Cape Verde Travel Requirements: Advice For UK Travellers

Whether it be for a holiday, business, or to visit loved ones, when looking to travel to Cape Verde, there are a number of requirements and recommendations you should research prior to booking your trip. This ranges from legal must-haves to handy tips that will make your journey simpler.

Entry Requirements For UK Nationals

Details subject to change, please check travel requirements with the relevant governments before travel.

If you’re travelling from the UK, the documents you will be required to prepare before entry to Cape Verde include:

Traveller Entry Form

All travellers looking to visit Cape Verde must fill out a traveller’s entry form at least 5 days prior to your entry to the country. This entry form includes an airport security fee, which must be paid before your arrival. 

If you’re travelling with a tour operator or package holiday provider, check if they are able to complete this form for you as part of your booking process. 

Children aged one and under are not required to fill out an entry form.

Travelling With Children

Children aged 17 and under, travelling alone or with an adult who is not their legal guardian, are required to carry a letter of authorisation to travel from their guardian. This letter must be in Portuguese, and the signature must be certified by a solicitor or notary. 

This letter should include information like:

• The address where the child will be staying during their stay
• The dates of their arrival and departure
• The full legal name of the adult who will be responsible for them during their stay in Cape Verde
• The full legal names, passport details, and contact details of any parents or legal guardians
• The parent or legal guardian’s signature and date of signing

If a child aged 17 and under attempts to travel to Cape Verde without a legal guardian and does not have a letter of authorisation, both the child and the accompanying adult may be refused entry to Cape Verde.

Vaccine Certificates

When travelling to Cape Verde, you will be required to carry a certificate proving you are vaccinated against yellow fever if you are travelling from a country listed as a transmission risk.

These countries include:

Africa		Americas
Angola	Guinea-Bissau	Argentina *
Benin	Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	Bolivia *
Burkina Faso	Kenya *	Brazil *
Burundi	Liberia	Colombia *
Cameroon	Mali *	Ecuador *
Central African Republic	Mauritania *	French Guiana
Chad *	Niger *	Guyana
Congo	Nigeria	Panama *
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Senegal	Paraguay *
Equatorial Guinea	Sierra Leone	Peru *
Ethiopia *	South Sudan	Suriname
Gabon	Sudan *	Trinidad and Tobago *
Gambia	Togo	Venezuela *
Ghana	Uganda
Guinea

* The risk of yellow fever transmission is only present in select areas of these countries. For onward travel from these countries, the country is considered as a whole, and as such you will still be required to have a vaccine certificate.

For the countries not mentioned above, there are generally no certificate requirements when travelling onward, some have additional rules you should check before travelling.

Prepare Before You Travel

Before travelling to Cape Verde, some things to prepare, or prepare for, may include:

Goods Declaration

Cape Verde has strict rules surrounding what can be brought in or out of the country by travellers. Some key ones for travellers to be aware of are:

Duty Free Allowances Per Adult (18+ only)

• Tobacco: 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, or 250g of tobacco
• Alcohol: 1 litre of spirits, and 2 litres of wine
• Perfumes: 250ml of eau de cologne and 50g perfume

Currency Regulations

• Amounts over €10,000 should be declared
• The Cape Verdean Escudo is a non-convertible currency, meaning it cannot be easily converted or used outside of the country of Cape Verde. As such, travellers holding large amounts of the currency may be questioned by airport security if needed

Prohibited and Restricted Items

• Narcotics are strictly prohibited
• Any weapons and ammunition can be carried with the relevant licenses
• Prescription medications should be carried in their original packaging with a doctor’s note or original prescription

Insurance

Before travelling to any overseas destination, including Cape Verde, it is important that you get suitable travel insurance. This insurance can look different for different travellers, and as such, you may need to do some research as to what your insurance options are. 

It should be noted that Global Health Insurance Cards (GHIC) are not accepted in Cape Verde. 

General Advice

If you are planning to visit Cape Verde this year, or are just researching the destination for future holidays, then you should make sure you do plenty of prior research on the destination as a whole. Factors like overall safety, suitability for familiesen travel times may impact your decision about booking to visit Cape Verde.