Angola has joined the growing list of countries in Africa allowing visa-free entry. The new policy passed in a resolution last week will allow visa-free entry for 90-day stays to nationals from over 90 countries.
The resolution is contained in Presidential Decree Number 189/23 dated 29 September 2023. President Joao Lourenco also directed foreign affairs ministry to communicate to the beneficiary countries about the exemption from tourist visas. The 90-day visa-free stay is however granted to people arriving in the country exclusively for tourism purposes.
The southern African nation listed Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, the US, Russia and China as its priority foreign countries.
Fourteen African nations are on the list of visa-free beneficiaries, namely Tanzania, Eswatini, Morocco, Lesotho, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Cape Verde and Algeria.
Asia has eleven countries on the visa-exempt list – Israel, UAE, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Timor-Leste and China. Europe has 35 countries on the list, including Turkey, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the Vatican State, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Monaco, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Great Britain and Ireland.
Other European nations on the list are Norway, Estonia, Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Cyprus, Slovenia, Iceland, Italy and Portugal. In the Americas, the countries listed are the US, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Panama, Uruguay and Brazil.
From the Oceania region, the countries are Fiji, Australia, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Niue Island.
In the Caribbean and Pacific region, 16 countries were selected. These are Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Cook Islands, Jamaica, Kiribati and the Dominican Republic.
Also, exempted are Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The new directive takes effect immediately.
Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, and Interim Chair of the Southern African Development Community Business Council Tourism Alliance, told news agency that the move by Angola was a positive step in the right direction.
Countries like Mozambique, South Africa, Seychelles, Kenya, and Ghana have reported remarkable increases in tourism figures since allowing visa-free access to certain countries.
Angola is home to numerous iconic tourist attractions such as the National Museum of Slavery, tropical Atlantic beaches, the Sub-Saharan Namib desert and several rivers. The country even has their own New7Wonders certified National Wonders.