Moving to Benin

THE LAW: Loi n° 2024-31 du 02 septembre 2024, read from the Secrétariat général du Gouvernement's promulgated copy, defines an Afro-descendant as a person who, by genealogy, has a sub-Saharan African ancestor deported off the African continent in the slave trade (Art. 2), and grants recognition, on application, to one who is 18 or over, is a national of a State or territory outside Africa, and holds proof of that descent (Art. 3). Proof may be civil-status or official records, testimony recorded in an authentic act, or technical or scientific means such as a DNA test by a body Benin recognises (Art. 4). Loi n° 2025-11 du 1er juillet 2025 rewrote the procedure: an applicant outside Benin whose application is examined favourably receives a certificate of eligibility, valid for three years and not renewable, which gives free entry, stay and exit (Arts. 8 and 12 as amended); nationality by recognition is granted on proof of a stay in Benin within those three years (Art. 9 as amended); it passes only to a minor child (Art. 14 as amended); and full Beninese nationality can be acquired after at least two years' residence in Benin (Art. 15 as amended). Décret n° 2025-373 du 02 juillet 2025 sets the procedure and lets the application be made from Benin or from abroad, to the Minister of Justice. IN PRACTICE: the Government of Benin announced on 31 July 2026 that on 30 July 2026 the Ministry of Justice handed nationality certificates to 28 Afro-descendants from the United States, Haiti and other countries. NOT CONFIRMED from an official source read here: fees, processing times, and whether intake is continuous or in cohorts. Treat the 28-person cohort as a sign that intake is small and selective, and deal with the Ministry of Justice or Benin's diplomatic missions directly rather than intermediaries.

THE PROTOCOL: ECOWAS Protocol A/P.1/5/79 relating to Free Movement of Persons, Residence and Establishment, signed at Dakar on 29 May 1979 by the Community's Heads of State, Benin's among them, states that Community citizens 'have the right to enter, reside and establish in the territory of Member States' (Art. 2(1)). That right is to be established progressively in three phases: entry and the abolition of visas, then residence, then establishment. The residence and establishment phases are left to later annexes (Art. 2(3)-(4)). The first phase is in the Protocol itself. A Community citizen needs a valid travel document and an international health certificate (Art. 3(1)). They may enter through an official entry point without a visa for a visit of up to 90 days, and must obtain permission from the appropriate authority to stay longer (Art. 3(2)). A Member State may still refuse admission to someone inadmissible under its own immigration law (Art. 4). NOT READ HERE: the later supplementary protocols on residence and establishment, and Benin's own procedures and fees for an ECOWAS citizen who wants to live or work there. Confirm those with Benin's immigration authorities or a Beninese diplomatic mission before relying on anything beyond the 90-day visa-free visit.

Benin operates a fully online e-visa system at evisa.bj, run by the Direction de l'Emigration et de l'Immigration, and grants visa exemptions to certain nationalities under reciprocal agreements. Long stays require a residence permit (carte or titre de sejour) obtained from the immigration directorate after arrival; employment additionally requires the employment relationship to be regularised with the labour authorities. The official e-visa portal did not publish visa categories, durations, fee amounts or residence-permit requirements in a machine-readable form at the time of review, and the citizen services portal (service-public.bj) is a JavaScript application whose service pages could not be read directly - so no figures are asserted here. Confirm current categories, durations and fees with the Direction de l'Emigration et de l'Immigration or a Beninese diplomatic mission before relying on this route.