Member states: Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
COMESA currently ranks fifth of the eight RECs for average visa openness (2023: fourth), with several factors contributing to this change. Two of its member states are jointly top-ranked countries on the index, while seven others have a place inside the top 20. Several changes alongside Kenya’s introduction of an ETA for all non-EAC countries have contributed to a slight net-negative change in visa openness within the region overall. Eight member states have made some changes, five positive and three tightening their visa policies. One country, Ethiopia, now requires a visa ahead of travel from Egypt, Eritrea, Libya and Sudan, but has abolished the need for a visa from nationals of Morocco and South Africa.
Interestingly, the changes are not generally directed at one or two other countries only, for example as might be expected when countries conclude bilateral arrangements on relaxing their visa policies. Countries that have implemented one or more positive changes – some of which were already noted in last year’s report but fell outside of the data collection period – are Eritrea, Libya, Malawi, Tunisia and Uganda, while new restrictions have been implemented by Comoros (vis-a-vis fellow COMESA members Burundi and Somalia, whose citizens no longer qualify for a visa on arrival), and Ethiopia with respect to earlier mentioned countries.
Visa-free reciprocity in COMESA continues to be at relatively low levels, only marginally ahead of IGAD. The region scores 17% in this metric – lower than in all prior years. Tellingly, visa-free reciprocity is far less aligned than the type of reciprocity where a visa is required ahead of travel, which applies to 22% of travel within COMESA.
Kenya and Uganda score the highest in the regional visa-free reciprocity stakes: both reciprocate visa-free-access with half of COMESA’s member states. Both are also members of the EAC, a region where most intra-regional travel is visa-free. In contrast, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Madagascar, Somalia and Sudan do not reciprocate visa-free access with any other COMESA Member States, because their visa policies always require a visa, either ahead of travel, or on arrival. In 50% of all intra-regional travel scenarios, the respective visa policies between a source and destination country are not harmonised.
COMESA’s low visa-free reciprocity score demonstrates that the region’s protocols on the free movement of persons are still not widely ratified and implemented. The first instrument – the Protocol on the Gradual Relaxation and Eventual Elimination of Visa Requirements – was adopted in 1984 and aimed to scale back visa requirements for intra-regional travel by allowing visa-free access for 90 days. The second instrument – COMESA’s Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, Labour, Services, the Right of Establishment and Residence – was adopted in 19989 and was aimed at substantially expanding the movement of persons to include the right to establishment, through staged implementation. But this has still not been ratified by all member states, with only 10 out of 21 countries implementing the protocol (Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Malawi, Rwanda, Eswatini, Seychelles, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) despite renewed efforts since late 2023 to drive this process forward.
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