Just in: Cost of frontier visa unchanged – Mozambique

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Just in: Cost of frontier visa unchanged – Mozambique

5:39 CAT | 25 Jul 2019

in file CoM

The spokesperson for Mozambique’s National Immigration Service (SENAMI), Celestino Matsinhe, told reporters on Thursday that the enormous increases in charges for certain types of visa and identification documents does not affect visas issued to tourists at the country’s borders, known as a frontier visa.

The price of a frontier visa remains unchanged at 50 US dollars – but the price of other types of entry visa has more than tripled. Thus a visa for between 31 and 60 days, which used to cost 2,700 meticais (44 dollars), now costs 12,500 meticais, while the price of a visa for between 61 and 90 days rises from 4,050 to 18,756 meticais.

A work visa, valid for up to 90 days, rises in price from 3,600 to 8,440 meticais (an increase of 134 per cent). A six month work visa now costs 16,880 rather than 7,200 meticais, while a 12 month work visa will cost 33,760 meticais. The same increases are imposed on visas granted for purposes of investment.

The government has also sharply increased the price of temporary residence permits for foreigners (known as DIREs). A temporary DIRE (valid for a year) now costs 33,760 rather than 19,200 meticais (an increase of 76 per cent).

Matsinhe claimed the prices have been increased to reflect the costs of producing the documents. “New security elements have been introduced and this made it more expensive to produce these documents”, he said. “That is why the prices had to be updated. We hope it won’t influence the flow of people crossing the borders”.

The new prices are contained in a dispatch of 5 July, signed by the Interior and Finance Ministers, Basilio Monteiro and Adriano Maleiane. This dispatch does not mention the frontier visa, and so it is hardly surprising that people reading the mouth-watering increases jumped to the conclusion that they also applied to tourist visas.

The Mozambican tourism industry will doubtless breathe a sigh of relief that the price of the frontier visa remains unaltered. Citizens of countries with which Mozambique has visa waiver agreements, such as South Africa and other members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will not require entry visas for stays of up to 30 days.

The price of Mozambican passports remains unchanged at 2,400 meticais. The price of a travel documents for Mozambican mineworkers and agricultural workers in South Africa, also remains unchanged at 400 meticais.

However, the price of a travel document for refugees living in Mozambique has been hiked from 800 to 3,750 meticais (an increase of almost 370 per cent).

Source: AIM