Immigration law in Comoros

A transit visa allows a stay of up to 5 days, a tourist visa up to 45 days and a short-stay visa up to 3 months, with a possible single extension. Visa fees are set by the financial law and may change. The Ministry of the Interior handles ordinary visas, residence cards, resident cards, refusals of entry and expulsion. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles diplomatic and service visas, while Comorian diplomatic or consular representations may perform delegated visa services. A stay exceeding 3 months normally requires a visa de long séjour obtained through the nearest Comorian diplomatic or consular representation and submitted to the Ministry of the Interior. The Conseil des Ministres decides on the long-stay visa. After entry, the person must obtain a carte de séjour within 10 days; this card is renewable annually. A person holding a resident card also needs a visa de sortie and must pay the applicable fee when leaving Comoros. Current fees and processing times are not fully specified in the available sources. A short-stay or long-stay visa does not authorize paid employment, whether as an employee or in self-employment. Employment generally requires a carte de résident, valid for 10 years and renewable, together with the required work authorization. An employee needs an employment contract and an application to the Ministère du Travail et des Affaires sociales. A person engaging in trade, industry, crafts or a liberal profession needs an authorization to create a company from the Ministère de l’Économie et des Finances; the Conseil des Ministres decides on the company or property authorization. Under the Code du Travail, an employer may employ a foreign worker only when that worker has a carte spéciale de travailleur étranger. Employing someone without the required card can lead to penalties. No separate student visa or distinct study-residence status was identified in the examined primary sources. The functional immigration pathway for study is a long-stay visa, but work remains unauthorized under that visa. Admission requirements and a complete current document checklist for study were not established in the available research. Comoros also has no separately identified family-reunification procedure in Loi n°88-025. Families of diplomatic and consular mission members may have a special status, while other family connections mainly affect nationality rather than creating an automatic residence right. No formal language, integration or civic-knowledge requirement or separate integration programme was identified in the examined immigration and nationality sources. Naturalisation nevertheless requires assimilation into the Comorian community, good character, mental health and no condition that would burden or endanger the community. Comoros is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, although it ratified the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention in 2004. No national asylum system, national refugee-status decision or expressly codified protection for asylum seekers and refugees was identified. UNHCR may provide functional international support, but it is not a local asylum authority; protection cases therefore fall in practice under the general foreigner regime. Comoros has no expressly named permanent-residence or permanent-stay status in the examined sources. The 10-year carte de résident is renewable but is not regulated as an unlimited residence status. Naturalisation may provide a functional transition to a more secure status, but it is not automatic and requires a separate procedure. A naturalisation application generally requires 10 years of residence before the application, ordinary residence at the time of signature, an age of at least 18 except in specified cases, an investigation and a decree. The residence period may be reduced by 5 years for a person born in Comoros or for certain marriages to a Comorian under the Code. A chancery fee of 20,000 KMF applies. Reinstatement by decree is available at any age without a residence stage, but it requires ordinary residence and proof of former Comorian nationality. Nationality may arise through birth in Comoros when both parents are not foreign, through birth abroad when at least one parent is Comorian, or through established parentage recorded in civil-status documents or a judgment. A child of foreign parents born in Comoros may make a declaration after at least 5 consecutive years of ordinary residence if the birth was recorded in the civil register. The age rules allow an independent declaration from age 18, consent for ages 16 and 17, and legal representation below age 16. Marriage no longer gives an automatic nationality pathway to a foreign woman under the 2017 amendment: she generally needs 10 years of marital cohabitation and at least 5 years of regular or ordinary residence before applying, with a possible 5-year exception where the couple has a child. The marriage must be recorded in Comorian civil or consular registers. Sham marriage is prohibited and may lead to investigation or annulment. The Government may oppose the application by decree within 1 year of the application; the nationality code also provides a 6-month opposition period for a nationality declaration. An adult Comorian may lose nationality after voluntarily acquiring another nationality, subject to certain special authorizations during the 15 years following military service or registration. Deprivation may follow offences against state security or institutions, harmful services to a foreign state or a crime carrying at least 5 years of imprisonment. The relevant facts must fall within 10 years of acquisition and the decision must be made within 2 years. A person affected by deprivation must receive an opportunity to submit documents and written observations. A foreign woman's nationality may also be withdrawn for fraudulent or irregular acquisition under the 2017 amendment. Entry may be refused for reasons involving public order, public health, state security or the national economy. The refusal is immediately enforceable. The Ministry of the Interior may hold the person until the necessary departure, with costs charged to the person; the destination person or a Conseil of the person's choice may be notified. The rule also applies to minors under 18. A carrier must arrange return transport, while the cost may fall on the person or the carrier if the carrier fails to do so. Irregular entry can lead to refoulement, while overstaying can lead to expulsion. Other expulsion grounds include public order, public health, morality, public security and the national economy. The Ministry of the Interior issues the expulsion order after a Conseil des Ministres decision. Before the decision, the person may be assigned to a place of residence and required to report periodically to the police or gendarmerie; an expulsion may be revoked in the same form. A host providing accommodation must report the foreign person to the police nearest to the person's domicile. Irregular entry, false statements or false documents may carry 6 months to 1 year of imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 to 1,000,000 KMF. Breaches involving long-stay visas, employment, residence cards or property rules may carry 2 months to 2 years of imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 to 2,000,000 KMF. Employment without a carte de résident may carry a fine of 200,000 to 400,000 KMF and 1 to 2 years of imprisonment. Evading an expulsion order may carry 6 months to 3 years of imprisonment, and employer violations concerning the carte spéciale de travailleur étranger may trigger additional Code du Travail sanctions. Loi n°88-025 does not identify a dedicated suspensive immigration appeal. A person can generally challenge an administrative decision before the Section administrative de la Cour Suprême within 2 months of notification or publication. A complaint unanswered for more than 4 months is generally treated as a rejection, followed by a further 2-month period for court proceedings. A challenge is normally not suspensive, although a sursis may be requested and is generally unavailable where public order is involved. A formal claim requires reasons, supporting documents, copies and a caution; a person receiving legal aid is exempt from the caution. The practical availability and success of immigration-specific remedies are not established in the available sources.