Botswana
Botswana · Africa · updated 24.08.2026
Botswana regulates labour and permanent migration through the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs): the official categories are the Work Permit (14 working days to process), the Residence Permit (30 working days), the Exemption Certificate, which exempts certain categories of foreigners from the Work Permit requirement (7 working days), and the Permanent Residence Permit, which requires a minimum of 5 years of continuous lawful residence — except for the investor category, to which this threshold does not apply; the official page gives the processing time both as "56 working days" and as "about six months". Ordinary naturalisation requires at least 10 years of residence in total and the last 12 months continuously before applying, and concludes with a mandatory renunciation of foreign citizenship; for spouses of Botswana citizens the threshold is reduced to 5 years of residence within the marriage. Dual citizenship is preserved without restriction only for those who acquired it by birth or by descent; those who acquire Botswana citizenship by registration, naturalisation or marriage must renounce their foreign citizenship, while citizens by birth/descent who simultaneously hold foreign citizenship must choose a single citizenship by age 21 or automatically lose Botswana citizenship. The import of dogs and cats is handled by the Department of Veterinary Services as an import permit: a valid rabies vaccination certificate and an inspection of the animal before the permit is issued are required — quarantine and rabies antibody titration are not among the listed requirements, and the permit is issued within 1 working day. The country's economy has historically relied on diamond mining and exports: in May 2026 diamonds accounted for 59.0% of all merchandise exports (Statistics Botswana). Access to basic water supply covers 91.77% of the population (World Bank, 2024), and the INFORM drought risk indicator is 5.4 out of 10 (2026). HIV prevalence among adults aged 15–49 is 15.7% (WHO, Global Health Observatory, 2024) — one of the highest rates in the world and a significant factor when planning health insurance and access to treatment.
Some descriptions for this country are still Russian only: 86% translated. Numbers, prices and timelines are complete.
Entry
Entry rules depend on citizenship. Choose a passport to see the requirement for that one.
Work and visas
- Visa speed
- The agency publishes a processing time for every ground, and that is its strength: not one ground in the list is without one. Work permit — 14 working days; emergency work permit — 14 days; certificate of exemption — 7 working days; labour exemption certificate for permanent residence holders — SIX MONTHS (the field, whose unit is the day, carries 180: that is months converted into days, not a printed figure); residence permit — 30 working days across all four categories; employment and study visas — 7 to 14 working days; extension of days of visit — 3 days. **On permanent residence the card contradicts itself.** One and the same official page prints “This service takes 56 working days” and, right after it, “This service takes six months”. Nothing third resolves the discrepancy; the numeric field carries the smaller, 56, and the contradiction itself is named here. Note that six months is exactly the period the card for the labour certificate for permanent residence holders gives as its own, so the second line looks carried over from the neighbouring service. Where to apply the agency names for each service and distinguishes: work permits and emergency permits are submitted to labour offices (head office in Gaborone, regional ones in Gaborone I and II, Francistown, Lobatse, Maun, Selibe Phikwe, Serowe and Kasane), residence and permanent residence permits to immigration and citizenship offices, visas to immigration offices, embassies and consulates or online at evisa.gov.bw. An application to renew a work permit is submitted SIX MONTHS before it expires, and one to extend the days of a visit before the ninety days lapse, not after.
Visa types: The Work Permit — a permit to work for a specific employer or to conduct an income-generating activity; the application requires a job advertisement (no older than 6 months), an employment contract, an appointment letter, a CV, and certified education documents (foreign ones with translation and confirmation from the Botswana Qualifications Authority); certain professions (drivers, farm workers, medical staff, teachers, accountants, footballers, pilots, engineers) need additional regulatory clearances · The Residence Permit — a permit to remain in the country beyond the visit period; from age 18 it is applied for separately and requires a sponsor/guarantor on whom the applicant is dependent; there is a separate category for spouses of Botswana citizens (marriage certificate and a letter of support from the spouse) · The Exemption Certificate (Certificate of Exemption) exempts the holder from the requirement to have a Work Permit; issued on three grounds: positions on the exempted list, investors who hold a Permanent Residence Permit (in this case issued as a Labour Exemption Certificate for Permanent Residents, for company directors only), and investors sponsored by the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) · The Permanent Residence Permit (Permanent Residence Certificate) — permanent residence; the general ground is at least 5 years of continuous lawful residence, good character, a significant contribution to the country's development, and sufficient means to support oneself and one's dependants; the 5-year threshold does not apply to investors
Collected on 24 August 2026 from the Government of Botswana portal gov.bw: the service cards of the “Residency and Work”, “VISA applications” and “Labour Administration” sections, together with the list of visa categories on the e-visa portal evisa.gov.bw. **You can work in the country only with TWO documents at once, and different agencies issue them.** The work permit is issued by the Department of Labour and Social Security of the Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development, the residence permit by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs. Neither alone gives the right to work and live. Hence the shape of the list: work permits and residence permits stand in it as separate grounds, because they are separate services with separate timings and separate offices. **Here the visa comes LAST in the chain, not first.** The employment visa card states it outright: “for one to qualify they need to have a VALID work and residence permit”; the study visa card requires a valid study or research permit. The visa, that is, is an entry document for a status already obtained, not a route to it. This is the reverse of the order in most countries in this reference, where the visa opens the way to a residence permit. **A separate study permit is described nowhere on the portal.** The study visa requires a study/research permit as a mandatory document, but there is no service for obtaining one anywhere in the portal's sections: the student's residence permit comes as a continuation of the dependants' list and is called something else. The gap is in the source, not in the collection. **There are exactly two prices in the whole section.** 3,000 pula for permanent residence — one and the same across all three of its categories — and 1,500 pula for a residence permit. And the second is printed for only TWO of the four residence-permit categories, dependants and students; for immigrants and for the spouse of a citizen there is no price line in the list of documents at all. For the work permit, the emergency permit, the exemption certificates and the visas, the agency publishes no price. The visa fee is computed per application by the e-visa portal (“<amount> Pula” or “Exempted”) and never printed as a tariff. **No validity period is published for ANY ground except the emergency permit.** A gov.bw service card prints a description, who is eligible, how to apply, the documents, the processing time and where to apply — and does not print how long the document is issued for. The one exception is the emergency work permit: “for a period not exceeding three months”, with a separate variety “up to seven days”. The validity field carries the ceiling as printed, three months. The section-by-section text of the Immigration Act 2011, where the periods and the tariff would be laid down, could not be checked: elaws.gov.bw and immigration.gov.bw do not resolve in DNS (rechecked 24 August 2026), and the archived snapshots of elaws are from 2017 and do not reach the chapter needed. A nine-year-old snapshot of a dead site is a worse source of a tariff than an empty field. **Investor permanent residence is the country's only ground without the five-year term.** The card states outright that an investor may apply having lived in the country for less than five years. No investment threshold is published, neither as a figure nor as a reference to an act: instead of a threshold there is a list of documents by which the investment is proved, down to a wage sheet of the employees showing how long they have been employed and certified copies of the identity cards of employees who are citizens. The requirement of a “significant contribution to Botswana” stands among the general conditions for permanent residence and is not expressed as a figure either. **It is the MINISTER who exempts you from the work permit, and he does it BY PUBLICATION IN THE GAZETTE.** The list of exempted positions is an act in the Government Gazette, not a decision on a particular application. There are two exemption certificates and they differ: the general one (exempted positions, investors holding permanent residence, investors backed by the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre) — seven working days; and the labour one for permanent residence holders, issued by the immigration agency instead, which ONLY DIRECTORS may apply for — six months. **Changing employer.** By the wording that makes the employment contract a mandatory document, the work permit is structurally tied to a particular employer, but the official source states no outright prohibition on changing employer without a new permit — the page on appealing a refusal does not touch the question of portability. The field is left empty deliberately. **What is not among the grounds.** Appealing the refusal of a work permit is not a ground but a challenge: thirty days to appeal to the minister, fourteen to decide, and on approval the file goes to the immigration agency to prepare a residence permit. Extension of days of visit (a foreigner may stay 90 days without permits; beyond that an extension sticker is needed) is an action on a visitor's status. Every visit visa: the business visa — which is precisely a visit visa, for negotiations, conferences and scouting opportunities — the tourist, visitor, transit, official and diplomatic ones. The investment visa, by contrast, is collected: it stands as a separate category in the e-visa portal's list, even though there is no service card for it.
Long-term visas and residence permits
Work Permit
WorkEmergency Work Permit
WorkCertificate of Exemption
WorkLabour Exemption Certificate for Permanent Residents
WorkResidence Permit — immigrant
OtherResidence Permit — dependants (18–25 and 65+)
FamilyResidence Permit — student
StudyResidence Permit — spouse of a citizen
FamilyPermanent Residence — immigrants, dependants, missionaries
OtherPermanent Residence — employees
OtherPermanent Residence — investors
InvestmentEmployment Visa
WorkStudy Visa
StudyInvestment Visa
InvestmentProgramme terms change, and the final decision rests with the consulate or the country migration service. The data is collected from official sources on the date shown and is not legal advice.
Residence and citizenship
- Permanent residence after
- 5 years
- Citizenship after
- 10 years
- Dual citizenship
- not allowed
Dual citizenship: The rule is not uniform and depends on how citizenship was acquired. The official "Renunciation of Foreign Citizenship Application" service (gov.bw/citizenship/renunciation-foreign-citizenship-application) describes it as follows: "Any person who is both a citizen of Botswana and a foreign country will cease to be a citizen of Botswana unless the following measures are taken before the attainment of age twenty one (21)" — meaning a Botswana citizen by birth, descent or registration (registered by a citizen parent before age 21) who simultaneously holds foreign citizenship must choose a single citizenship by age 21, or automatically lose Botswana citizenship and, with it, the right to a passport and an Omang. Adults acquiring Botswana citizenship through naturalisation, registration or marriage to a citizen are directly required to renounce their foreign citizenship at the certificate stage itself (see citizenshipNote) — meaning long-term dual citizenship is not available to this category. Source: gov.bw, "Citizenship" section services (checked 2026-08-03); the full text of the Citizenship Act could not be checked article by article — elaws.gov.bw does not resolve.
Ordinary naturalisation: at least 10 years of residence in Botswana in total, plus continuous residence for the 12 months immediately before applying; on successful review the applicant must renounce their foreign citizenship — the naturalisation certificate is issued only after renunciation (gov.bw, "Citizenship Application – Naturalization"). A separate expedited route is naturalisation of the foreign spouse of a Botswana citizen: the threshold is reduced to 5 years of residence within the marriage, processing takes about 1 year, and the filing sequence is: Form K (declaration of intent) → Form N with documents → publication in the Government Gazette → interview → renunciation of foreign citizenship is also required after approval (gov.bw, "Citizenship Application – Naturalization of Foreign Spouse"). There is also a presidential registration route ("as a mark of honour" or in special circumstances, with no statutory minimum residence period, processed in 12–18 months) and a route for stateless persons ("settlement", 20 years of continuous residence as a member of a specific community, processed in about 3 months) — both of these also end in renunciation of foreign citizenship. Sources: gov.bw/citizenship/citizenship-application-naturalization, gov.bw/citizenship/citizenship-application-naturalization-foreign-spouse, gov.bw/citizenship/citizenship-requirements-application-registration-citizen-botswana-president, gov.bw/citizenship/citizenship-application-settlement (checked 2026-08-03). The text of the Citizenship Act itself could not be checked article by article: elaws.gov.bw did not resolve at the time of collection (non-existent domain).
Documents
- Document certification
- apostille
The country is party to the 1961 Hague Convention: a degree or certificate is authenticated with a single apostille in the country that issued it.
Family
Partner
- Timeline
- There is no separate expedited visa category for spouses: the foreign spouse of a Botswana citizen or resident applies for an ordinary Residence Permit, with an official processing standard of 30 working days (gov.bw, "Residence Permit Application"); this category requires a marriage certificate and a letter of financial support from the spouse. Separately and independently of residency — naturalisation of the foreign spouse of a Botswana citizen: a minimum of 5 years of marital residence, processed in about 1 year (see residency.citizenshipNote).
- Right to work
- no
The Residence Permit confirms only the right of residence, not the right to work: the right to work in Botswana is granted by a separate Work Permit or Exemption Certificate, applied for on the general grounds — the official "Residence Permit Application" and "Work Permit Application" service pages are described as separate services with different document packages, and neither mentions an automatic right for a spouse to work. Sources: gov.bw/residency-and-work/residence-permit-application, gov.bw/citizenship/citizenship-application-naturalization-foreign-spouse (checked 2026-08-03).
Parents
Partner's parents
Pets
- Limit
- no limit
- Quarantine
- no
- Antibody titre test
- not needed
About the limit: No official limit on the number of animals per permit was found in the Department of Veterinary Services documents reviewed; the permit is issued for a consignment without a stated maximum head count.
The agency is the Department of Veterinary Services under the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security (moa.gov.bw did not resolve at the time of collection; the official service page on the gov.bw portal and the same agency's official PDF booklet were used instead). The full list of requirements for importing dogs and cats under the "Issuance of Import Permit of Live Animal(s), Animal Product(s) and Animal Feed(s)" service (gov.bw/business-compliance-agriculture-animal-husbandry/issuance-import-permit-live-animals-animal): a valid rabies vaccination certificate (for kittens/puppies under 3 months — confirmation that the mother was vaccinated between 1 and 12 months before giving birth); confirmation that there are no rabies-related movement restrictions in the region of origin; an inspection of the animal at the agency's office before the permit is issued. The same list (verbatim, except that it says "region of destination" instead of "origin" — the discrepancy between the two official documents is reported as is) appears in the official DVS booklet "How To Get Your Agricultural Import/Export Permit" (Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security, section "Movement of dogs and cats within SADC region", PDF on gov.bw, undated on the file itself). Neither document requires quarantine or a serological rabies antibody test (titration) for dogs and cats under standard import — hence quarantineDays is given as 0 rather than left empty: the list of requirements in both documents is exhaustive (application, vaccination, certificate of no restrictions, inspection), and quarantine or titration are not part of it. Endoparasite treatment/deworming is not mentioned either. There is no breed ban in the documents. The permit is issued within 1 working day. The regulatory basis is the Diseases of Animals Act (Cap 37:01): dogs and cats are explicitly included in the definition of "animal" (s. 2); the act provides for quarantine stations (s. 7) as a discretionary tool in the event of a disease outbreak, not as a mandatory procedure for ordinary pet import. Botswana maintains strict veterinary control over commercial livestock (beef exports to the EU, a requirement in the same booklet that imported feed contain no animal protein/antibiotics/hormones), but that regime applies to farm animals and their products, not to dogs/cats as companion animals — the requirements for the latter are noticeably lighter. Botswana has a customs union (SACU) with South Africa; according to data already collected for South Africa (data/countries/za.json, source: DALRRD, a document on importing dogs and cats into South Africa dated 8 June 2022), Botswana is on the list of countries EXEMPTED from the 14-day quarantine when importing dogs INTO South Africa — but this confirms only the "from Botswana to South Africa" direction; Botswana's own document on the reverse direction (from South Africa to Botswana) contains no separate concession beyond the general SADC list. Sources: gov.bw/business-compliance-agriculture-animal-husbandry/issuance-import-permit-live-animals-animal; gov.bw/sites/default/files/2020-08/IMPORT%20EXPORT%20PERMITS%202020%20BROCHURE_1.pdf; gov.bw/sites/default/files/2020-08/DISEASES%20OF%20ANIMALS%2037%2001_0.pdf (all checked 2026-08-03).
Safety
Climate
Quality of life
- Life expectancy
- 69.3 years
Healthcare: HIV prevalence among adults aged 15–49 is 15.7% (2024, WHO, Global Health Observatory, indicator MDG_0000000029, source ghoapi.azureedge.net) — one of the highest rates in the world; a significant factor when choosing health insurance and planning access to treatment. Health spending per capita is US$489.60 a year (World Bank, 2023, see indicators.healthSpendPerCapita).
Cities
Gaborone
tech hubThe capital and largest city of the country (246,325 people, 2022 census, Statistics Botswana), an administrative and business centre near the South African border; De Beers Global Sightholder Sales — the world diamond sorting and sales centre relocated from London — has operated here since 2013.
A structural water shortage affects the country: access to basic water supply covers 91.77% of the population (World Bank, 2024), and the INFORM drought risk indicator is 5.4 out of 10 (2026); the city's water supply partly depends on the Gaborone Dam and inter-basin water transfer. Earthquakes and hurricanes are not typical.
Francistown
The country's second-largest city (103,417 people, 2022 census) in the north-east — a historic gold-mining centre (Africa's first "gold rush", 1867) and a transport hub on the A1 highway to the borders of Zimbabwe and Zambia.
No risk data specific to the city was found; a structural feature of the region is the same water shortage and drought risk as the country as a whole (INFORM 5.4 out of 10, 2026).
Serowe
The country's largest traditional village and the administrative centre of the Serowe/Palapye district (55,676 people, 2022 census) — the historical seat of the Bangwato chiefs and the hometown of Botswana's first president, Sir Seretse Khama; the Khama III Memorial Museum is located here.
No risk data specific to the city was found; the region is subject to the same structural drought as the country as a whole (INFORM 5.4 out of 10, 2026).
Maun
The main gateway to the Okavango Delta — a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2014 (85,350 people, 2022 census) — and the tourism/aviation hub of the country's north, with an international airport.
Ngamiland district, where Maun is located, is classified as a malaria-endemic zone (Statistics Botswana, 2011 census report). Seasonal flooding from the Okavango Delta affects low-lying parts of the district in some years.
Kasane
The gateway to Chobe National Park, known for one of the largest elephant populations in Africa (9,143 people, 2022 census), near the Kazungula Bridge — where the borders of Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia meet, not far from Victoria Falls.
Chobe district is classified as a malaria-endemic zone (Statistics Botswana, 2011 census report). Direct contact with wildlife: elephants regularly wander into the town.
Grocery basket
- Bread, 500 g
- $ 0,85
- Milk, 1 l
- $ 1,36
- Eggs, 12
- $ 2,25
- Chicken breast, 1 kg
- $ 4,59
- Cheese, 1 kg
- $ 5,90
- Rice, 1 kg
- $ 1,64
- Potatoes, 1 kg
- $ 1,43
- Apples, 1 kg
- $ 1,49
- Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 l
- $ 1,51
- Total
- $ 21,0
The same set for every country, so the comparison is fair.
Cost of living across the country
- Rent, 1 bedroom
- $ 231 a month
- Rent, 3 bedrooms
- $ 475 a month
- Utility bills
- $ 71,0 a month
- Home internet
- $ 43,6 a month
- Monthly transport pass
- $ 29,7 a month
- Single transport ticket
- $ 0,59
- Petrol, litre
- $ 1,13
- Cold medicine
- $ 9,55 for a week
Country averages. City prices, where collected, are shown above and are more precise.
Indicators
- Life expectancy
- 69,3 years2024
- Homicides
- 13 per 100k2023
- Road deaths
- 16,5 per 100k2021
- Unemployment
- 24,5 %2025
- Unemployment, ages 15–24
- 46 %2025
- Inequality (Gini)
- 54,92015 · data lags behind
- Health spending per person
- $ 490 a year
- Air pollution, PM2.5
- 13,2 µg/m³2023
- Access to clean water
- 91,8 %2024
- Internet, fixed line
- 48,9 Mbit/s2026
Governance
- Political stability
- high · 1
- Control of corruption
- above average · 0,6
- Rule of law
- above average · 0,3
- Government effectiveness
- above average · 0,4
World Bank estimates on a −2.5 to +2.5 scale, higher is better.
Natural hazards
- Earthquakes
- 0,1 out of 10
- River floods
- 3,6 out of 10
- Coastal floods
- 0 out of 10
- Tropical cyclones
- 0 out of 10
- Droughts
- 5,4 out of 10
- Tsunamis
- 0 out of 10
Each value carries the year it refers to. “Data lags behind” means this country's figure was collected noticeably earlier than the rest. Natural hazards use one 0–10 scale and are meant to be compared against each other.
Pros and cons
Compare with other countries in the region
Algeria · Angola · Benin · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Chad · Cote d'Ivoire · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Djibouti · Egypt · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Eswatini · Ethiopia · Gabon · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Republic of the Congo · Rwanda · Senegal · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · South Sudan · Sudan · Tanzania · The Gambia · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe
Other countries in the region: Africa
Algeria · Angola · Benin · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Central African Republic · Chad · Cote d'Ivoire · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Djibouti · Egypt · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Eswatini · Ethiopia · Gabon · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Republic of the Congo · Rwanda · Senegal · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · South Sudan · Sudan · Tanzania · The Gambia · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe