Immigration law in Guinea

Guinea's immigration system is based mainly on Law L/94/019/CTRN and Decree D/94/059 for entry and residence, Law L/2018/050/AN for asylum and Law L/2019/035/AN for nationality. Law L/2023/019 refers to residence cards, residence permits and work permits, but several detailed conditions remain delegated to regulations. The Ministère de la Sécurité, the Direction de la Police de l'Air et des Frontières (DCPAF), diplomatic and consular missions, local Chefs de Sûreté and Commissaires, the Office national de l'Emploi et de la Main-d'Oeuvre (ONEMO), the Ministère de la Justice and the courts handle different parts of the system. The available evidence does not establish a general regional or municipal regime that overrides the national rules, although the place of procedure can differ between DCPAF offices in Conakry and local security offices elsewhere in Guinea. Foreign nationals normally need an entry visa or eVisa unless a visa waiver or another agreement applies. A passport should generally remain valid for at least six months. The application can require the passport data page, a return or onward ticket, an international yellow-fever certificate, a repatriation guarantee, proof of purpose, accommodation and financial resources, and other documents matching the planned visit. A visa may allow one or several entries and normally permits a stay of up to 90 days; a transit visa may permit up to five days. An extension can reach another 90 days when approved, but the request should be filed at least seven days before the existing stay expires. The official sources do not provide a general processing-time guarantee, and visa or eVisa payments are not refundable after refusal. The DCPAF handles the eVisa application online. After approval, the applicant receives an approval letter and completes collection and biometric registration at Ahmed Sékou Touré Airport. ECOWAS citizens may enter Guinea without a visa for up to 90 days with a valid travel document and an international health certificate. ECOWAS rules also provide rights to residence, establishment and work in stages. The ECOWAS Commission reported in 2024 that a proposed removal of the 90-day limit had not yet been implemented, so an ECOWAS citizen planning to stay longer should obtain the required residence authorization or extension rather than rely on visa-free entry alone. A longer stay generally requires a visa de séjour de longue durée, a Carte d'Etranger Résident and, in some cases, a Carnet d'étranger. Applications can require a passport, four photographs, a criminal-record certificate issued within the previous three months, a medical certificate issued within the previous three months, an activity authorization or a work contract approved by the competent service, a school or university certificate, and a repatriation guarantee. The rules distinguish non-immigrants, including diplomats and consular staff, international cooperation personnel, foreign students, trainees and scholarship holders, from immigrants, covering other foreign nationals. An expert resident card follows the contract period and is fee-free under the verified rules. A normal resident card lasts one to three years and can be renewed. Additional duties apply to some residents. A foreign national over 15 who works or settles in Guinea may also need a Carnet d'étranger. Its Q1 visa is annual, and a resident who returns after an absence must present it within 30 days. A change of address must be reported at the old and new Commissariat within 72 hours. Hotels must report guests, and residents must show immigration documents when lawfully requested. A resident leaving Guinea may need a visa de sortie, passport, residence card or carnet, a laissez-passer fiscal issued within the previous month and a certificat de non-poursuite issued within the previous month. A sortie-retour authorization normally limits the return period to six months. A Carte de Résident Privilégié may follow an administrative investigation. The verified categories include non-commercial missionaries, certain spouses of Guinean nationals, people with a Guinean parent, certain widowed or divorced foreign wives, scholarship holders and businesspeople, industrialists or artisans who have conducted business for at least ten years. The 1994 framework recognizes residence for family members of experts and certain privileged residents. Children under 15 may be included under a parent's title. A general modern family-reunification system is not clearly established in the verified operational rules; a Ministry of Security draft mentions family members and facilitated entry for spouses, parents and children, but its entry into force has not been independently confirmed. Non-ECOWAS employment requires prior approval from the public employment service. The employer and worker generally need a written contract, approval through the employment service and a work permit before a work-residence visa can be issued. ONEMO is identified as the issuing body in the contract procedures, with a stated decision period of 30 working days. Law L/2023/019 refers to type A, B and C work permits, while detailed conditions remain delegated. A work contract can last up to four years including extensions. If the rules are breached, the employer bears repatriation costs. A tourist visa normally does not authorize employment, and a residence card alone does not replace a job-specific permit. A student, trainee or scholarship status does not automatically create a general right to work. Students, trainees and scholarship holders can use long-stay procedures with proof of admission, enrollment or attendance. The verified older rules identify these categories as non-immigrants and provide fee exemption for students, trainees and scholarship holders. A certified French translation may be required for documents issued in another language. Typical evidence includes identity documents, photographs, travel and accommodation information, financial or repatriation guarantees, criminal and medical records, employment documents, study or internship evidence, and marriage or parentage records. Law L/2023/019 also refers to national documents such as the residence card, residence permit, work permit and certificate of residence. Guinea's verified residence framework does not establish a general integration-course or language requirement for ordinary residence. Naturalization does require assimilation, including sufficient knowledge of at least one national language and of Guinea's history, culture, society and republican values. Guinea's asylum law defines protection through individual persecution and the broader refugee context recognized by the OAU Convention. An asylum seeker may enter the country to seek protection. A person who entered irregularly without authorization is not criminally sanctioned when the person reports without delay and gives a plausible reason. A sauf-conduit can provide 30 days to submit the application. Applications may be made to immigration, customs, police, gendarmerie, a governor, préfet, sous-préfet, the Comité national d'Identification et de Suivi des Réfugiés (CINISR, also written CNSIR), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a prosecutor, judge, detention facility or another judicial authority. The receiving authority should forward the case to the Comité Permanent d'Eligibilité (CPE) within 48 hours. An Attestation de demandeur d'asile provides temporary residence for six months and can be renewed until the procedure ends. The interview should be individual and confidential. The applicant may use a lawyer or other assistance and an interpreter. The assessment uses a shared burden of proof and a standard of reasonable possibility. Detention is limited to compelling national-security or public-order grounds, with alternatives preferred. Applicants must cooperate, remain reachable, report address changes and comply with lawful requirements. Children and vulnerable applicants receive accelerated consideration. The non-refoulement principle prevents return where the person's protected interests would be endangered. The CPE makes the substantive asylum decision within CINISR or CNSIR. A Comité de Recours independently reviews legal errors, misuse of discretion and incomplete facts. An appeal must be filed in writing within 30 days after notification. A cassation application to the administrative chamber of the Cour Suprême must generally be filed within two months. A regularly applying asylum seeker may be expelled only for compelling security or public-order reasons, and execution waits until ordinary appeals are completed. UNHCR has reported missing implementing decrees, so the statutory protection is stronger than the practical certainty of every procedure. Recognized refugees may work and practise professions without foreigner-specific labor-market restrictions. They receive access to public education, health services and public assistance on terms comparable to Guinean citizens, along with freedom of movement and choice of residence, an identity document renewable for five years and a travel document. They should not pay higher taxes than comparable Guineans. Local integration can lead to a Carte d'identité permanente pour résidents étrangers, and naturalization may be available. Refugees must obey the law and public order, cooperate with authorities and remain reachable. The verified operational rules do not establish a general independent, indefinite permanent-residence procedure for ordinary foreign residents. The ordinary resident card remains renewable for one to three years. The privileged economic category requires at least ten years of business activity. Law L/2023/019 mentions temporary and permanent residence cards but leaves their conditions to regulations. The asylum framework refers to a permanent card after manifest local integration. A Ministry of Security draft mentions three years of uninterrupted residence and a five-year card, but those proposed rules should not be treated as current law without confirmation of enactment and implementing measures. Guinean nationality can arise through descent from at least one Guinean parent, protection for a foundling or child without another nationality, birth in Guinea with a parent born in Guinea, or full adoption by Guineans. Marriage does not automatically grant nationality: the ordinary period is five years after marriage, including at least three years of residence in Guinea, reduced to three years where the spouses have a child together. A child born abroad to Guinean parents may in some cases make a declaration of repudiation. A foreign national born in Guinea may seek nationality from age 16 after five years of habitual residence. Naturalization normally requires an application, a decree after investigation, current residence in Guinea when the decree is issued and five years of habitual residence. The period can be reduced to three years for someone born in Guinea or who has rendered important service. Some exceptions remove a residence-period requirement, including certain minors, spouses or adult children of a naturalized person and specified war, adoption or exceptional-service cases. The applicant must be at least 16, demonstrate good character, have no unrehabilitated prison sentence exceeding one year, satisfy assimilation requirements and declare existing, retained or renounced nationalities. The available material does not support a general conclusion that dual nationality is always permitted or always prohibited. A naturalization application is submitted to the Ministère de la Justice through the president of the tribunal de première instance at the applicant's place of residence. Evidence can include a birth or replacement certificate, a declaration, bulletin n°1 of the criminal record, a residence certificate, morality information and the assimilation examination. Court fees are set by a joint Justice and Finance order, and the fee is not refundable. A reasoned refusal to register the application can be challenged before the administrative chamber of the Cour Suprême for excès de pouvoir. No general published processing deadline is verified. A naturalization decree may be withdrawn within one year when conditions were missing and within two years in cases of fraud. Immigration authorities may refuse entry when entry conditions are missing, with the carrier primarily responsible for transport costs. Reconduite may follow irregular entry or residence, an expired title or a refused extension. The security ministry may order expulsion for a threat to public order, a conviction or failure to leave after withdrawal of a title. Assignation à résidence may be used when departure is materially impossible, and interdiction de sortie may follow an immigration violation or criminal proceedings. Under the 1994 regime, withdrawal or refusal of a residence title generally gives 15 days to leave. A person expelled cannot re-enter until the expulsion is lifted. Proposed protections for minors, long-term residents and family members of Guinean citizens are not confirmed as current law. Current amounts for visa, residence-card, carnet, exit and duplicate-document fees are set by ministerial finance orders, but no current public fee table has been verified. Applicants normally bear document-production costs, while expert resident cards and the verified student, trainee and scholarship categories can be fee-free. There is no general verified appeal deadline for an ordinary visa or residence refusal, so a person affected by such a decision should obtain case-specific legal advice and check the competent court or authority promptly. The asylum and nationality procedures have their own express review mechanisms and deadlines.