locally. Budget the 90 USD in cash, in US dollars, and pay on arrival at the airport — that is the safest way to do it, and it leaves no chance of being held up at the border. Bring the printed certificate, along with the receipt if the portal has already charged you online. No official processing time is published for the form, so fill it in several days before you fly.
2. Apply at the Paris embassy before you travel
The embassy still publishes its own procedure, at EUR 65 for an ordinary one-month visa, with a processing time of two weeks from receipt of the file. Payment is by bank transfer only, to the account shown on the visa page of the embassy's website — check the bank details there on the day you make the transfer rather than copying a number found elsewhere.
Files can be handed in at the counter during the hours above, or sent by tracked mail (La Poste, DHL, Chronopost, FedEx) to 10-12 rue de l'Orme, with a prepaid return envelope bearing your name and full address. Incomplete files are returned at the applicant's expense, and fees are not refunded if the visa is refused.
Which one to choose? If you are flying and comfortable settling a formality on arrival, the online route is simpler and faster. If you would rather leave with the visa already in your passport — for work, for an expense file, or simply to leave nothing to chance — go through the embassy and allow two weeks. When in doubt, one call to the visa service settles it faster than any web page, including this one.
Documents for an embassy application
- a letter of request addressed to the Ambassador;
- your original passport, valid for at least six months;
- the visa application form in two copies, with a passport photo glued to the top right of each;
- two recent passport photographs;
- an invitation letter from your host in Burundi, with a copy of their national ID card (or their passport and Burundian residence permit if they are a foreigner);
- a return air ticket or an attestation from your travel agency;
- the international yellow fever vaccination certificate;
- proof of the bank transfer.
For a business trip, a mission order from your employer plus an invitation letter from the host company replaces the personal invitation. For a minor travelling with only one parent, parental authorisation is required. The form and its explanatory note can be downloaded from the visa page of the embassy's site.
Worth knowing before you go
Two things that change plans and tend to be discovered too late: the land border with Rwanda has been closed since 11 January 2024, so there is no road crossing between Kigali and Bujumbura, and the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo is open only at Gatumba, in daylight. Air links are unaffected. If your itinerary assumed you could combine the two countries overland, flying is now the only option.
For the rest of the paperwork and the trip itself, see our pages on the Burundi visa, entry procedures, our essential travel tips for Burundi and our take on safety on the ground.
Checked in October 2026 against the Burundi embassy in Paris, the Burundian immigration service and the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Visa fees and procedures change without notice: confirm with the embassy before acting on any of it.