Malawi or Togo
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
| Malawi | Togo | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | — | — |
| Partner can work | — | yes |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | difficult | no trouble |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | — | — |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 478 · estimate | $ 283 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 22,1 | $ 30,6 |
| Life expectancy | 67.56 | 62.94 |
| Homicides/100k | 1.78 | — |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 3.9 | 2.4 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Malawi — 8, Togo — 12. Types present in both: work and study. Malawi adds: investment. Togo adds: family.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Malawi: not a single route publishes its fee. Routes stating an income threshold: 1; the lowest is 50,000 USD a month. Togo: fees range from 5,000 to 800,000 XOF. Routes with a published decision deadline: 12; the shortest is 5 days.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: Malawi after 5 years; the other country publishes no term.
Malawi in brief
Malawi is one of the poorest and at the same time one of the calmest countries on the continent: homicides at 1.78 per 100,000 (UNODC; the figure is from 2012, as the agency publishes nothing more recent for the country), political stability at −0.38 on the World Bank scale from −2.5 to +2.5 — markedly better than its neighbours in the region. The air is cleaner than in most developing countries: average PM2.5 concentration 16.7 µg/m³. The immigration set-up is simple and the department states it plainly: the visa grants entry, while living and working require a permit. The work permit (TEP) is applied for by the employer, and until it is decided the applicant must stay outside Malawi; it can be renewed twice. Permanent residence is available after five years of ordinary residence, and also to the foreign wife of a Malawian citizen, to retirees with assured income and to adult dependants of a PRP holder. The business permit requires an investment of at least $50,000 from a lawful source outside the country and is valid for five years. The department publishes no processing deadlines for any permit, but it does publish a deadline for the applicant: the fee must be paid within 30 days of approval. Cats and dogs may be brought in only under a permit from the chief veterinary officer obtained in advance.
Togo in brief
Togo is a country with weak institutions and moderate natural risks: political stability −0.81, government effectiveness −0.80, control of corruption −0.66 and rule of law −0.63 on the World Bank scale from −2.5 to +2.5. Life expectancy is 62.94 years, health spending 59.6 dollars per person a year, basic water access reaches 64.8 per cent of the population, and mean PM2.5 stands at 34.33 micrograms per cubic metre. Road deaths run at 22.7 per 100,000. Natural risk is 2.4 out of 10 on INFORM overall, with flooding at 3.0. The immigration framework, by contrast, is transparent and published in full by the authority itself: law No. 2022-005 and its implementing decree sit in the “Lois & Règlements” section of the Directorate General of National Documentation, and the law appears as an issue of the Official Gazette. The residence card becomes compulsory after six months and, by the law's own definition, itself confers the right to paid or unpaid employment: the country has no separate work permit as a document. The spouses and descendants of a card holder live on the same conditions as the holder. A visa decision comes within five days at most, a residence card in 30–45 days. What to watch for: penalties for missing deadlines are published and high by local standards — a million CFA francs for staying more than six months in a year without applying for a card, half a million for working without a card or an entry authorisation. Neither the law nor the decree names any condition for the five-year privileged card, so the period to permanent status is empty in the data.
Other comparisons
Malawi or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Tunisia · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · South Africa · Angola
Togo or… Gabon · Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique
More on each: Malawi · Togo. 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.