Dar es Salaam. The Chinese Embassy in Tanzania has denied imposing policy barriers on Tanzanian citizens seeking visas, saying a sharp increase in applications has placed pressure on its current processing capacity.
In a statement issued following complaints from Tanzanian traders and other travellers, the embassy said applications were being handled “in an orderly and efficient manner” and that measures were underway to expand processing capacity and improve the quality of visa services.
“The Chinese side welcomes the increasingly close people-to-people exchanges between China and Tanzania and is pleased to see that more and more Tanzanian friends are travelling to China,” the embassy said.
The statement comes after applicants reported spending several days trying to submit documents at the embassy in Dar es Salaam. Some applicants said they had resorted to arriving the evening before the embassy opened to secure places in an informal queue.
The Chanzo investigation published a few days ago found dozens of people waiting near the embassy late at night. Some had brought mattresses, while others were eating or talking as they waited for the official queue to open the following morning.
The congestion also reportedly created an informal market in which individuals obtained places in the queue and sold them to applicants for between Sh50,000 and Sh100,000.
Tanzanian traders, many of whom travel to China to purchase goods, said the difficulties had affected their businesses and raised the cost of travel. China is Tanzania’s largest source of imported goods, accounting for about 28 per cent of the country’s imports in 2025, according to government economic survey data.
Some traders had speculated that the delays were connected to Tanzania’s 2025 order prohibiting non-citizens from operating in 15 categories of business. Others alleged that the difficulties could benefit Chinese-owned wholesale businesses operating in Tanzania.
The embassy’s statement, however, rejected suggestions that Tanzanians faced restrictions based on official policy.
“There are no policy barriers for Tanzanian citizens to apply for Chinese visas,” it said, attributing the pressure on visa services to the growing number of applicants and the large volume of applications being processed.
Concerns about the delays were raised publicly on August 3, 2026 by Tanzania Traders Association chairperson Khamisi Abdallah Livembe during a government-private sector meeting on the implementation of Tanzania Development Vision 2050.
The embassy has now advised Tanzanians planning to travel to China to submit their online applications at least three weeks before their intended departure dates.
“Applicants must follow the requirements published on the embassy’s website and regularly check the online application system for requests to revise their forms or provide additional documents. Delays may occur if applicants fail to respond promptly,” the embassy said.
The mission also warned applicants against relying on what it described as disinformation spread by profit-driven middlemen. It said accurate guidance on visa procedures was available through its official website and its accounts on X and Facebook.
Although the statement did not specify all the measures being introduced or provide details about possible special windows for traders, it indicated that the embassy was working to increase its capacity as travel between Tanzania and China continued to grow.
