Lifestyle

Kenya Ranks 28 Below Rwanda and Uganda, As The Most VISA Open Country In Africa

BY Lynnet Okumu · March 2, 2022 12:03 pm

KEY POINTS

AfDB attributes the Kenyan position to the travel bans enforced by the government in a bid to tame cases of new COVID-19 infections. Also, the overruling of the no VISA-on-arrival policy by President Uhuru Kenyatta in November 2017 affected the ranking.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

For the first time since the AVOI was launched in 2016, many countries backslid on their AVOI ranking over the year. For example, only nine countries offered visa-free access or a visa on arrival to all African visitors in 2021, down from 11 countries in 2020

According to the annual Africa Visa Openness Index released by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), Kenya ranks 28 as the most VISA open country in Africa.

This is a drop from position 11 in 2020, in the index whose first issue was released in 2016 and covers 54 countries.

Rwanda and Uganda came in at positions six and eight respectively while Somalia, Tanzania, and Seychelles also made the top 20 list.

South Sudan, Guinea, and Djibouti were the worst-ranked countries in the list coming in at position 52.

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The report which is based on data collected between June and July 2021, placed Seychelles, Benin, and Ghana as the most VISA open countries on the continent.

“For the first time since the AVOI was launched in 2016, many countries backslid on their AVOI ranking over the year. For example, only nine countries offered visa-free access or a visa on arrival to all African visitors in 2021, down from 11 countries in 2020,” the publishers of the index wrote.

“Just under half of the continent’s countries – five percent fewer than in 2020, offered visa-free access or a visa upon arrival to the citizens of at least one other African country. More Africans than before must now obtain a visa before traveling.”

The report further stated that of the countries ranked, 10 countries are ready to implement the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) fully. This will make it easier and quicker for Africans to travel to other countries, visa-free or with the possibility of obtaining a visa on arrival, and will contribute immensely to regional connectivity on the continent according to the report.