AfDB and AU present the 2019 Africa Visa Openness Report

One of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 aspirations (n° 2) is to be a Continent with seamless borders. How much has been done so far? Has progress been made to open up borders for African travellers?

The 2019 Africa Visa Openness Report recently presented by the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank at the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) held in Johannesburg from 11 to 13 November, 2019 concludes that most African countries still have low visa openness scores, with Seychelles, Benin, Senegal, Rwanda and Ghana indicated as those currently facilitating more travel from other African States. Africans still need a visa to travel to 49% of other African countries.

The country which has realised the biggest improvements in the latest years is Ethiopia, following the decision adopted in June 2018 by the government to allow all global visitors to apply for visas to the country online through a modernized eVisa system (a visa abolition agreement is in force between Ethiopia and Kenya dated 1966). Nigeria, on the other hand, requires a visa from almost all African countries (only ECOWAS member States are an exception, while with Kenya a visa on arrival program is active).

A web platform showcases how the different African countries are performing on visa openness overall and the progress being made on scores and rankings on a yearly basis.