Immigration
ECOWAS free movement, with a carte de séjour for non-community nationals
ECOWAS citizens enter visa-free for 90 days. Others require a visa and a carte de séjour beyond three months. Security conditions have added movement restrictions and internal checkpoints not reflected in the immigration statutes themselves.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — The Direction Générale de la Police Nationale issues residence permits.
- Deadline — Carte de séjour: within three months of arrival
- Deadline — ECOWAS nationals: 90 days visa-free
Governing law
- Loi n° 007-2004 portant conditions d'entrée et de séjour des étrangers
- ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons 1979
In practice
Burkina Faso's formal immigration regime is standard ECOWAS, but the practical position is dominated by displacement: the country hosts Malian refugees while itself producing over a million internally displaced people. Refugee status is governed by the 1951 Convention and the 1969 OAU Convention, which uses a broader refugee definition covering generalised violence.