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SOMALILAND IMMIGRATION & REFUGEE LAWS The main law governing immigration is the Somaliland Immigration Law - Law No. 72 of 27 November 1995.
Under Article 46, the Law specifically repeals the 1966 Immigration Law - Law No. 9 of 27 June 1966. The Law stated that Immigration matters come under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Somaliland Immigration Branch (formed in 1992) of the Somaliland Police, act as an agent of the Minister. The Minister can also entrust public officials to undertake immigration duties, including staff at embassies or consulates. (Article 1 of the Law). The Minister is still responsible for immigration (as set out in the Law) but the Immigration Branch has, since 2010, been a sub department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs whilst before, under the last administration, it was apparently part of the Intelligence Agency from 2003. The Immigration Branch is currently a uniformed corps (headed a Commandant) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. See here for an an unofficial annotated English Language translation of the Somaliland Immigration Law 1995 (pdf). The headings of all the Articles of the Law are also set out below: Preamble PART ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS Art. 1 - Immigration Officers Art. 2 - Powers of the Immigration Officers Art. 3 - Duty to report to Immigration Officers
PART TWO: CONDITIONS FOR VISITS AND STAY IN THE COUNTRY OF SOMALILAND Art. 4 - Conditions for visiting the country of Somaliland Art. 5 - Entry and stay permits Art. 6 - Tourism entry permit Art. 7 - Transit entry permit Art. 8 - Entry permit for educational purposes Art. 9 - Entry permit for visit and work Art. 10 - Permit for temporary residence Art. 11- Official permit for permanent residence Art. 12 - Addition of family members to entry and residence permit Art. 13 - Alteration and revocation of residence Art. 14 - Powers of the Minister of Interior to stop entry into the territory of Somaliland Art. 15 - The duty of foreigners to declare their addresses Art. 16 - Parts of the country which cannot be visited by foreigners
PART THREE: SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO VESSELS, AIRCRAFT AND VEHICLES ENTERING OR LEAVING THE COUNTRY OF SOMALILAND Art. 17 - The lists of passengers of vessels, aircraft and vehicles entering or leaving the country of Somaliland Art. 18 - Temporary disembarkation Art. 19 - Emergency disembarkation
PART FOUR: [GUARANTEE AND SURETY] Art. 20 - Standing for surety and guarantee Art. 21 - Renewing sureties Art. 22 - Release of bond Art. 23 - Payment of travel expenses for release of bond
PART FIVE: VISA FOR ACTIVITIES RELATING TO PERSONAL GAIN Art. 24 - Permit for work Art. 25 - Termination of work carried by a foreigner Art. 26 - Foreigner changing work Art. 27 - Termination of a foreigner’s work for reasons relating to the foreigner Art. 28 - Self-employed foreign person in the country Art. 29 - Exception
PART SIX: UNDESIRABLE FOREIGNERS Art. 30 - Definition of an undesirable foreigner Art. 31 - The role of Immigration Officers in relation to undesirable foreigners Art. 32 - The return of undesirable foreigners
PART SEVEN: DEPORTATION FROM THE COUNTRY Art. 33 - Persons to be deported Art. 34 - Procedure for declaration of undesirable foreigner Art. 35 - Revocation of deportation order Art. 36 - The costs of the execution of a deportation from country order
PART EIGHT: PENAL PROVISIONS Art. 37- No heading but lists 20 offences and their Punishment Art. 38 - Punishment of deported foreigner re-entering the country of Somaliland Art. 39 - Punishment of proprietor, agent or responsible person for a vessel, aircraft or vehicle Art. 40 - Power of s Judge to detain a vessel, aircraft or vehicle Art. 41 - Permit fees Art. 42 - Exemptions for immunities and privileges granted by law and under international agreements Art. 43 - Centres for political refugees Art. 44 - Transitional provisions Art. 45 - Regulations Art. 46 - Repeals Art. 47 – Coming into force
The Somaliland Immigration Department: http://slimmigration.zzl.org/ Details of types of visas and online application forms are available at the website. For any further information, please contact the Somaliland Immigration at the following: Telephone no: 002522-523961 , or at the following emails: xoghaynta@hotmail.com; slimmigration@ymail.com; slimmigration@gmail.com .
UPDATE - 19 July 2016: The Somaliland Immigration Department Website has been down for a while and there have been some confusion as to the changes in visa procedures set out initially in this Immigration Circular Order issued on 24 April 2016 - Copy in pdf English. Category A(7) (page 2) of the Circular refers to “Somaliland nationals those hold foreign passports” as being “able to obtain an entry visa on arrival at all ports of entries” in the same way as all other category A listed travellers numbered A(1) to A(6). There was some confusion as to whether this category A7 includes children, and a further Immigration Notification Order dated 9 July 2016 was issued to confirm that it does. The July Notification states that children born abroad to Somaliland parents and holding foreign passports shall, like their parents, be able to obtain visas on arrival at entry ports in Somaliland.
Under Article 4 of the Law, it is essential for anyone seeking entry to the country to have a valid passport or travel document and an entry permit for a visit or residence. The Department’s website gives the following information about the available Entry Visa Categories: [Visa application form - English Arabic French and available at this Immigration Department webpage ] 1. CATEGORY (1) PRIVILEGED VISAS FOR THE FOLLOWING PASSPORT HOLDERS a) Diplomatic National Passports b) UN Diplomatic Passports c) Service National Passports d) International Institutions e) Official Foreign Delegations. The above mentioned will be given entry visa on arrival, on the completion of the the visa application form. 2. CATEGORY (2) BUSINESS VISA a) Period: 30 days up to 90 days. b) Extension: depending on the Business interests in Somaliland and the countries it maintains multilateral or bilateral agreements. c) Conditions:
3. CATEGORY (3) TOURIST VISA a) Period : 15 days b) Tourist Visa renewal: could be extended to 75 more days at different intervals. c) Conditions: he/she should have
4. CATEGORY (4) TRANSIT VISA a) Period: 72 hours up to 14 days at different intervals. b) Conditions :
5. CATEGORY (5) EDUCATIONAL VISA a) Period: 30 days. b) Extension of Educational Visa: Could be extended depending on the period that the Institution running the relevant Educational Course needs. c) Conditions:
6. Category (6) Special Travel Entry Visa a) Period: 30 days. b) Extension: Depends upon the special Entry Visa purpose. c) Condition:
Please note: a) The Visa Categories no. 1, 2, 3, 4 will be provided their Visas on (Arrival) at the regular entry points. b) The Visa Categories 5 and 6 should apply their application Visas through their contacts in Somaliland. c) Any other Visas which are not mentioned on the categories above could apply their visas through their Sponsor agencies. d) Visa Charges will be paid at the entry points, on their arrival. Information about visas for visits to Somaliland may also be obtained from the Somaliland Legations abroad at these addresses: United States: Somaliland Mission (http://www.somaliland.us/ ) Phone: 202-587-5743 United Kingdom: The Somaliland Mission in the United Kingdom. Address is: Suite 319 Waterlily Business Centre, 10 Cleveland Way, London E1 4UF. Telephone: 0207 702 7064 Contact: contact@somaliland-mission.com website: http://www.somaliland-mission.com/ The above contacts may also provide you with further information about other Somaliland Representatives abroad if you are travelling from another country. You can also get more information from the main Somaliland Government website http://www.somalilandgov.com/. The Somaliland Foreign Ministry website is http://somalilandforeign.net/default.aspx
SOMALILAND PASSPORTS: The Immigration Department is also responsible for the issue of Somaliland Passports. The requirements set out in the Department’s website are as follows:
1. The applicant should provide a copy of his registration card which was given to him during the election period. 2. The applicant should also bring from the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) a document paper proving that the applicant has not committed any crime. 3. The applicant should also bring a document paper from the district attorney office verifying that the applicant has not committed any crime. 4. The applicant should provide 3 resent passport size photographs. 5. The Applicant should have a completed Passport Application Form. This is the Somaliland Passport Application form which also available at this link: http://slimmigration.zzl.org/Passport.html. Somaliland has announced recently that it will be introducing a new E-passport in 2013 to replace the current passport. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Article 35(1) of the Somaliland Constitution confirms that “ any foreigner who enters the country lawfully or is lawfully resident in the country and who requests political asylum may be accorded asylum if he fulfils the conditions set out in the law governing asylum”. Somaliland considers itself bound by the UN Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees which were acceded to by the former Somali Democratic Republic (the SDR) on 10 October 1978. The SDR ratified the Convention and the Protocol under Law No. 23 of 14 May 1978. The SDR has signed the OAU 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa in 1969, but has (according to AU Records) neither ratified nor acceded to it. As no new Law on refugees have been passed since 1991, the 1984 Law on the Status of Refugees (Presidential Law No. 25 of 2 June 1984) still in use Somaliland but with some modifications to meet the currant constitution of the Republic of Somaliland and new administrative arrangements relating to the Somaliland Ministry of Interior which has the primary responsibility for immigration and asylum issues and has different practical arrangements with the UNCHR. (The 1984 Law repealed the earlier Law No. 47 of 15 July 1978). An unofficial English language translation of the Law [available at UNCHR Refworld) . We have revised the translation against the original Somali Law and set it out the Law with annotations relating to its application in Somaliland – English language copy of the 1984 Refugee Law as applied in Somaliland. An Eligibility Committee, together with the UNCHR, deals with applications for asylum in Somaliland and a detailed information leaflet explaining the procedures is available for applicants and advisers. The leaflet describes in detail the various steps involved in applying for asylum at the border posts, consideration of the applications by the eligibility Committee and the UNCHR office which provides expert help and advice, the determination and appeal to the Somaliland Supreme Court (within 30 days) in cases of dissatisfaction with the determination of the Committee. For a study of some of the difficulties faced by refugees in the yet unrecognised state of the Republic of Somaliland, see Lindley A (200 ) Seeking Refuge in an unrecognized State: Oromos in Somaliland, Refuge, Vol. 26, No.1, at 187. According to UNHCR (in 2010), Somaliland had at least 1,600 recognised refugees, about 20,000 asylum-seekers and 67,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) (up to 84,400 as estimated by UNCHR in March 2012) . Of the refugees, most are Oromos and Amharas from neighbouring Ethiopia, and the the remainder are Eritreans and individuals from other African countries. Somaliland also hosts a considerable number of Somaliand from Somalia and also Somalis from other neighbouring Somali inhabited territories (Eithopia and Djibouti). There no figures of those Somalis who are resident and are not distinguished from Somalilander (other than on matters relating to citizenship) but those who are fleeing the wars and famines of Somalia are not accepted as refugees by the UN and are only counted as “internally displaced” persons. The last estimate of this category of Somalians was 84,400 (UNCHR 21 March 2012) ___________________________________________________ 04/09/2012: Human Rights Watch calls on Somaliland to stop deporting Ethiopian refugees.
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