Namibia 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
| Namibia | Zimbabwe | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 5 years | — |
| Partner can work | no | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | difficult | difficult |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | — | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 662 · estimate | $ 539 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 29,2 | $ 29,7 |
| Life expectancy | 67.52 | 63.06 |
| Homicides/100k | 11.21 | 6.76 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 4.1 | 3.9 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Namibia — 8, Zimbabwe — 10. Types present in both: work, study and family. Namibia adds: remote work. Zimbabwe adds: investment.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Namibia: fees range from 600 to 20,000 NAD. Routes stating an income threshold: 1; the lowest is 2,000 USD a month. Routes with a published decision deadline: 7; the shortest is 7 days. Zimbabwe: fees range from 100 to 1,000 USD.
Beyond the first permit
Citizenship: Namibia after 5 years; the other country publishes no term.
Namibia in brief
Namibia regulates labour migration under the Immigration Control Act 7 of 1993: a short-term work visa runs from 1 day to 6 months with no right of renewal beyond that period within a calendar year, an Employment Permit runs from 6 months to 2 years and is tied to a specific employer and position, and the Permanent Residence Permit is issued by the Immigration Selection Board at its discretion, with no statutory minimum period of residence. A digital nomad visa has been in place since 2022, with an income threshold of $2,000 a month and up and a stay of up to 6 months with no renewal. Naturalisation is possible after 5 years of continuous residence, but years spent on fixed-term permits, including a work visa, do not count towards this period (art. 5(3)(b), Namibian Citizenship Act 14 of 1990), and the applicant must renounce their foreign citizenship (art. 5(1)(g)); citizens by birth and by descent are not subject to such renunciation or deprivation (art. 4(8), Namibian Constitution). Between Namibia and South Africa, a simplified pet movement regime operates within the Southern African Customs Union; for other countries, the general procedure applies with an import veterinary permit. The country faces a structural water shortage: the INFORM drought risk indicator is 9.4 out of 10 (2026), and access to basic water supply covers 86.5% of the population (World Bank, 2024). Income inequality is among the highest in the world, with a Gini index of 59.1 (World Bank, 2015 data).
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
Namibia or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Tunisia · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · South Africa · Angola
Zimbabwe or… Gabon · Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique
More on each: Namibia · 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.