Only 3 African Union countries Ghana, Gambia, Benin along with those from SADC and COMESA granted visa-free entry into Malawi

* Visa exemption for SADC and COMESA countries only applies for those that do not subject Malawians to a visa requirement

* Along with those that hold Laissez-Passer whilst on official duty for SADC, COMESA, United Nations, African Union and Africa Development Bank

By Duncan Mlanjira

Ghana, Gambia and Benin are the only African Union countries along with those from Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa (COMESA) that have been granted visa-free entry into Malawi.

This is contained in the Immigration Act (Amendment) Regulations 2026 made on December 18 by Minister of Homeland Security Peter Mukhito — reciprocating to Malawians needing visas for the USA, United Kingdom or countries in the European Union.

Ghana, Gambia and Benin stand out among countries that allow Malawians visa-free entry along with Jamaica, Hong Kong, Ecuador, Barbados Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Trinidad & Tobago, Fiji and 10 others from the 22-member list.

However, the visa exemption for SADC and COMESA countries only applies for those that do not subject Malawians to a visa requirement along with those that hold SADC and COMESA Laissez-Passer whilst on official duty.

Holders of Laissez-Passer passport whilst on official duty for the United Nations, the African Union, Africa Development Bank are also exempted along with holders of diplomatic or service passports, except for this countries that subject Malawians with diplomatic and service passports to visa requirement.

Malawians have welcomed this decision by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration. Social media influencer Onjezani Kenani applauded the government, saying: “If a country requires us to obtain a visa to enter, they too must require a visa to enter ours.

“I always hear, ‘Oh, but that will negatively impact our tourism’ but no one has shared granular data, or indeed any data at all, showing that Americans and the British or citizens of the European Union came to Malawi in droves when their entry here was visa-free.

“Thank you, Malawi government, for upholding the principle of reciprocity. Let us grant visa-free status only to those countries that give us a visa-free status.”

Blessious Stanley Ainani agreed with Kenani’s argument, saying “those that argue about the impact of the visa regime are just some lazy guys from tourism who always advocate for the scrapping of visas to attract tourists”.

“They can’t back that with concrete data. There is more to attract tourists than just scrapping or easing visa requirements,” Ainani said, while Habiba Osman suggested that Malawi should also charge nationals from the countries what their authorities charge Malawians as visa fees.

Others observed that Malawi is endowed with a lot of treasures that attracted foreign nationals to visit the country and found it easier to enter without any hassles of visa requirement that is granted  Malawians after torturous lengthy processes.