Cameroon residence permit: the two-year carte de séjour

Decree No. 2023/147 calls foreigners in residence (étrangers en séjour) those who live in Cameroon for work or study rather than for a visit: contract workers, independent workers, long-term trainees (placements of more than three months), students, family members of a foreigner in residence, and refugees. Refugees receive a separate refugee card; the others need the carte de séjour, which the decree defines as the identification document of a foreigner lawfully admitted to stay.

The card can only be issued to someone who entered on a long-stay visa, because the passport copy submitted must bear that visa. Tourists and business visitors on short-stay visas cannot obtain it inside the country, since visas cannot be changed from one category to another.

Article 39 of the decree lists: a certified copy, less than three months old, of the valid passport bearing the long-stay visa; a certificate of domicile issued by the administrative authority or the territorially competent police commissioner, carrying the prior and compulsory endorsement of the neighbourhood or village chief; a special criminal record extract; a valid tax clearance certificate (attestation de non redevance); payment of the stamp duty fixed by the finance law; and the supporting documents of the stay, such as the approved employment contract, the enrolment certificate or proof of the family link.

The carte de séjour is a blue polycarbonate biometric card with an electronic chip, printed in French and English. It shows the holder's names, date of birth, nationality, sex, height, profession, photograph and address, the identification post, a unique identification number and the dates of issue and expiry.

When the application is lodged, the service hands over a provisional identity document showing the identification post, parentage, height and the scanned signature, dated and signed by the head of unit with the receipt number and the type of stamp paid. It counts as presumption of identity and is valid for three months, renewable if the card is not yet ready.

Chapter VI of the decree requires foreigners in residence to hold an exit visa when leaving. Five kinds exist: a single exit visa for final departure; a return exit visa valid up to three months; a three-month multiple exit visa for holders of a residence title valid more than three months; a six-month multiple exit visa, granted with the DGSN's agreement to residents who left at least three times in the previous year and whose title is valid more than six months; and a one-year multiple exit visa for those with at least four exits in the previous year and a title valid more than one year. Applicants show, as relevant, the employer's guarantee letter and exit authorisation, the supervising authority's authorisation for directors of public bodies, and the tax clearance certificate. Exit visas can be suspended for foreigners in breach of the law at the request of judicial or certain ministerial authorities.

Renewal requires the old card, produced at least one month before it expires, and any document justifying the continued stay. The card may be refused to a foreigner whose presence threatens public order. A foreigner who leaves Cameroon for good must return the card when the exit visa is issued.

The decree also gave foreigners in an irregular situation three months from its publication in March 2023 to comply with the rules. Separately, a long-stay visa itself can only be extended in case of force majeure, so the residence card, not a visa extension, is the normal way to continue a stay.