The African Development Bank’s Africa Visa Openness Index for 2024 places Namibia in the 21st position with a visa openness score of 0.653, up from 0.638 in 2023.
This highlights the country’s moderate progress in facilitating travel among African nations as Namibia offers visa-free entry to 13 African countries. Furthermore, a visa-on-arrival option is available for citizens of 27 nations and requires visas before travel for 13 others.
Regionally, Namibia’s efforts align with the Southern African Development Community, which averages a visa openness score of 0.547, ranking second among Africa’s regional economic communities.
“A notable development includes Namibia’s 2023 bilateral agreement with Botswana, allowing border crossings using national identity documents.
However, from April 2025, Namibia will require visas from nationals of countries not offering reciprocal visa-free access,” notes the index.
Benin, The Gambia, Rwanda and the Seychelles top the index, while 16 of the top 20 countries are from west and east Africa.
Southern Africa is represented by Madagascar, Mauritius and Mozambique, while north Africa includes Mauritania. The report observes that lower-income countries generally adopt more liberal visa policies.
Exceptions include Mauritius and the Seychelles, classified as upper-middle-income and high-income countries, respectively.
These island states benefit from their geographical locations, which influence their visa regimes.
The top 20 also feature five island states – Cabo Verde, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar and Seychelles – and three landlocked nations – Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia.
Burundi primarily uses visa-on-arrival policies, except for six east African community member states granted visa-free access.
Ethiopia provides visa-on-arrival to 46 countries, but has tightened policies for four previously eligible nations.
This comes as Namibia has expanded its visa requirements to encompass 33 countries, following a government review that added two additional nations to the list.
In June, Namibia resolved to introduce entry visa requirements for countries that have not reciprocated its visa exemption policy.
Namibia had visa exemptions for around 55 nations, with only 18 of those having reciprocated the exemption.
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