Malawi or Tunisia
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 | Tunisia | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | — | — |
| Partner can work | — | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | difficult | no trouble |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | — | — |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 478 · estimate | $ 391 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 22,1 | $ 25,1 |
| Life expectancy | 67.56 | 76.71 |
| Homicides/100k | 1.78 | 4.69 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 3.9 | 4.4 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Malawi — 8, Tunisia — 33. Types present in both: work, study and investment. Tunisia adds: family, talent and retirement.
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. Tunisia: not a single route publishes its fee. Routes with a published decision deadline: 12; the shortest is 30 days.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: both after 5 years.
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.
Tunisia in brief
Tunisia is a North African republic on the Mediterranean coast with a relatively low cost of living and a small share of foreigners in its population: the 2024 census puts them at 0.55% (66,349 of 11,972,169 people, INS). The five cities described show different sides of the country: Tunis, the capital and business centre with a UNESCO-listed medina and the ruins of Carthage inside its metropolitan area; Sfax, the second-largest city and the industrial port of the south; Sousse, the resort centre of the Sahel whose medina and ribat were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988; Hammamet, one of the country's oldest beach resorts on the Cap Bon peninsula; and Bizerte, a historic northern port beside the northernmost point of the African continent. Foreign workers face a branched system of work authorisations with several expressly described categories, including a simplified regime for companies covered by the 2016 investment law. Residence splits into temporary and ordinary: the temporary card is issued for no more than a year, while the ordinary one goes to a foreigner who has lived in the country for five uninterrupted years, to a foreign woman married to a Tunisian, to a foreigner with Tunisian children or one born in Tunisia, and it is valid for two years and renewable; Tunisian law knows no open-ended status. The right to ordinary residence is lost after an absence of more than six months without a return visa. The period to citizenship and the decision period for family applications remain unconfirmed: the nationality code could not be read in the primary source, and neither the law on the status of foreigners nor its implementing decree sets any decision periods. World Bank indices for political stability, control of corruption, rule of law and government effectiveness were all below zero in 2024 on the −2.5 to +2.5 scale, and youth unemployment exceeds 38%.
Other comparisons
Malawi or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · South Africa · Angola · Gabon
Tunisia or… Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique · Republic of the Congo
More on each: Malawi · Tunisia. 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.