By Avite Mbabazi
The Africa Visa Openness Index 2022 reveals that visitors from only 17 African countries, consisting largely of SADC member states, can enter the Kingdom visa-free.
Meanwhile, the report suggests that issuing the African Union passport for all African citizens, issued by national authorities using the criteria rolled out by the African Union in 2016 could improve visa openness on the continent.
The Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) measures the extent to which African countries are open to visitors from other African countries. For each country, the AVOI calculates the number of African countries whose citizens must obtain a visa before traveling there, the number of countries whose citizens may obtain a visa upon arrival, and the number of countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter.
Eswatini permits visa-free entry to 17 other African countries, while visitors from the rest of the 36 countries have to obtain a visa to visit the kingdom.
This puts the country alongside Botswana at position 35 out of 53 countries on the African Visa Openness Index 2022, indicating that the Kingdom is a relatively visa-restrictive country.
“Visa-open countries have a 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 while visa-restrictive countries require visitors to obtain a visa before they travel.”
Additionally, Eswatini offers neither e-visa nor visa-on-arrival options for fellow African travelers. The former is said to have several benefits including the fact that the applicants are able to travel while waiting for their application to be processed, as well as the elimination of costs related to travelling to an embassy or consulate to apply.
Additionally, during health crises such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic, visitors are still able to apply for visas.
Within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), reciprocity, described in the report as a measure of the visa regimes in place between the member states of a given regional economic community, is relatively high standing at 60%.
Eswatini allows 11 SADC members visa-free entry but does not reciprocate visa-free entry for 3 other SADC states.
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