Republic of the Congo or Guinea
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Republic of the Congo | Guinea | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | — | — |
| Partner can work | — | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | — | no trouble |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | — | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 338 · estimate | $ 733 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 20,9 | $ 39,2 |
| Life expectancy | 66 | 60.9 |
| Homicides/100k | — | — |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 3.3 | 3.7 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Republic of the Congo — 18, Guinea — 10. Types present in both: work, study, family and investment. Republic of the Congo adds: talent.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Republic of the Congo: fees range from 15,000 to 200,000 XAF. Routes with no fee: 4. Guinea: every route that publishes a fee charges nothing.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: both after 10 years.
Republic of the Congo in brief
The Republic of the Congo carries a high flood risk and very high youth unemployment, alongside political stability that is decent by regional standards. Flooding at 7.6 out of 10 on INFORM is the principal natural hazard, while earthquakes, drought, cyclones and tsunami are practically absent; overall natural hazard is 3.3. On the World Bank scale, political stability is −0.26 — appreciably better than its neighbours — but control of corruption is −1.42, rule of law −1.18 and government effectiveness −1.11. Life expectancy is 66.0 years, health spending 75.55 dollars per person per year, water access reaches 73.49 percent of the population (the 2021 figure is flagged as stale), and PM2.5 stands at 36.54 micrograms per cubic metre. Road deaths run low at 8.4 per 100,000. Unemployment is 19.88 percent, and 40.5 among young people. A one-bedroom in Brazzaville rents for 219 euros with utilities at 56, and Pointe-Noire costs much the same. The immigration regime is set by Law No. 23-96 as amended by Law No. 29-2017, and it is the second that must be read: the amendment rewrote and renumbered all 48 articles at once. The structure is simple: visitors for up to three months (tourists, people on mission, businesspeople) and residents for longer than three. Residents come in two classes: ordinary, with a card for a year, and privileged, with a card for five. Settlement is granted on one condition — ten years of uninterrupted residence. The 2017 amendment, meanwhile, repealed a striking condition of the earlier version: before it, the privileged card was withheld from anyone aged 35 or over on entry, with allowances for children and for marriage to a Congolese. Marriage to a citizen gives the resident card AS OF RIGHT after two years, subject to three tested conditions: the union has not ceased, the spouse has retained their nationality, and a marriage celebrated other than by a Congolese registrar has been transcribed into the Congolese register. One feature to expect: the resident card must be applied for within fifteen days of entry, or the person is escorted to the border; anyone lodging a foreigner, even free of charge, must report it within twenty-four hours; and a change of residence is declared a day before and within two days after. What is not in this data: the Act sets no standard for the decision — all its deadlines are addressed to the foreigner or the host, and of the decision itself it says only that the applicant's resources are weighed. The procedure for bringing in cats and dogs is described neither by a national source nor by other countries' veterinary authorities: the British service holds certificates for Congo covering primates, pigs, meat and dairy products, but not pets. The conditions for citizenship lie in another instrument and were not read. City populations are not given: no official source separating the city from its department could be found.
Guinea in brief
Guinea has the highest road-death rate in this guide: 37.4 per 100,000, first among the 169 countries with data. Life expectancy is 60.9 years — eighth from the bottom out of 174. Health spending is 59.33 dollars per person per year, twenty-eighth from the bottom out of 167. Basic water access reaches 74.19 percent of the population, and the mean PM2.5 concentration is 27.26 micrograms per cubic metre. Overall natural hazard is 3.7 out of 10 on INFORM and almost entirely water-borne: flooding 5.5, coastal hazards 4.9, tsunami 2.7, while earthquakes at 0.1 and drought at 0.7 are practically absent and there is no cyclone exposure at all. On the World Bank scale, control of corruption is −1.17, rule of law −1.15, political stability −1.04 and government effectiveness −0.89. Unemployment is 5.16 percent and 7.02 among young people — as with its neighbours, that reflects an almost wholly informal labour market rather than an absence of trouble finding work. The internet is among the most expensive in this guide: 81.01 dollars a month, eleventh highest, at a fixed speed of 19.23. The immigration regime is published as a pair — an Act plus its implementing decree, both dated 13 June 1994 — and together they set out the whole procedure. An entry visa is valid for no more than three months, and it may be granted or refused without reasons being given. Temporary stay runs to ninety days, extendable by another ninety. Those who remain are entitled to a Carte d'Étranger Résident valid from one to three years and renewable; renewal is applied for three months ahead. Salaried work in the private sector requires authorisation from the competent body for that activity and an endorsed employment contract, and the documents for it are to be brought along on entry. One feature most countries do not have: residence is not permitted at all without a REPATRIATION GUARANTEE — a deposit at least equal to the price of a return ticket, or a bank guarantee letter; failing to post it means expulsion. Diplomats, nationals of countries with reciprocity agreements, children under fifteen accompanying their parents, and privileged residents are exempt. The settled status is the Carte de Résident Privilégié, granted on one of four grounds, of which only one names a period in years: a business person whose activities are tied to national economic development, after ten years of residence. A Guinean's spouse, or a person with a Guinean parent, obtains the same status with no period at all. The card is issued after an administrative inquiry by the immigration service. What is not in this data: neither the Act nor the decree sets a standard for deciding on the resident card — all their deadlines are addressed to the applicant, and the only one on the authority's side belongs to a different procedure (the receipt on a temporary-visa extension is valid for three working days, after which the person comes in for the answer). The validity of the privileged card is named in neither instrument. The conditions for citizenship lie in the nationality code, which was not read on this pass. The city's population is not given: no official source separating Conakry from the region could be found.
Other comparisons
Republic of the Congo or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Tunisia · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · South Africa · Angola
Guinea or… Gabon · Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique
More on each: Republic of the Congo · Guinea. Build your own comparison — up to four countries
This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.