Senegal residence permit: the foreigner identity card

Visa-free entry and the short-stay visa only cover stays of less than three months. The texts cited by Senegalese consulates (Law No. 71-10 and Decree No. 71-860) govern the admission, stay and settlement of foreigners, and the Interior Ministry's card for foreigners living in the country is the carte d'identité d'étranger. The ministry's checklist shows two typical groups: employees, who file their employment contract, and students, who file their enrolment certificate and proof of a scholarship or financial support.

This applies equally to nationals who entered visa-free, such as Europeans, and to holders of a short-stay visa. The card is requested inside Senegal, not at an embassy abroad, so obtain the documents from your home country before you travel.

The file opens with a handwritten application addressed to the Minister in charge of the Interior. It includes copies of the first five pages of a valid passport, a criminal record extract from the country of origin issued less than three months earlier, a birth certificate extract less than six months old, a medical certificate less than three months old and three passport photos.

Depending on the reason for the stay, add the employment contract, or for students the enrolment certificate for the current academic year and a certificate confirming financial support or a scholarship issued by the student's own embassy. Finally, attach a FCFA 15,000 fiscal stamp and the receipt showing that the repatriation deposit has been paid; the deposit amount differs by country.

The only fixed amount published by the Interior Ministry is the FCFA 15,000 fiscal stamp. The repatriation deposit is a separate payment whose amount varies by nationality; ask the DPETV for the figure that applies to you and keep the receipt, which is part of the file.

You lodge the application at the DPETV. Files travel in batches to the Direction de l'Automatisation des Fichiers (DAF), which enters them: for a first application it prints a decision sheet, for a renewal or duplicate it prints the card directly. Batches return to the DPETV and go on to the national police headquarters (DGPN), which signs the cards and gives its opinion on first applications.

First applications then go to the Minister for a decision. Once the decision sheet is approved, it is validated and sent back to the DAF for card production, and the signature step is repeated before the DPETV distributes the cards. A renewal is therefore quicker than a first application, because it skips the ministerial decision.

Renewals and duplicates follow the same filing route at the DPETV but are printed without a new ministerial decision. Keep copies of the receipt you receive when lodging a renewal. For questions, the Interior Ministry can be reached at Place Washington, Dakar, on +221 33 889 91 00 or on its free number 800 00 20 20.