The Gambia or South Africa
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
| The Gambia | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | — | 10 years |
| Partner can work | — | no |
| Parents | — | difficult |
| Pets | difficult | difficult |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | — | 14 days |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 122 · estimate | $ 633 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 19,2 | $ 26,0 |
| Life expectancy | 66.06 | 66.31 |
| Homicides/100k | — | 39.72 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 2.9 | 3.9 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: The Gambia — 6, South Africa — 24. Types present in both: work. South Africa adds: study, family, investment, talent and retirement.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
The Gambia: fees range from 100 to 7,700 GMD. South Africa: fees range from 425 to 1,520 ZAR. Routes with no fee: 2. Routes stating an income threshold: 2; the lowest is 8,500 ZAR a month.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: South Africa after 5 years; the other country publishes no term. Citizenship: South Africa after 10 years; the other country publishes no term.
The Gambia in brief
The Gambia is very cheap and very poor at the same time. **A monthly transit pass at 6.55 dollars is the cheapest in this guide**, and a one-bedroom in Banjul rents for 80 euros with utilities at 26. And alongside that: health spending of 25.74 dollars per person per year — fifth from the bottom among 167 countries. Life expectancy is 66.06 years, basic water access reaches 87.1 percent of the population, PM2.5 stands at 38.27 micrograms per cubic metre (the twenty-fourth highest of 170), and road deaths run at 22.0 per 100,000. Unemployment is 6.52 percent, and 10.86 among young people. Overall natural hazard is 2.9 out of 10 on INFORM and almost entirely water-borne: flooding 4.6, drought 3.0, coastal hazards 2.5, tsunami 1.1, with earthquakes and cyclones practically absent. On the World Bank scale the governance figures are appreciably better than the regional norm: political stability −0.02, control of corruption −0.33, rule of law −0.39 and government effectiveness −0.54. The Immigration Department sets out the procedure in detail. A visa may be single journey, multiple journey (valid no longer than 12 months), transit, diplomatic (heads of missions only, and free) or short visit for 90 days; ECOWAS citizens need no visa. The service states twice that issuing a visa does not guarantee entry: the final decision rests with the officer at the port of arrival. There are two classes of residence permit: A — to live without gainful employment (students, retirees, short business visits) — and B, to live and work. The distinction by nationality runs through everything: an ECOWAS citizen obtains a permit after up to 90 days in the country, while a non-ECOWAS citizen must reside for up to 56 days after admission before a permit can be issued at all, and additionally receives an Alien Card. Fees run from 3,100 to 7,700 dalasi. Hiring is bounded by a QUOTA rather than a procedure: 80 percent of a workforce must be Gambians and 20 percent foreigners with skills unavailable in the country, and the Ministry of Trade administers it. Working without a residence and work permit is an offence. Family is arranged without a document of its own: the children and direct dependants of a permit holder are covered by that same permit, but on reaching adulthood must obtain one of their own. What is not in this data: there is no permanent residence in the department's catalogue, but a catalogue is not a law, and the Immigration Act itself is not published, so the number of years to permanent residence is left empty. The department publishes no processing standard for any of the seven steps of its own "processing cycle". The road to citizenship, by contrast, is published and long: seven years of residence from the date of marriage, or fifteen years by naturalisation. For cats there is no data at all — the British veterinary certificate for The Gambia covers only dogs. The city's population is not given: no official source separating Banjul from its area could be found.
South Africa in brief
South Africa builds its intake around scarce occupations: the Critical Skills Work Visa is issued for up to 5 years, but the occupation must be on the current list and the qualification must be assessed by SAQA with an NQF level stated. The constraints are the time limits and family: the processing standard for a spousal visa is 120 working days, work on it without a separate permit is not allowed, and citizenship comes after 10 years.
Other comparisons
The Gambia or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Tunisia · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · Angola · Gabon
South Africa or… Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique · Republic of the Congo
More on each: The Gambia · South Africa. 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.