Decree No. 2023/147 of 2 March 2023 repealed the 2007 framework and reset the rules on entry, stay and exit of foreign nationals in Cameroon. This article sets out the regime now in force: the three categories of foreign national, the visa tiers and the online procedure, the two-year residence card and the ten-year resident card, family reunification, the repatriation guarantee, exit visas, and the removal measures — with the practical traps that defeat applications.

Most of the guidance available online about residence in Cameroon describes a regime that no longer exists. Decree No. 2023/147 of 2 March 2023 laying down the modalities for the implementation of Law No. 97/012 of 10 January 1997 relating to the conditions of entry, stay and exit of foreigners in Cameroon, as amended and supplemented by Law No. 2022/015 of 14 July 2022, expressly repealed at article 76 Decree No. 2007/255 of 4 September 2007 together with Decrees No. 2008/052 of 30 January 2008 and No. 2016/673 of 4 August 2016 which had amended it. An application built on the old framework risks refusal, delay or irregular status. This article sets out the regime now in force.

The applicable texts

The law governing the stay of foreigners in Cameroon now rests on two instruments, which should be cited in full. First, Law No. 97/012 of 10 January 1997 laying down the conditions of entry, stay and exit of foreigners in Cameroon, as amended and supplemented by Law No. 2022/015 of 14 July 2022. Second, Decree No. 2023/147 of 2 March 2023 laying down the modalities for the implementation of Law No. 97/012 of 10 January 1997 relating to the conditions of entry, stay and exit of foreigners in Cameroon, as amended and supplemented by Law No. 2022/015 of 14 July 2022. What follows refers to these two instruments, described for ease of reading as the 1997 Law as amended and the 2023 Decree respectively.

The three categories of foreign national

The decree distinguishes temporary visitors, foreign nationals in stay, and residents. Temporary visitors include private visitors, tourists, persons on official mission, businessmen and businesswomen, promoters, guests at organised events, annuitants, pensioners and persons admitted for medical treatment.
Foreign nationals in stay are contractual workers, self-employed workers, long-term trainees, students, family members of a foreign national in stay, and refugees. Contractual workers cover private sector employees, foreign nationals employed under contract in the public or parapublic sector, and technical assistance personnel. Self-employed workers are those carrying on, individually, a liberal, commercial, industrial, agricultural, pastoral, cultural or artisanal occupation.
Residents are those in the preceding category who have lawfully stayed in Cameroon for at least six consecutive years, the spouse of a Cameroonian national subject to article 21(1) of the 1997 Law, and members of duly recognised religious congregations. The classification is not academic: it determines the visa required, the document issued and the supporting evidence demanded.

Entry visas and the rule not to miss

A transit visa may not exceed five days. A short stay visa, for one or more entries, may not exceed six months. A long stay visa is granted where the intended stay exceeds six months, and its validity may not exceed twelve months.
Article 26 states the decisive rule: apart from the long stay visa, no other visa confers the right to carry on a gainful or professional activity, or to study in Cameroon. Article 25 adds that entry visas cannot be converted from one category to another, extension being available only in cases of force majeure assessed by the Minister of External Relations following the favourable opinion of the Delegate General for National Security.
The practical consequence is severe. A person who enters on a short stay business visa and then decides to work or study cannot regularise in country by converting the category. The purpose of the stay must be correctly characterised at the visa application stage, before departure.

A fully digital procedure

Visa applications and payment of the related fees are made exclusively online through the dedicated platform. The process begins with online pre-enrolment followed by payment, with the Delegate General for National Security carrying out the usual checks and giving an opinion within twenty-four hours.
Visas or online visa authorisations are granted by the competent diplomatic mission or consular post within three days of pre-enrolment, reduced to twenty-four hours under the express procedure. Refusal is notified to the applicant within three days of filing. Applicants from countries where Cameroon has no representation may apply to the geographically nearest mission or post, as may those residing outside the city where the mission is located.

The long stay visa: the documents that defeat applications

Issue of the long stay visa requires, as applicable, a passport valid for more than six months, a travel ticket, the required international vaccination certificates and the repatriation guarantee. To these are added, depending on circumstances, an enrolment or re-enrolment certificate for students, a placement attestation for trainees, evidence of the marital or parental link for family members, and — for those intending to take up salaried employment — an employment contract endorsed by the Minister responsible for employment.
That last requirement deserves particular attention. Endorsement of the employment contract by the employment administration is a separate, prior formality handled by a different authority from the one issuing the entry visa. Where a liberal profession or an agricultural, pastoral, industrial, commercial or artistic activity is intended, an authorisation to practise issued by the competent authority is required where such authorisation is prescribed. Sequencing is decisive: the sectoral authorisation and the contract endorsement come before the entry visa application.

The residence card

The residence card is an identification document issued to a foreign national lawfully admitted in stay. It is valid for two years, renewable. It is now a secure laminated polycarbonate document, blue, computerised, biometric and chip-enabled, produced to ISO/IEC 7810 in ID-1 format and bearing its particulars in French and English.
Issue requires a certified copy of the valid passport less than three months old bearing the long stay visa, a certificate of residence issued by the administrative authority or the territorially competent police commissioner and endorsed by the prior and mandatory visa of the quarter or village head, a special criminal record extract, a valid tax clearance attestation, payment of the stamp duty fixed by the finance law, and the supporting evidence of stay.
Renewal requires production of the previous card at least one month before expiry together with evidence of stay. Once the application is filed, a provisional identity document valid for three months and renewable is issued, and holding it constitutes a presumption of identity.
The certificate of residence is in practice the most underestimated item: it requires the intervention of the quarter or village head upstream of the administrative authority, which takes time and an effective, verifiable address.

The resident card

The resident card is issued to a foreign national admitted as a resident and is valid for ten years, renewable. It takes the same secure biometric form, in green.
For a foreign national in stay, issue requires a residence card renewed for the third time, or a resident card presented at least one month before expiry, a certificate of residence, a special criminal record extract, a certified copy of the valid passport less than three months old bearing the long stay visa, payment of stamp duty and a tax clearance attestation.
The requirement of a residence card renewed for the third time dovetails with the six consecutive years condition: the timetable must be planned from the first application, because a late renewal or an interruption in lawful stay pushes back access to resident status accordingly.
Separate lists apply to members of recognised religious congregations and to the spouse of a Cameroonian national, the latter being required to produce a certified copy of the marriage certificate less than three months old.

Family accompaniment and reunification

The spouse, minor children or adult children still studying, and first-degree ascendants of a foreign national staying more than three months may benefit. Family accompaniment covers a stay not exceeding three months with a relative admitted in stay or as a resident who has accommodation and stable, sufficient resources, and the application is made to the diplomatic mission or consular post. Family reunification concerns a family member joining that relative, the application then being made to the emigration and immigration services. In both cases all evidence of the family relationship must be produced.

The repatriation guarantee

Repatriation is guaranteed at the entry visa stage. For a stay not exceeding three months, transit aside, the guarantee takes the form of a standard return ticket, non-transferable and non-negotiable, valid at least for the intended duration. For a stay of more than three months, that ticket must be valid for at least one year; for a salaried foreign national, an undertaking duly given by the employer may serve instead.
Where no guarantee was constituted at the visa stage for a stay exceeding three months, the person must regularise within a maximum of three months of entry by depositing with the public Treasury a security at least equivalent to the economy class airfare from Yaoundé to the capital of their country. Release is sought from the Treasurer-Paymaster General who received the deposit, supported by an attestation from the emigration and immigration services certifying definitive departure, whereupon the amount is returned in full.

Exit visas

Cameroon requires foreign nationals to hold a visa in order to leave the territory, which many discover too late. Five categories exist: the single exit visa, the return exit visa, and three-month, six-month and one-year visas with multiple exits and entries. The return exit visa, valid for no more than three months, may be granted on application to a foreign national admitted in stay or as a resident.
The six-month and one-year visas are issued with the agreement of the Delegate General for National Security to a foreign national who has made at least three and at least four exits respectively during the preceding year, and whose residence document is valid for longer than the period sought. Issue requires, as applicable, an exit authorisation from the supervising authority or a mission order, a letter of guarantee from the employer for private sector employees, a tax clearance attestation from the tax administration, and an exit authorisation from the employer for those under contract. On requisition by the judicial authorities or certain ministers, exit visas may be suspended in respect of any foreign national in breach of applicable law.

Refusal of entry, escorting to the border and expulsion

Three distinct measures must be separated, since they issue from different authorities and carry different avenues of challenge. Refusal of entry is decided at the border by the head of the border or immigration post and recorded in writing in the incident register, the transported person being immediately returned to the carrier's charge. Escorting to the border is ordered by decree of the territorially competent prefect on a reasoned report from the immigration services, notification being required within forty-eight hours of signature and execution being immediate. Expulsion is pronounced by decree of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, and is enforceable of its own motion.
The decree further provides that a residence, resident or refugee card may be refused to any foreign national whose presence constitutes a threat to public order, and that on definitive departure the card must be returned when the exit visa is issued.

Points of vigilance

Five errors recur. Building the file on the repealed 2007 decree. Entering on a short stay visa expecting to regularise in country, when conversion between categories is excluded. Overlooking endorsement of the employment contract by the Minister responsible for employment, which conditions the employee's long stay visa. Underestimating the certificate of residence and the delay imposed by the prior visa of the quarter or village head. And ignoring the exit visa regime and the tax clearance attestation, which can immobilise a foreign executive at precisely the moment they need to travel.

Conclusion

The regime established by the 2022 Law and the 2023 Decree is more secure, fully digital at the visa stage, and subject to short administrative deadlines. It is correspondingly more formalistic: the initial characterisation of the stay governs everything that follows, and the documents required presuppose prior steps before different authorities. The analysis must precede the first application, not follow it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is the residence card valid?
Two years, renewable, under article 37 of Decree 2023/147.
When can a resident card be obtained?
After at least six consecutive years of lawful stay, issue requiring in particular a residence card renewed for the third time. Spouses of Cameroonian nationals and members of recognised religious congregations are governed by their own rules.
Can you work on a short stay visa?
No. Apart from the long stay visa, no visa confers the right to carry on a gainful or professional activity, or to study.
Can the visa category be changed once in Cameroon?
No. Entry visas cannot be converted between categories, extension being available only in cases of force majeure.
Is a visa needed to leave Cameroon?
Yes. The decree establishes five categories of exit visa, issue of which requires, as applicable, a tax clearance attestation and an employer authorisation.
Does the 2007 decree still apply?
No. Article 76 of Decree 2023/147 repeals Decree 2007/255 together with Decrees 2008/052 and 2016/673 which amended it.