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ECOWAS Right of Residence for Employment

Burkina FasoFree movement

Explore the five recorded questions, answers and sources for this pathway.

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Explore pathways in Burkina Faso Read the five questions ↓

Which citizenship, status or regional agreement creates the person's right to move/reside?

ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol A/SP.1/7/86 requires each Member State to grant citizens of other Member States the right of residence in its territory for the purpose of seeking and carrying out income-earning employment.

See recorded sources
  • ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol A/SP.1/7/86, Article 2
    For the purpose of implementing the second phase (right of residence) of the Protocol on free movement of persons, the right of residence and establishment, each of the Member States shall grant to citizens of the Community who are nationals of other Member States, the right of residence in its territory for the purpose of seeking and carrying out income earning employment.

Under which circumstances can the person reside: worker, self-employed, student, jobseeker, self-funded person or another recognised basis?

The residence basis is employment: the right includes applying for jobs effectively offered, and residing in a Member State to take up employment under that state's own legislative and administrative provisions governing employment of national workers; after employment ends, the person may continue to live there under the host state's own conditions. It does not apply to civil-service employment unless the host state's own law allows it.

See recorded sources

What entry, registration or residence-document formalities remain?

A Community citizen admitted without a visa who wishes to reside must obtain an ECOWAS Residence Card or Residence Permit; the application is deposited with the host state's Department of Immigration and addressed to the competent Ministry, and processing may not delay the immediate execution of an employment contract already concluded by the applicant.

See recorded sources
  • ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol A/SP.1/7/86, Article 5
    Citizens of the Community who are nationals of Member States admitted without visa into the territory of one Member State and desiring to reside in the territory of that Member State, shall be obliged to obtain an ECOWAS RESIDENCE CARD or a RESIDENCE PERMIT
  • ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol A/SP.1/7/86, Article 6
    The applicant for the RESIDENCE CARD or RESIDENCE PERMIT in the territory of any Member State, shall deposit with the Department of Immigration of the host Member State, an application for a Residence Card or Residence Permit in accordance with the rules and regulations existing in each Member State.
  • ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol A/SP.1/7/86, Article 7
    The application shall be addressed to the competent Ministry of the Host Member State. 2 The applicant shall be issued with a receipt certifying that his application and the necessary documents have been submitted.
  • ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol A/SP.1/7/86, Article 8
    The processing of an application for a Residence Card or Residence Permit may not delay the immediate execution of employment contracts concluded by applicants.

Which non-member-country family members can accompany or join, and what broad rights do they receive?

Family protections are expulsion-context: the family situation of the immigrant must be taken into consideration when an expulsion order is made, expulsion or departure affects entitlements obtained by the migrant worker or a family member, and the migrant worker and family members may seek consular/diplomatic protection and assistance. The official source does not state which non-member-country family members can accompany or join.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • The Protocol's family provisions found here are tied to expulsion and consular protection; no separate, general family-accompaniment or entry right for this residence-for-employment route is stated.

When do permanent/long-term rights arise and what continuity, absence or retention conditions matter?

After having held employment in the host Member State, the person may continue to live there according to the conditions defined by that state's own legislative and administrative provisions; those concrete conditions are left to the host state's own law rather than stated in the Protocol itself.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • The specific continuity, absence or retention conditions for this post-employment residence are not stated in the Protocol; they depend on the host Member State's own legislation, which this source does not itself set out.

These are the answers currently recorded in the catalogue. A missing or partial answer is not an eligibility decision.

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