A change in November 2018 means that no way of prolonging your tourist visa on arrival at the airport. It is still possible to get the 30 and 60 day visas on arrival.

A notice at the immigration desk says prolonging your tourist visa up to 90 days is possible beforehand; or what some travellers do, including myself, is to prolong it while they are in Madagascar. If you are more organised, then prolonging your tourist visa through the embassy would be a good option but I tend not to have planned far enough ahead for this.

Another thing worth mentioning before I go into how to apply for the extension in Madagascar is that I have not been asked for an onward ticket when getting my 60 day visa at the airport. If you are then this could be costly as you may be required to buy a ticket out of the country or refused entry until you have onward travel arrangements organised.

The below instructions show what you need to do to get this extension and the photo was taken at the Ministry of the Interior in November 2019.

The points are in French but I explain then in English below.

• Demande sur papier libre. A hand written request has to be made to immigration explaining why an extension to 90 days is required.
• Notice de renseignement. This is the application form and is available from a little kiosk at the ministry of the interior. The cost is a few hundred Ariary.
• Quatre photos. 4 recent passport sized photos.
• Attestation de devise ou bien photocopie de la carte bancarie (avec les recus de banque). Certificate of currency or photocopy of bank card with bank receipts. I photocopied the bank card and crossed out the numbers. I added the bank receipts I got from money I took out locally at the ATM.
• Photocopie du billet retour. Return ticket, less than 90 days from arrival.
• Certificat d’hebergement legalise par la Mairie. Certificate of accommodation legalised by the town hall. Ask the hotel you are staying at for this and they should be able to supply it already legalised by the town hall.
• Deux photocopies passeport. Two photocopies of your passport. Both the picture page and visa page required.
• Droit 80,000 Ariary. This is the fee.
• Sous reserve de production  de pieces jugees utiles. Other useful document. Normally not needed.
• Apply at least 3-5 days before your visa is due to run out.

The visa is applied for at the Ministry of the Interior near the Carlton Hotel. Most taxi drivers will know where it is. They accept applications for prolonging the visa in the morning and passports are given back in the afternoon. I know some people who got their passports back the same day but have also met people who have been waiting for 3 days for the return of theirs. If you really need the passport back that day due to onward travel it would be best to get there first thing in the morning and tell the official that you need it back. It may be best to stay around the office as a reminder of the urgency of your situation as this may speed things up.