Relocating to Beira

About the City

Beira’s population has risen rapidly over the course of recent decades and currently stands at well over half a million people, some five times greater than it was back in 1970.

Many of the local people speak English to a good standard as a result of Mozambique’s continuing popularity as a holiday destination for people from across southern Africa. The official language is Portuguese and some indigenous Bantu dialects are commonly spoken.

Beira is twinned with a number of major European cities, such as Bristol in the United Kingdom, Porto in Portugal and Padua in Italy.

The Climate in Beira

Beira’s climate is deemed to be a tropical savanna climate, with the rainy season running through from November to April.

Temperatures do not fluctuate much throughout the year, with average highs in January at around the 28°C mark, while even in July — which is the coldest month in the city — it does not generally get much cooler than 20°C during the day.

Visas for Mozambique

Mozambique is aiming to join the universal SADC visa in 2015, but at the present time anyone planning to move to Beira must secure a visa from a Mozambican diplomatic mission before their arrival in the country, unless they are from one of the visa-exempt nations. There are just eight visa-exempt countries for Mozambique. These are Botswana, Swaziland, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and South Africa.

Visas on arrival can be issued at Beira’s airport, but only if foreigners are able to show documentation that proves they are traveling to Mozambique for leisure purposes. For those expats who are moving to Beira, the process is a little more complicated.