Uganda has dropped down on it’s visa openness according to the latest published annual Africa Visa Openness index.
The Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) measures the extent to which African countries are open to travellers from other African countries. Published yearly since 2016, the AVOI tracks changes in countries’ scores over time to show how national policies evolve on the freedom of movement across Africa.
The index also analyses each country’s visa requirements to show which countries on the continent facilitate travel to their countries. For each country, the index calculates the number of African countries whose citizens must obtain a visa upon arrival, and the number of countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter. It also tracks changes in the countries’ scores over time and then analyses how policies earmarked for freedom of movement across the continent are evolving.
Prepared by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the publication is now in its 7th edition and was launched on Dec.11 on the sidelines of the 2022 African Economic Conference in Balaclava, Mauritius.
Despite Covid-19 lockdowns and travel disruptions, 93% of African countries have maintained or improved their score compared to last year while two-thirds of the 54 countries that make up the African continent have gone ahead to adopt more liberal visa policies compared to six years ago.
This perhaps explains why this year saw Uganda fall to the 30th position from the eighth position it occupied last year while Burundi, Djibouti and Ethiopia made the most progress.
According to the 2022 edition, Burundi, Djibouti and Ethiopia have made the most progress in their visa openness with Ethiopia in particular rising several places on the index to retain its position in the continent’s top 20 performers after removing temporary measures instituted in 2021.
Within the East African Community (EAC) bloc, Burundi rose highest on the index, thanks to the new government’s decision to accept all African visitors into the country either visa-free (for East African citizens) or visa on arrival (rest of Africa). The initiative propelled Burundi from 44th position in 2021 to 12th this year.
Rwanda, however, remains the star performer on the index in the region. Rwanda accepts visitors from 18 African countries to enter its territory visa-free while the rest can get the visas on arrival. It is ranked fifth just behind Benin, Seychelles, The Gambia and Ghana.
“This edition links free movement to the development of regional value chains, investments, trade in services and the AfCFTA. There is greater recognition that human mobility is key to Africa’s integration efforts,” said Dr Monique Nsazabaganwa, the deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission.
This year’s report underlines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years (2020 and 2021) during which most countries restricted movement, both domestically and for international travel. Restrictions on international travel ranged from closing entire borders to quarantines, screening measures, and bans on visitors from countries deemed “high risk.”
Still, the 2022 report reflects on renewed signs of progress. At least 10 countries have improved their visa openness score over the past year two years, and visa openness on the continent now exceeds that recorded during the year before the Covid-19 pandemic and is in line with the peak score achieved in 2020.
Three countries—Benin, The Gambia and Seychelles—offer visa-free entry to Africans from all other countries. For context, in 2016 and 2017, only one country did so. In addition, 24 African countries offer an eVisa. This is five more than five years ago.
According to the report, 48 countries out of 54, the vast majority of African countries, now offer visa-free travel to the nationals of at least one other African country while 42 countries offer visa-free travel to the nationals of at least 5 other African countries.
Interestingly, lower-income countries account for a large share of the countries that make up the top-20 ranked countries in 2022 with liberal visa policies: 45% of countries in the top 20 on the index are classified as low-income countries, while a further 45% of countries are classified as lower middle-income.
Find Full Africa Visa Openness index Report HERE
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