ETD Online Tanzania: Login and Service Guide

Type "ETD online login" into a search engine and you'll get a mix of results: a US company's training site, university thesis systems and a few Tanzanian pages. Only one of them matters here. In Tanzania, ETD means Emergency Travel Document (Hati ya Dharura ya Safari), the short-term document from the Immigration Services Department for citizens who need to travel urgently and don't have a usable passport.

Here's the part most guides skip. The ETD Online portal doesn't have an account login. There's no username to create and no password to forget.

Quick Access Links

• ETD Online Portal (start or renew an application)
• Continue or Check an ETD Application
• Tanzania Immigration Services: e-Immigration portals
• Immigration Department official website
• GePG payment gateway (fetch a bill by control number)

Who can get an ETD, and what does it allow?

According to the Immigration Department's passport guide, an ETD is for a Tanzanian citizen in one of these situations:

• You have an emergency trip and haven't finished getting an ordinary passport.
• You need to travel out of the country and can't get a passport in time.
• You're stranded abroad, or being sent back to Tanzania from another country.

Take a case like this. Your passport expired last month, and a relative is in hospital in Mombasa. A new passport won't be ready before Friday. That's the kind of situation an ETD is meant for.

One thing matters a lot: an ETD works for a single trip. It covers going to the destination and coming back. When you return, you hand it to the immigration officer at the entry point. It isn't a replacement for a passport, so if you travel often you'll still need one.

Before you buy a ticket, ask the airline and the destination country's embassy whether they accept an ETD. Requirements for entry and transit vary, and the portal can't answer that for you.

How the portal works

The ETD Online home page is in Swahili and gives you three options:

• Ombi Jipya: a new application.
• Huisha (Renew): replace an ETD that has expired.
• Endeleza/Angalia Ombi: continue an application you started, or check on it. To do that, you enter your application number and the email you used. There's no login.

Write down your application number as soon as you get it. It's how you get back in, and there's no password reset to fall back on.

Your route depends on how you identify yourself. If you apply with a passport number, or you're renewing, you print the emergency permit yourself once the application is complete. If you apply with a NIDA number or a guarantor's ID, you print the form and take it, with your attachments, to the nearest Immigration office. After they process it, you can print the ETD.

How to apply

1. Open the ETD Online Portal and choose Ombi Jipya.
2. Fill in your personal details correctly. Names and dates should match your birth certificate, NIDA record or old passport, whichever you're using.
3. Attach your photo and the documents the form asks for. See the note below.
4. Get your control number and pay. The fee is TZS 20,000 in Tanzania. You can pay by mobile money or at a bank.
5. Wait for confirmation. The passport guide says the ETD is issued within 24 hours of payment.
6. Print the ETD, or take the printed form to Immigration, depending on the route above.

If you're in Dodoma, Arusha, Mwanza or any other regional town, ETDs are issued at regional and district Immigration offices, so you don't need to travel to Dar es Salaam. That comes from the Immigration passport guide.

Documents

I couldn't open the portal's full in-country checklist, so use what the form shows you as the final word. What I can confirm comes from the Tanzania Embassy in Washington, which lists these for people abroad:

• Birth certificate (original and copy), or an affidavit.
• Birth certificate or affidavit of one parent.
• Passport-size photo, uploaded online. The embassy's older instructions ask for a blue background.
• Copy of your old passport.
• A letter explaining why you need the ETD.
• Flight ticket or itinerary.
• Lost or stolen passport: complete the lost passport procedure first, including a police report.

Scan everything before you start, in clear images. Uploading half-legible photos of documents is a quick way to get delayed.

How much does it cost?

Inside Tanzania, TZS 20,000. Abroad, USD 20 through an embassy. Both figures are in the Immigration Department's guide and on the Washington embassy's fee page.

You may see other numbers on websites. Some older pages show TZS 10,000, and one unofficial site lists USD 30 to 50. Ignore those. The amount on your control number is what you pay. If it doesn't match TZS 20,000 (or USD 20 abroad), stop and ask before paying.

Payment goes through a GePG control number. If you want to see what the bill is for before you pay, paste the number into the GePG bill lookup.

Applying from outside Tanzania

Embassy processes can differ, so check your own embassy's page first. The Washington embassy's ETD steps (dated October 2020, so treat them as a guide rather than the latest word) went like this: complete the form on the Immigration website, email it with your attachments, wait for a payment bill by email, pay USD 20 through the link, and allow about 24 hours for the payment to show. The document is then posted to you, which means you have to send a shipping label or a prepaid envelope.

If you're travelling soon, don't rely on a posted document. Call or email the embassy and ask what they can do in your timeframe.

What goes wrong

• Lost application number. You can't continue without it. Save it in your phone notes and take a screenshot.
• Wrong email. Bills and updates go there. If you make a typo, you may not see them.
• Payment made but no ETD. Allow the 24 hours the guide mentions. If that passes, keep your payment SMS and control number and take them to the Immigration office.
• Old address. The Immigration guide still mentions an older ETD address (etd.immigration.go.tz), which asks for a User ID and password. If you land on it and you don't have login details, go back to the newer portal from the Immigration website.

Cautions

• Use only addresses ending in immigration.go.tz. Unrelated sites also use the name "ETD Online".
• Don't pay through personal phone numbers or agents who promise a document "without" checks. ETD fees are paid by control number.
• Fees, once paid, generally aren't refundable, according to the embassy pages. Check your details first.
• Don't rely on old screenshots. The portal is currently version 1.4.03 and has changed before.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an ETD Online login page? Not for applicants. You start on the portal's home page, and you continue an application using the application number and email. An older address still asks for a User ID and password, but the newer portal doesn't ask for one.

Can I use an ETD instead of a passport for regular travel? No. It's issued for one trip, out and back.

How long does it take? The Immigration guide says within 24 hours after you pay. Complications, such as missing documents, can add time.

Can I apply without a passport number? Yes. The portal describes a route for applicants with a NIDA number or a guarantor's ID, but you'll have to print the form and go to an Immigration office.

Official References

• ETD Online Portal
• Tanzania Immigration Services: services page
• Immigration Department: passport and travel document guide (Swahili PDF)
• Immigration Department: fees for electronic passports and travel documents
• Tanzania Embassy Washington: passes and passports, including ETD requirements
• Tanzania Embassy Washington: ETD application steps (PDF, Swahili, 2020)