Ethiopia or Mali
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
| Ethiopia | Mali | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 4 years | — |
| Partner can work | — | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | difficult | no trouble |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | — | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 848 · estimate | $ 352 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 29,6 | $ 19,9 |
| Life expectancy | 67.6 | 60.67 |
| Homicides/100k | 8.51 | — |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 3.7 | 4.2 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Ethiopia — 17, Mali — 10. Types present in both: work, study and investment. Mali adds: family and retirement.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Ethiopia: fees range from 32 to 1,002 USD. Routes with a published decision deadline: 10; the shortest is 3 days. Mali: not a single route publishes its fee.
Beyond the first permit
Citizenship: Ethiopia after 4 years; the other country publishes no term.
Ethiopia in brief
Immigration Proclamation No. 354/2002 defines nine visa types — including business, immigrant, student, tourist and transit — issued by the Authority for Security, Immigration and Refugee Affairs; some are available through the evisa.gov.et e-portal. No separately named "investor visa" was found in law: the Ethiopian Investment Commission directs investors to the general business visa, valid from 30 days to 12 months. The law introduces the status of a temporary or permanent residence permit, but the conditions for moving between them and the number of years of waiting are not defined in the text of the law itself — they are assigned to separate Regulations, unavailable in open sources this session. Naturalisation on the general ground requires domicile and at least 4 years' residence in the country, knowledge of one of the nations' and nationalities' languages, a lawful source of income, no criminal record, and renouncing prior nationality (Ethiopian Nationality Proclamation No. 378/2003); for spouses of Ethiopian citizens the period is reduced to 2 years from the marriage with at least 1 year of residence. Dual nationality is not permitted by law: voluntary acquisition of a foreign nationality is deemed a voluntary renunciation of Ethiopian nationality. For persons of Ethiopian origin in that situation, a separate status is provided — the Yellow Card (Proclamation No. 270/2002), granting a broad range of rights and privileges without nationality itself; a decision on the application is made within 30 days, and the card is valid for 5 years. The Constitution establishes land as the state and common property of the country's nations, nationalities and peoples: it may not be sold or otherwise alienated by anyone, including citizens, and private investors receive only a right of use on lease terms. Importing pets requires a permit from the relevant agency under the general agricultural regulation (Animal Health and Welfare Proclamation No. 1376/2025) — an import permit, an international veterinary certificate, and entry through a designated crossing point — but the specific quarantine period and antibody-titre requirement for dogs and cats are not defined in the open text of the law. The country has been landlocked since 1993 and lives by its own calendar, running 7–8 years behind the Gregorian one. The five cities in this reference guide are Addis Ababa (the capital, at an elevation of about 2,355 m), Dire Dawa (the second-largest city and a railway hub), Mekelle (administrative centre of the Tigray region), and Lalibela and Gondar — two stops on the historic tourist route with UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Mali in brief
Mali has the second-lowest political stability figure in this guide: −2.49 on the World Bank scale among the 173 countries with data. Government effectiveness is −1.29 (fifteenth from the bottom out of 172), rule of law −1.09 and control of corruption −0.98. Life expectancy is 60.67 years — seventh from the bottom out of 174. Health spending is 33.98 dollars per person per year, twelfth from the bottom out of 167. Basic water access reaches 86.36 percent of the population, with a mean PM2.5 concentration of 35.52 micrograms per cubic metre. Road deaths run at 20.2 per 100,000. Overall natural hazard is 4.2 out of 10 on INFORM, and unusually double-edged: flooding at 7.9 and drought at 7.4 together, while earthquakes are almost absent (0.1) and there is no sea at all — coastal, cyclone and tsunami exposure are all zero. Unemployment is 2.83 percent and 3.88 among young people: as with its regional neighbours, that describes an almost wholly informal labour market rather than ease of finding work. Prices are low: a one-bedroom in Bamako rents for 228 euros a month, with utilities at 54 and a monthly transit pass at 12.21 dollars. The immigration regime is published as a pair — Law No. 04-058 of 2004 and Decree No. 05-322 of 2005 — and together they set out the whole procedure. What defines it is a fork at the entrance: the Act divides foreigners into non-immigrants and immigrants by INTENTION rather than by occupation, and which one you claim determines your document. A non-immigrant gets a residence visa of no more than a year, renewable. An immigrant gets a resident card for five years — but the application for it is lodged within 15 DAYS of entry, so the choice must be made at once. There is no permanent status in the country: the Act's establishment section runs to three articles, and its maximum is that same five-year renewable card. It also lapses of its own accord if the holder has been away for more than six consecutive months. Marriage to a citizen gives a residence authorisation AS OF RIGHT rather than at the authority's discretion — provided the marriage is at least three months old. The same provision grants it as of right to citizens' children, to the dependent ascendants of a citizen's spouse, to the parent of a Malian child, and to the family of a resident-card holder. One feature is rare even for the region: residence is conditioned on a REPATRIATION GUARANTEE, and it applies even to nationals of countries with which Mali has freedom-of-movement agreements. The deposit equals the price of a ticket in the most economical class and is paid into the Treasury within 15 days of arrival; exempt are diplomats, officials and military personnel on mission, nationals of bordering countries travelling by land, tourists in their own vehicles, and students at Malian institutions. What is not in this data: neither instrument sets a processing standard — the Act's 27 articles and the decree's 74 were read in full, and while deadlines abound in them, every one is addressed to the foreigner or the carrier, none to the authority. The conditions for citizenship lie in the Nationality Code of 1995, which was not read on this pass. The city's population is not given: no official source separating Bamako from the district could be found.
Other comparisons
Ethiopia or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Tunisia · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · South Africa · Angola
Mali or… Gabon · Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique
More on each: Ethiopia · Mali. 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.