Ethiopia or Zimbabwe
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 | Zimbabwe | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 4 years | — |
| Partner can work | — | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | difficult | difficult |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | — | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 848 · estimate | $ 539 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 29,6 | $ 29,7 |
| Life expectancy | 67.6 | 63.06 |
| Homicides/100k | 8.51 | 6.76 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Ethiopia — 17, Zimbabwe — 10. Types present in both: work, study and investment. Zimbabwe adds: family.
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. Zimbabwe: fees range from 100 to 1,000 USD.
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.
Zimbabwe in brief
In Zimbabwe the chief hazard is not political but hydrological. Drought stands at 9.4 out of 10 on INFORM — the third-highest figure in this guide; overall natural hazard is nonetheless only 3.9, because there is no coastal, cyclone or tsunami exposure at all, flooding is 3.6 and earthquakes 1.8. Basic water access reaches 67.21 percent of the population, twenty-first from the bottom among the 171 countries with data. Health spending is 62.93 dollars per person per year — thirtieth from the bottom out of 167. Life expectancy is 63.06 years. The air is clean by this guide's standards: PM2.5 at 15.03 micrograms per cubic metre. Road deaths run high at 29.9 per 100,000. Inequality is among the most pronounced anywhere: a Gini coefficient of 50.3, the ninth-highest of 139 countries, though the figure is from 2019 and flagged as stale. Unemployment is 9.29 percent, and 15.55 percent among young people. On the World Bank scale, control of corruption is −1.25, rule of law −1.21, political stability −1.02 and government effectiveness −0.99. The internet is expensive: 65.97 dollars a month for a fixed connection running at 27.22. The immigration framework is published by two sources that complement each other. The Department of Immigration prints, for every permit, a full list of documents and the exact fee: 500 dollars for the employment and investor permits, 200 for the student permit, 100 for the scholar's, and for the spouse permit 300 to extend and 500 for the initial and the permanent stage, plus 300 for each dependant. The visa regime is split into three categories of country — no visa, a visa at the border, and a visa strictly in advance through the portal. The Immigration Act [Chapter 4:02] itself is published by the department on its own site. Two features shape the experience of a foreigner. First: a work permit is granted against an undertaking to train one's own replacement — the employer must advertise the vacancy in a local newspaper, attach the CVs of everyone on the shortlist, and name a local person who will understudy the foreigner. Second: settlement in the law is measured not by a permit but by domicile — ten years of continuous lawful residence, and only time held on a residence permit counts, not time on any other (s. 3(3)); domicile is lost after five years' absence. The Minister, meanwhile, is expressly forbidden to exempt a foreigner from the general requirements in a way that would let them live in the country permanently. What is not in this data: permanent residence exists and its fee is published (500 dollars, or 1,000 for an investor), but the department gives neither a qualifying period nor any conditions — the one permit for which no list is published, so the number of years is left empty here. There are no processing standards for any service: the law sets deadlines only for appeals, and very short ones — three working days to appeal from inside the country, ten from abroad, twenty-four hours to make representations to the Minister. City populations are not given: no official source separating the city from the province could be found.
Other comparisons
Ethiopia or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Tunisia · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · South Africa · Angola
Zimbabwe or… Gabon · Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique
More on each: Ethiopia · Zimbabwe. 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.