South Sudan has imposed a $50 visa fee on citizens of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, introducing a new cost for workers and businesses operating in one of East Africa’s most commercially important frontier markets.
Under the revised charges, published on the country’s electronic visa portal on Monday, Somali and Burundian citizens will pay $100 to enter South Sudan. Tanzanians and Egyptians can enter visa-free, while South Africans can visit without a visa for stays of less than 30 days. Nigerians will pay $100.
The fees implement an immigration policy introduced last week and mark a departure from the East African Community’s push to remove restrictions on the movement of people, labour, and services across the eight-member bloc.
South Sudan joined the EAC in 2016. The regional grouping says citizens of its partner states should generally be able to travel within the bloc without visas, an ambition anchored in the Common Market Protocol and intended to support the free movement of workers and capital. The EAC describes free movement as a central pillar of the common market.
The different treatment of EAC citizens is likely to raise questions over reciprocity and Juba’s compliance with those commitments. Tanzanians will continue to enter free of charge, while travellers from six of South Sudan’s seven other EAC partners face fees of between $50 and $100.
