Free Movement of People

Welcoming visa policies mean more business, more investment, and more innovation.

A welcoming visa environment makes it possible to scale up local ventures, build economies of scale, and develop efficient value chains. Digital technology plays a role: recent developments are streamlining entry processes and making it possible for more students, traders, and residents to travel, exchange knowledge, and build new markets.

ARII uses three indicators to measure how well countries and regional economic communities cooperate on the freedom of movement:

• The number of countries that may obtain avisa on arrival indicator counts the number of countries whose citizens may be granted visas on arrival by the other countries in the region. It captures the ease with which people from that country can move around the region for tourism, business, or day-to-day transactions.
• The number of countries that require avisa indicator counts the number of countries whose citizens strictly require a visa when travelling to each of the other countries in the region.
• The Free Movement of Persons Protocol (Kigali) indicator measures whether a country has ratified the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment. Once implemented, this protocol will allow African workers, students, researchers, and border residents to move freely between signatory states (ratified = 1; not ratified = 0).

Dimensions

• Trade Integration
• Productive Integration
• Macroeconomic Integration
• Infrastructural integration
• Free Movement of People

Headline Findings

Overall performance

There is great disparity in countries’ scores on the Free Movement of People dimension. Many countries score below 0.1, far below the African average of 0.441. This finding reflects the roadblocks that African citizens encounter when they travel, making it harder for them to conduct business, act as tourists, and help integrate the continent in general. Adhesion to the Free Movement of Persons Protocol (Kigali) and greater visa openness would improve scores on this dimension by lowering transaction costs, increasing trade, and making production more efficient.

Top performers

With perfect scores, Comoros, Djibouti, and Somalia share the top position on the free movement of people dimension. Citizens from all 53 African countries can obtain a visa on arrival in these countries, all three of which have adhered to the Free Movement of Persons Protocol (Kigali).

Mauritania and Mozambique follow with very high scores as well. Both countries have signed the protocol.

Bottom performers

Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Burundi, and Algeria are the least integrated countries on the free movement dimension: their scores are close to 0. None of these poorly integrated countries have signed the Free Movement of Persons Protocol (Kigali), and most African citizens need a visa to enter their territory.