African Union Passport

African Union passport
The front cover of an African Union diplomatic passport
The picture page of an African Union diplomatic passport
Type	Passport
Issued by	African Union
First issued	July 17, 2016
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility	Citizen of an African Union member state

The African Union Passport is a proposed passport document that is set to replace existing nationally issued African Union member state passports and exempt bearers from having to obtain any visas for all 55 states in Africa. ^{[1] [2] [3]} It was announced on July 17, 2016, at the 27th Ordinary Session of the African Union that was held in Kigali in Rwanda by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the late Chadian President Idriss Déby. ^{[4] [5] [6]} The passport was planned to be rolled out and ready for use at borders worldwide by 2023, ^[7] however the rollout has since been delayed indefinitely. ^[8]

Types

There are three types of African Union passport that will be issued:

Ordinary passport

These passports are issued to citizens and are intended for occasional travel, such as vacations and business trips. They contain 32 pages, and are valid for 5 years.

Official/Service passport

These passports are issued to officials attached to government institutions who have to travel on official business.

Diplomatic passport

Issued to diplomats and consuls for work-related travel, and to their accompanying dependents.

Temporary passport

These passports are issued to travelling citizens or natives of African countries that cannot get hold of their passports due to various reasons including robbery, theft or accidents. They may last for 6 months to a year.

Design

The passport has inscriptions in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, and Swahili. ^[9] The African Union anthem's lyrics are printed on the page immediately after the picture page.

Recognition and acceptance

African Union Member States

State	Visa Required	ETA Required
Algeria
Angola	Yes [10]
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia	No [10]
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana	No [10]
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Ivory Coast	No [10]
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania	Yes (on the spot) [10]
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda	No [10]
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
São Tomé and Príncipe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Sudan
Tanzania	No [10]
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia	No [10]
Zimbabwe

See also

• African diaspora
• Tourism in Africa
• Rail transport in Africa
• Single African Air Transport Market
• African Continental Free Trade Area
• Interpol Travel Document

References

1. Monks, Kieron (July 5, 2016). "African Union launches all-Africa passport". CNN. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
2. "President Kenyatta arrives in Kigali for AU summit". rwandaeye.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
3. "Africa: The Common Passport and Africa's Identity" . Retrieved July 17, 2016.
4. "AU Heads of State to launch African Union Passport during Kigali Summit". July 15, 2016. Archived from the original on July 17, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
5. "Rwanda Ready to Issue African Common Passport | KT PRESS". ktpress.rw. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
6. "Kenyans welcomes AU's passport System introduction". Ghana News. July 12, 2016. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
7. "African Union passports to be rolled out by 2023 - THE AFRICAN COURIER". The African Courier.
8. Philpot, Lorne (8 January 2021). "Single passport for Africa set to become reality in 2021". TheSouthAfrican.com . Blue Sky Publications. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
9. AfricaNews (2016-07-17). "[Photos] The African passport with 5 language inscriptions | Africanews". africanews.channel. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
10. "Okonjo-Iweala: Like Dangote, AU passport didn't give me visa-free entry into all African countries". The Cable. Archived from the original on 2024-03-28.

Further reading

• African Union (staff) passport information on PRADO
• Visa Free Africa initiative, AU.int