Malawi Government activates visa regime

The Malawi government has finally introduced Visa regime to visa paying countries and foreign nationals whose countries require Malawians to pay visa to enter their countries are obliged to pay visa.

The move which took its effect from yesterday, 1st October 2015 is among others not affect Nationals from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, except Angola; Nationals from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); Diplomats and Government officials; and Nationals from all countries that do not require Malawian nationals to pay visa fees when traveling to such countries.

When defending the development, Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Dr. Jean Kalilani told members of media on Monday earlier this week in Lilongwe saying the decision is for security purposes.

“You cannot just have people just entering the country anyhow, there must be a control and one of them is this visa regime”, she said.

According to government, these new Visa rates ranging from US $50 to US $ 300 varies depending on whether it has been paid for in Malawi or at a Diplomatic Mission.

Visa Regime has been activated when the government is trying to reforming some of its public structures, others have described the Visa paying Regime move as the way of collecting more revenues as the country is strangling economically.

*Additional reporting by Luke Bisani.