Mali 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
| Mali | Zimbabwe | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | — | — |
| Partner can work | — | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | no trouble | difficult |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | no | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 352 · estimate | $ 539 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 19,9 | $ 29,7 |
| Life expectancy | 60.67 | 63.06 |
| Homicides/100k | — | 6.76 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 4.2 | 3.9 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Mali — 10, Zimbabwe — 10. Types present in both: work, study, family and investment. Mali adds: retirement.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Mali: not a single route publishes its fee. Zimbabwe: fees range from 100 to 1,000 USD.
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.
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
Mali or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Tunisia · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · South Africa · Angola
Zimbabwe or… Gabon · Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique
More on each: Mali · 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.