Visa openness refers to the ease with which visitors are authorized to enter their country of destination.
A more visa-open country has a liberal or relaxed visa policy for visitors, meaning that visitors either do not need a visa to enter its territory or can obtain a visa upon arrival. A visa-restrictive country requires visitors to obtain a visa before they travel. Visitors might obtain the visa from an embassy, a consulate, or another source.
The visa openness rate refers to the percentage of other countries in Africa whose citizens are permitted to enter a country’s territory without having obtained a visa before arriving. Earlier editions of the AVOI referred to this as the “liberal access rate.” Important: Visa policies change frequently. Before travelling, please check with the embassy or consulate of your country of destination
Scores and rankings. AVOI scores range from 0 to 1, where 0 designates countries with the most restrictive visa policies and 1 designates countries with the most welcome policies.
The higher a country’s index score, the more “visa-open” is the country and the higher it ranks.
Categories and weightings. To calculate each country’s score, the AVOI assesses the country’s visa policy vis-à-vis each of the other 53 countries in the continent and classifies each policy in one of three categories. The AVOI gives each category a weighting:
Calculations. To compute the country’s score, the AVOI follows four steps:
It counts the number of countries that fall in each visa category (visa required before travel, visa on arrival, no visa required).
It converts that number into a percentage of all countries in Africa.
It weighs each percentage according to the weighting given to each category.
It adds the figures.
Formula: AVOI score = [(% of African countries whose nationals must obtain a visa before travelling x 0) + (% of African countries whose nationals may obtain a visa on arrival x 0.8) + (% of African countries whose nationals are not required to obtain a visa x 1)]/100
Country X requires the nationals of 13 countries to obtain a visa before travel. It allows the nationals of 30 countries to obtain a visa on arrival, and it allows the nationals of 10 other countries to enter its territory visa-free. Country X’s score is calculated as follows: AVOI score for Country X = [(visa required before travel: 13/53 x 0) + (visa upon arrival: 30/53 x 0.8) + (no visa required: 10/53 x 1)]/100 = 0.642
AfCFTA African Continental Free Trade Area
AfDB African Development Bank Group
AMU Arab Maghreb Union
AVOI Africa Visa Openness Index
AU African Union
CEMAC Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa
CEN-SAD Community of Sahel-Saharan States
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
EAC East African Community
ECCAS Economic Community of Central African States
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States
E-visa Electronic Visa
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GTI Guided Trade Initiative
IATA International Air Transport Association
ICBT Informal Cross-border Trade
IGAD Intergovernmental Authority on Development
PAPSS Pan-African Payment & Settlement System
PFMP Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons
REC Regional Economic Community
SAATM Single African Air Transport Market
SADC Southern African Development Community
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
USD United States Dollars
