Palau’s pre-clearance rules require written approval before boarding

Check the additional clearance requirement before booking a short visit

Palau’s border authority requires travellers from twelve designated countries to obtain pre-clearance before travelling. Its official notice states an effective date of 30 March 2026, following Executive Order 499 issued on 11 February. This current guide checks the procedure on 29 October; it does not present that earlier change as a new announcement today.

The listed countries are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ghana, Haiti, Iran, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu. The notice also identifies travellers entering with invitations from Palauan hosts and diplomatic travellers. Anyone in those circumstances should check the notice directly instead of relying solely on a general description of tourist arrival visas.

Applications must reach the designated immigration address at least five days before travel, and carriers must see written clearance before boarding. The notice requests the completed application, entry-form evidence, passport biodata, a non-refundable return ticket, accommodation and funding evidence, with an invitation where relevant. Limited emergency consideration within twenty-four hours is confined to the stated diplomatic, medical and government-invited cases.

Keep the online entry form separate from pre-clearance

The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection’s Border Management page explains the Palau Entry Form. It must be completed before departure within the stated 72-hour window. It generates a QR code to be shown at check-in and arrival, on a device or as a printed copy. Responses must be in English.

That page says one form can cover a family, but each traveller must be able to present the completed form or QR code at arrival. Check the names and passport details for everyone included. A family submission should not leave a child or another accompanying passenger without evidence of the declaration.

The timing creates two separate tasks for someone requiring pre-clearance: begin the clearance process at least five days before travel, then complete the entry declaration within its shorter window. Because the clearance checklist also asks for entry-form evidence, ask Immigration how it wants that evidence supplied or updated. Do not silently assume one deadline replaces the other.

Use the permit granted for the actual length of stay

The bureau’s Immigration page describes ordinary tourist visas of thirty days, with two possible additional thirty-day periods. Applications for extension must be made at least seven days before the current visa expires, and the stated renewal fee is USD 50. Approval should not be assumed merely because an extension category exists.

The March pre-clearance notice separately limits admission under its procedure to the return-ticket period, up to thirty days, with extensions requiring formal approval. A traveller whose ticket shows an earlier return should not automatically plan to use the full thirty days. For illustration, a general tourist allowance does not establish permission to remain after the departure date governing that individual admission.

Separate the environmental fee from visa charges

The Immigration page also explains Palau’s USD 100 Pristine Paradise Environmental Fee, in operation since 1 January 2018 and included in international airfares under the published instructions. It is a separate charge from a visa extension. Checking the airfare receipt can therefore prevent confusion about what has already been paid.

The page lists exemptions including Palauan passport holders, their spouses, specified official-duty crew and diplomats, and transit passengers. It describes refund evidence involving the itinerary showing payment and a passport. Check the complete category with the bureau rather than assuming that every person travelling with an exempt passenger shares the exemption.

Check passport, pledge and sea-arrival requirements as well

The UK government’s Palau entry guide gives British visitors a thirty-day arrival-visa route, subject to entry requirements. It requires six months of remaining passport validity after arrival and two blank pages. It also explains that arrivals sign the Palau Pledge stamped into the passport.

Travellers arriving by sea must give at least forty-eight hours’ notice so immigration formalities can be arranged. That vessel-related notice is separate from the online entry form and any individual pre-clearance. Before departure, identify which documents establish the passenger’s permission, which cover the carrier or vessel, and which confirm the declaration. Keep the written approvals accessible rather than relying on internet access at the border.