Immigration law in Djibouti

Entry into Djibouti normally requires a passport valid for at least six months and a visa unless an applicable treaty or exemption applies. Authorities may refuse entry for insufficient means, missing or false documents, serious transmissible disease affecting public health, involvement in crimes against humanity, organised crime, terrorism or trafficking, a risk to the national interest, or a previous expulsion or entry ban. Transit permission generally covers 3 to 15 days and requires a visa for the final country and a ticket showing continuation. Short stays for tourism, business or private visits can last up to three months. A long-stay visa can cover 90 days to 12 months and may be renewed once; it can support a later residence application but does not itself create permanent residence. A consulate normally handles visa applications. Where Djibouti has no consular mission, the official E-Visa portal provides pre-authorisation. E-Visa applications generally require a passport, photograph and payment, and the portal states a processing time of about 3 to 5 working days. Approval is not guaranteed. Evidence depends on the purpose of travel. Typical documents include a return or onward ticket, hotel booking or certificate of accommodation, and, for a private visit, a host certificate signed by the host and co-signed by the Préfecture. A business application can require an invitation from an employer, institution, ANPI or a free-zone organisation, accommodation evidence and work authorisation. Study applications generally require proof of funds and enrolment or pre-enrolment at an approved institution. Medical travel can require proof of health-care funding, accommodation and a return ticket. A visa refusal is treated as an act of national sovereignty. Ordinary visa refusals do not have a clearly identified dedicated appeal procedure, and the refusal does not have to state reasons. A visa for tourism, study, health care or private visits does not authorise employment. A foreign national who intends to work needs prior authorisation handled through ANEFIP, the body responsible for work permits. Djiboutian workers receive priority, and the employer must show that no suitable Djiboutian worker is available. The authorisation is linked to the approved activity and employer. After entry, an authorised worker has one month to regularise residence. Annual work-authorisation tariffs depend on the category and are listed as DJF 200,000, DJF 100,000 or DJF 50,000. After three consecutive months in Djibouti, a foreign national should request a residence card. The Direction de l’Immigration issues residence cards for visitors, students and professionals, with a maximum validity of one year and no validity beyond the travel document. A spouse of a Djiboutian national who entered regularly and a family member of an applicant can qualify under residence-card provisions. A detailed standalone family-reunification procedure has not been evidenced. Investor or director status connected with approval by ANPI, the Port or a free zone can support a resident card, but no general permanent-residence pathway has been evidenced for work, study or family residence. Public information shows different residence-card charges, including biometric-card amounts of DJF 30,000, DJF 35,000 or DJF 45,000 by regional category and an RNPP service tariff of DJF 4,000. The current amount should be confirmed with the Direction de l’Immigration. Foreign nationals must comply with Djiboutian law, carry their visa or residence documents and renew them before expiry. An employer may not employ a foreign national who lacks both residence status and work authorisation. A professional host or accommodation provider also has registration duties. Irregular entry, overstaying, a refused or withdrawn residence card, non-renewal, false identity or the absence of a special legal regime can lead to a motivated removal order. Expulsion can follow a Presidential order on a proposal from the Interior Minister or an Interior Minister order in urgent public-order or state-security cases. The order can be enforced directly. A vulnerable person or unaccompanied child should not be detained or expelled before a justice-led assessment of vulnerability and best interests. Overstaying for up to 90 days can result in a DJF 40,000 penalty. An overstay exceeding 90 days can result in DJF 80,000 plus complementary permission to remain. Inability to pay can lead to 3 to 6 months of imprisonment and a five-year entry and stay ban. More than six months after visa expiry can attract a fine from DJF 50,000 to DJF 500,000. Repeated cases can produce a residence ban of at least three years, and facilitating irregular stay can attract a DJF 50,000 to DJF 500,000 penalty and further sanctions. The immigration law does not provide a clearly defined ordinary appeal with suspensive effect for every residence refusal or removal measure, so refugee appeal rules should not be transferred to ordinary immigration cases. Protection applications follow a separate system under Law No. 159/AN/16/7ème L and its 2017 implementing decrees. ONARS, the National Office for Assistance to Refugees and Disaster-Affected Persons, receives applications in Djibouti-Ville and at border posts. No document is formally required to lodge an asylum claim. The normal deadline is 30 days after entry, although a valid extension can apply. A person who arrives irregularly is not penalised for that fact when they present themselves promptly. The non-refoulement rule protects an asylum seeker from return while the claim is being examined, subject to statutory security and public-order exceptions. Applicants may remain until the procedure ends, subject to notification and movement restrictions. ONARS registers the claim and issues an asylum-seeker certificate. This certificate is a provisional six-month stay and work authorisation and can be renewed. The CNE, the first-instance refugee commission, examines the claim. Its decision should be notified within 15 days after the commission minutes. An appeal to the CNR, the refugee appeal commission, normally has to be filed within 30 days, and the CNR decision is expected within three months. A further appeal to the Tribunal Administratif can be filed within 30 days. An appeal generally suspends removal, except where a statutory security or public-order exception applies. UNHCR has reported an asylum backlog and that the CNR appeal procedure has not yet been implemented operationally. A person should signal the intention to appeal to ONARS and HCR. Registration, documentation, refugee-status determination services and partner support are free, and an interpreter is available; a legal representative is normally paid by the applicant. A recognised refugee receives a refugee identity card and travel document. The refugee card is valid for five years and can be renewed. Recognised refugees receive residence and work authorisation and access, within legal limits, to employment, social security, education, courts, basic services, documents, movement, property and naturalisation. Derivative refugee status generally covers a spouse and dependent children under 18. Nationality is governed by the 2018 Civil Code. A child can be Djiboutian by descent through a Djiboutian father or mother, and a child born in Djibouti to unknown parents can also acquire nationality. Naturalisation is granted by decree on application. The ordinary residence requirement is ten years before applying, reduced to five years for a person credited with significant services or exceptional talent. The applicant must be at least 18, show good conduct and medical fitness, demonstrate assimilation including sufficient Arabic or French, and have no unresolved expulsion or assigned-residence measure or formal opposition. The application goes to the Ministry of the Interior and Direction de la Population, followed by a police inquiry and civil-status, criminal-record and health evidence. The minister should transmit the file to the naturalisation commission within six months, and the commission should act within two months. The decree is published in the official gazette. A refusal need not give reasons. Nationality disputes go to the civil chamber of the Tribunal de Première Instance, with appeals to the Cour d’Appel and Cour Suprême. Voluntary renunciation is required before Djiboutian nationality is lost; holding another nationality alone does not remove it.