Member states: Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
Visa openness within ECOWAS
ECOWAS countries’ general visa openness is rooted in its solid regional integration track record. In 1979, a Protocol Relating to Free Movement of Persons, Residence and Establishment was adopted, requiring Member States to grant visa-free travel to each other’s nationals. These intra-regional processes have a significant impact on the countries’ overall performance, with several ECOWAS countries ranking highly on the index, and five featuring in the top ten.
ECOWAS retains the highest average score of all RECs (0.597), albeit significantly lower than its score in 2024 (0.629). This is also the regional group’s lowest score since 2019, and was driven by significant policy updates by several of its Member States, as well as changes in its overall member configuration after three countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger) withdrew their membership effective January 2025. These countries are no longer included in the AVOI scoring for ECOWAS.
Of the remaining ECOWAS Member States, several visa-related policy changes are noted. Nigeria switched from visa-on-arrival to requiring a visa ahead of travel and now ranks 32nd (previously 6th). Benin dropped to 4th for its requirement for visas of citizens of Angola, Gabon, Mauritius, Morocco, and Namibia.
Reciprocity within ECOWAS
ECOWAS Member States fully reciprocate visa-free access to citizens of every other Member State. With one policy change in 2025 (Guinea-Bissau switching from a visa-on-arrival towards citizens of São Tomé and Príncipe to visa-free status), the region has a perfect 100% reciprocity score. This speaks to the high level of policy coordination within ECOWAS, with a common approach to issues around migration having progressively removed obstacles to the free movement of its citizens. Several initiatives ease cross-border processes, including introduction of an ECOWAS passport (since 2000) and the adoption in 2014 of a regional ID (ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card - ENBIC).1
