Immigration law in Cameroon

The main legal framework includes Law 97/012 of 10 January 1997, its amendment Law 2022/015 of 14 July 2022, Decree 2023/147 and the newer identity-card rules in Decree 2025/059. The rules apply to foreign nationals, including stateless people, but diplomats and career consuls are governed separately. Cameroon has national immigration rules rather than separate immigration regimes for its regions. In practice, applications and controls involve the Ministry of External Relations, known as MINREX, its diplomatic missions and consular posts, the General Delegation for National Security, known as DGSN, border police, immigration services, border posts, prefectures and municipal offices. A transit visa covers a stay of up to five days. A short-stay visa may allow single or multiple entry and has a maximum validity of six months. A long-stay visa may also allow single or multiple entry and has a maximum validity of twelve months. A visa does not automatically change into another type of visa. Transit and short-stay visas do not authorize paid work or study, so those activities require a long-stay basis and supporting evidence. Cameroon’s electronic visa process normally begins with online pre-registration, document upload and online payment. The applicant then uses the selected MINREX mission, consulate or border post for biometric enrolment and presentation of the QR authorization. Standard processing is stated as up to three working days after pre-registration, with an express service stated as twenty-four hours; refusal notification is also stated as up to three working days. Actual timing can depend on mission capacity, border operations and the biometric system. Entry evidence normally includes a valid passport or travel document, vaccination certificates, proof of the purpose and conditions of the stay, accommodation evidence and sufficient means. Accommodation may be shown through a certificate issued by the territorial mayor, an event invitation or a firm hotel booking. A mission order may be relevant for official travel. A repatriation guarantee is also required. For stays of up to three months, this is generally a non-transferable, non-negotiable return ticket. For longer stays, it may be a ticket valid for at least one year or an employer undertaking for a salaried worker. If the guarantee is missing, the person may have to deposit money with the Treasury within three months after entry, with the minimum linked to the cost of a tourist flight from Yaoundé to the capital of the person’s nationality. Long-stay applications require evidence suited to the purpose. A passport normally needs more than six months of validity. Students provide admission or registration, accommodation and means of support. Interns provide an internship certificate. A salaried worker provides a work contract signed or endorsed by the minister responsible for employment. Independent professionals and people engaging in business, agricultural, industrial, commercial, artistic or similar activities may need an authorization for the relevant activity. Family applications require proof of marriage or parent-child relationships and evidence that the sponsor has accommodation and stable, sufficient resources. Common long-stay categories include contract workers, independent workers, long-term trainees, students, family members and recognized refugees. A foreign national who stays regularly and continuously for at least six years may qualify for a resident card if the other legal conditions are met. A spouse of a Cameroonian may qualify under a specific rule after at least eighteen months of marriage and regular stay, provided the marriage continues, the Cameroonian spouse keeps that nationality and a foreign marriage has been transcribed in Cameroon. Recognized religious congregations also have a specific residence category. A regularly admitted foreign national generally has freedom of movement, but changes of locality must be reported by notifying the departure and the new locality within eight days. The person must present the residence or refugee document when lawfully requested. A residence card is generally required for a regularly admitted foreign national. Under the 2025 rules, DGSN issues the card after online pre-enrolment and physical enrolment. A first application normally requires a passport containing a long-stay visa certified within the previous three months, proof of domicile from a mayor or police station, a special criminal record, a tax-compliance certificate and proof of stay. Renewal normally requires the old card and updated domicile, criminal-record, tax-compliance and stay documents. The card is valid for two years and may be renewed twice; the stated issue target is forty-eight hours after validation, with a provisional identity document after physical enrolment. A resident card is normally valid for ten years and renewable. Applications generally require the resident card or the second renewal of the residence card, a passport, domicile evidence, a criminal record and tax compliance. A refugee card is mandatory for a person recognized as a refugee, is valid for two years and is issued by DGSN through a special process based on the UNHCR identification card and the MINREX refugee attestation. Refugees do not pay stamp duty for this card. Renewal documents should normally be submitted at least one month before expiry. Definitive departure may require an exit visa for holders of a residence card, resident card or refugee card, together with restitution of the card. Exit visas may be issued for a single departure, return, three months, six months or one year. A six-month multiple-exit visa generally requires at least three exits during the previous year, while a one-year multiple-exit visa generally requires at least four. An exit may be suspended following a judicial, tax, labour or social-security request. Family members staying for up to three months may travel through the competent mission or consulate under the accompanying-family procedure. Family reunification for a longer stay is handled through immigration services. The recognized family group generally includes a spouse, minor children or an adult child who is studying, and first-degree ascendants, subject to the applicable proof and sponsor conditions. A person seeking refugee protection applies to the President of the Eligibility Commission through its Technical Secretariat. Applications filed through UNHCR are transmitted to the competent authorities. Registration is followed by an interview and investigation; an interview summons should normally arrive at least two weeks beforehand. An interpreter is provided without charge, and an unaccompanied child receives support from a social worker. An applicant may request an officer of the same sex. The Technical Secretariat’s instruction period is two months and may be renewed three times. Appeals go to the Appeals Commission, and the decisions do not have an ordinary-court appeal. A person should ideally apply within fifteen days of arrival or the relevant threat, although an application from inside Cameroon is possible. Non-refoulement protects a person from return to a place where the person faces the relevant danger. A person who came directly from threatened territory, presents immediately and meets the legal conditions is not penalized solely for irregular entry or stay. Recognized refugees receive protection against discrimination and access to courts, property, association, work, education, housing, social assistance, movement and identity or travel documents under the applicable rules. They remain subject to taxation and must obey Cameroonian law. Expulsion is limited to national-security or public-order grounds, requires a lawful decision and notification to UNHCR, and gives the person seventy-two hours to find another country of asylum. The refugee attestation also carries duties to report travel and address changes to immigration services. Cameroonian nationality may arise through parentage, certain foundling or unknown-parent rules, declaration by a person born in Cameroon to foreign parents after at least five years of habitual residence, adoption, marriage or naturalization. A foreign woman married to a Cameroonian may acquire nationality by express request, although the Government may oppose the acquisition within six months. Naturalization generally requires age twenty-one or older, five consecutive years of habitual residence, Cameroon as the person’s main centre of interests, good conduct, no uncleared ordinary-law conviction and satisfactory health. The application is handled through the Ministry of Justice and may involve a curriculum vitae, birth and family documents, police or morality checks, assimilation review and medical review. A naturalized person generally cannot hold an elective mandate for five years unless an exception applies. Nationality disputes go before the civil court, while a nationality certificate is issued by a civil magistrate. Visa fees are set by the annual Finance Law and related tax rules. The stated fees are 100,000 FCFA for a normal short-stay visa, 150,000 FCFA for an express short-stay visa, 150,000 FCFA for a normal long-stay visa and 200,000 FCFA for an express long-stay visa; transit visas are free. Residence-card stamp duty varies by status and nationality, including 50,000 FCFA for students, 75,000 FCFA for a state or local-contract worker or unemployed spouse, 150,000 FCFA for an African national and 300,000 FCFA for a non-African national. Resident-card fees include 75,000 FCFA for specified dependent or spouse categories, 300,000 FCFA for an African national and 750,000 FCFA for a non-African national. Exemptions include refugees, certain special-status students, volunteers, technical or security cooperation personnel and accredited international-organization staff with qualifying spouses. Reciprocity can affect visa treatment for CEMAC nationals. A border or immigration post may refuse entry and require refoulement, with the carrier bearing the return cost. Reconduite à la frontière may apply after irregular entry, overstay, refusal or non-renewal of a card, or failure to provide the repatriation guarantee. Expulsion is ordered by the Prime Minister under the relevant procedure. The 1997 law provides a possible administrative-court challenge to a reconduite order within forty-eight hours, with a stated decision target of eight days and a non-suspensive appeal; the interaction with the later immediate-enforcement rule creates a serious procedural risk that requires current legal advice. Irregular entry or stay can result in three months to two years of imprisonment, a fine of 200,000 to 2,000,000 FCFA and a possible entry or stay ban of up to five years.