Mongolia entry: visa-free stays, 48-hour registration and customs

Who can visit without a visa, and until when

UK and most EU passports (including France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland and others listed by Mongolia's consular service) can visit for up to 30 days without a visa under a temporary scheme that runs until the end of 2026; no extension into 2027 has been announced. German passports have their own 30-day visa-free arrangement.

The temporary scheme covers 34 countries and applies to tourism only. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia lists every EU member state except Germany, together with the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Australia and New Zealand. Germany, Canada, the United States and Brazil are on a separate list of standing agreements, with no end date attached:

A visa-free stay is for the purpose the list names. Work, study, business travel on a temporary-scheme passport, or a stay beyond the allowed days, needs a visa of the right type before you travel.

Planning a trip in 2027

Unless the scheme is extended, a 2027 trip on those passports needs a tourist visa, applied for at a Mongolian embassy unless e-visa eligibility is announced: the UK and the EU states are not on the Immigration Agency's list of nationalities eligible for the e-visa. The Immigration Agency publishes the list of nationalities eligible for Mongolia's e-visa, which is applied for at evisa.mn: you fill in the form, pay the fee online (the site shows it at payment, and it is not refunded) and receive an electronic travel authorisation by email. The Immigration Agency processes applications within three working days (72 hours), the passport must be valid for at least 180 days when you apply, and you show the authorisation, printed or on your phone, at the border, where it is scanned with your passport. The tourist category is K2, for up to 30 days.

An e-visa cannot be extended or converted to another type, so a trip of more than 30 days on a passport that needs a visa should start with an embassy visa; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives three working days as the normal embassy processing time, and up to five to ten working days for some applications. If you only pass through, for example on the Beijing train, a passport that needs a visa can use the K6 transit visa, valid for up to 10 days: by e-visa, or at the border with an onward ticket and any visa needed for the next country.

Passport, arrival and staying longer

Your passport must be valid for at least six months after the date you arrive. At the border you give your biometric details; make sure the officer stamps your passport, or you could have problems when you leave. Adults travelling with children who are not their own should carry a notarised letter from the parents or legal guardian, and foreign children under 16 may be refused entry without a parent or guardian.

A visa-free stay or a regular tourist visa can be extended once by up to 30 more days: apply to the Immigration Agency, in person or online, for a fee, at least five working days before the initial stay runs out. Approval is not automatic. Overstaying is fined MNT 10,000 for every day over (10 fine units of MNT 1,000, up to 2,000 units), set by the agency's state inspector.

Registering your address within 48 hours

Your hotel or camp registers you with the immigration authority within 48 hours of arriving at each address; if you stay with friends or in a rented flat, you register yourself. The duty comes from Mongolia's law on the legal status of foreign nationals, and the Immigration Agency's FAQ adds that the 48 hours run from arrival at each address, so on a road trip every camp registers you again. Hosts register online, on the agency's website or its mobile app.

If you register yourself, you do it online with the Immigration Agency at eimmigration.mn, without going in person. The agency then issues a digital residence permit showing your passport number, address, photograph and fingerprints; carry it during your stay.

Stays of more than 30 days also need a separate registration with the Immigration Agency within seven days of arrival; doing it in the first two days meets every published deadline. It comes on top of the 48-hour registration at each address.

Customs: allowances, cash and medicines

There is no visa form to fill in on arrival; the paper that matters is the customs passenger declaration. Customs at Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN) lets you bring in, duty-free and declared in writing on it, up to 2 litres each of spirits and wine, 3 litres of beer, 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars or 250 g of loose tobacco; travellers under 18 may bring in no alcohol or tobacco. Write cameras, laptops, binoculars, musical instruments and other equipment you travel with on the passenger declaration and have it certified by the customs inspector, so that you can take them out again without question.

Cash, foreign currency, financial instruments and e-money from MNT 15 million in total must be declared: about USD 4,170 at the Bank of Mongolia rate of USD 1 = MNT 3,599.08 (29 October 2026), a lower line than many travellers expect. You receive a certified declaration, and money you did not declare may be seized when you leave. Dollars and euros change easily at banks and exchange offices in Ulaanbaatar, though 200 and 500 euro notes may be refused.

For medicines, airport customs accepts an emergency supply of up to seven days with a doctor's prescription, and up to three months of personal medication with a statement from a medical institution and related documents. It does not allow travellers to bring in intravenous fluids, injectable antibiotics, narcotic or psychotropic medicines, blood products or vaccines for personal use. Carry your medicines in their original packs with the prescription or the medical statement, and write them on the declaration.

Fossils, antiques and what you take home

The Gobi is dinosaur country, and Bayanzag (Flaming Cliffs) is famous for its fossil finds, but nothing from them goes home with you. Airport customs requires a permit from the relevant state authority, as well as a customs declaration, for palaeontological finds and every other kind of geological, natural-history or scientific specimen. Leave bones and rocks where you see them, and walk away from anyone selling them.

When you leave, customs searches luggage very often and thoroughly for antiques, valuable minerals, palaeontological finds, metals and hunting trophies, so anything that looks old is best left in the shop. Our first-trip guide covers money, SIM cards and conduct once you are in the country.

Health, insurance and border areas

German advice lists no compulsory vaccination for a direct arrival and recommends hepatitis A and rabies; rabies vaccine and especially immunoglobulin are scarce in Mongolia. If an animal bites or scratches you, see a doctor at once, even if you are vaccinated. Medical care outside Ulaanbaatar is limited and hospitals may ask for most of the cost up front, so take insurance that covers evacuation and repatriation.

Border areas, which can reach up to 100 km inside the frontier, need permission from the State Frontier Guard Authority. If a route of yours runs close to a frontier, for example towards the northern end of Lake Khövsgöl, your operator arranges that permit.

If you arrive or leave overland, foreigners may cross only at the specified border points; UK advice lists Zamyn-Üüd, the road and rail crossing to China, among those open to British nationals, and EU/EEA passport holders should check that the crossing they plan is open to their nationality. China's own entry rules apply on the other side, and our transport guide covers the Beijing train and the Erenhot route. Check your own government's travel advice too.