Visa-Free African Countries: Nigeria Places Sixth on List

Nigeria has placed 6th on the Africa Visa Openness Index 2024 a list of Visa-free countries for Africans published by the African Development Bank Group.

What is The Africa Visa Openness Report

The African Openness Report is a report on the ease with which travelers can obtain authorization to travel to or visit a country, pending final determination by the destination country’s immigration officials. The more visa-open a country, the easier it is for a traveler to visit that country.

A more visa-open country has a generally more 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.
In contrast, a visa-restrictive country requires visitors to obtain a visa before they travel. In such instances, visitors may be required to obtain a visa from an embassy, a consulate, or another source before being allowed into the country.

Africa Visa Openness Report 2024

According to a recent report, of the 54 countries on the continent, 17 have improved their AVOI score over the past year, building on the 15
countries that showed an improvement in the last edition.

Twenty-nine (29) countries’ scores remain unchanged, while eight countries score lower in this edition. This is due to visa policy changes in many African countries. Some of these changes have been bold, instituting positive visa reforms which have resulted in tangible progress towards a more open continent while others have created new impediments that undermine the ease of movement, resulting in more
burdensome travel for some citizens.

According to the report, the top ten visa – open countries are as follows: Benin, Seychelles, Gambia, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Cape Verde , Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and  Mauritius

The least visa-open countries on the other hand are: Sudan, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, and South Sudan.