Some significant and notable improvements have occurred over the past year. Sierra Leone and Angola have shown the greatest increase in their AVOI score. Sierra Leone now offers citizens of 15 countries visa-free access, a slight increase over 2023 (13). Angola has added nine countries to its list of citizens who qualify for visa-free access, almost doubling the number of countries whose citizens previously qualified for the same (2023: 10).
Sierra Leone has made significant strides in easing access to travellers, resulting in a 62% increase in its visa openness score, significantly changing its rank from 22nd in 2023 to 13th in 2024. This improvement follows Sierra Leone’s granting of visa-free access to citizens of two more countries – Ghana and Nigeria, whereas the policy before was granting visa on arrival. Since both Ghana and Nigeria are ECOWAS Member States, this has also impacted positively on ECOWAS’ regional reciprocity score, which now stands at 99%, leaving Guinea Bissau as the sole member to not fully reciprocate regional visa-free policies (with respect to citizens of Cabo Verde).
The most impactful policy change for Sierra Leone is that citizens of 20 countries no longer require a visa ahead of travel to the country. Today, only citizens from three countries are subjected to visa requirements ahead of travel, and these are from Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia. While citizens of most African countries still require a visa to enter Sierra Leone, 35 now qualify for a visa on arrival, with citizens of 15 countries offered visa-free access. Sierra Leone has also concluded reciprocal agreements with some countries to exempt their citizens from paying for their visas: this benefits the following AU Member States: Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and Mauritius.
Angola now offers visa-free access to citizens of 19 African countries, an increase from the 10 recorded in the 2023 AVOI report. In a presidential decree late in 2023 (No. 189/23), Angola announced sweeping changes to its visa regime for tourism purposes and extended visa-free access to citizens of an additional 98 countries mostly outside of Africa, for short stays of up to 30 days (and 90 days per year). Until that point, Angola had granted some African countries visa-free access, mainly under bilateral agreements (Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa and Zambia).
Angola also announced simplified bureaucratic procedures in the granting of visas at its consular facilities as well as its e-visa portal, guaranteeing processing in under three working days for both.
For citizens utilising the e-visa portal, pre-entry electronic authorisation is granted, and the traveller then obtains the visa at the port of entry. Information obtained from this portal suggests that the documentary requirements are relatively straightforward: applicants must be in possession of a relevant travel document (passport) and fulfil certain security criteria (such as not being included in a list of unwanted persons).
Since Angola does not offer visa-on-arrival facilities, these changes are noteworthy and potentially impactful, given that the countries whose citizens now qualify for visa-free access, previously had to obtain a visa prior to travel. Even though Angola still requires a visa ahead of travel, which applies to the citizens of 34 countries, the newly introduced expedited processing of visas will ease movement to the country.
These positive policy changes on visa requirements impact citizens from several countries across Africa, in different regions. They are Algeria and Morocco (North Africa), Equatorial Guinea (Central Africa), São Tomé and Príncipe (West Africa), Madagascar and Tanzania (East Africa) as well as Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar and Malawi (Southern Africa). Six of these countries, now accorded visa-free status, are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – as is Angola.
Previously, visa-free access to Angola was accorded mainly to countries in Southern and Eastern Africa, with Cabo Verde in West Africa as an exception.
Both Angola and Cabo Verde are Community of Portuguese Language Countries, and former Portuguese colonies. Previous visa-free beneficiaries were mainly the result of bilateral agreements (Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa and Zambia).
Citizens from two of Angola’s three neighbours currently do not require a visa to enter Angola: Namibia and Zambia. Although Angola remains in the lower half of the AVOI, ranked 31st, the relaxation of its visa policy has resulted in a jump of 10 places from ranking number 41st in 2023.
