South Sudan has levied $2140 in fees on each foreign aid worker annually, making compliance costs in the new country higher than those faced by INGOs operating out of Khartoum.

Fees have risen significantly since 2011, owing primarily to changes in visa policy including the elimination of on-arrival visas for most nationalities. In a given year an expatriate aid worker is expected to pay for an entry visa, four to twelve renewal visas, one to two work permits, and two or more foreign national registrations.

Foreigners coming from countries not neighboring South Sudan must pay $100 for a single-entry one month visa, according to notices posted at the Juba Airport and the South Sudan Embassy in Nairobi. The aid worker must then pay 375 South Sudanese pounds per month to renew his visa (about $127 at bank rates), until he obtains a work permit, at which point he may be eligible for a visa with validity of three months.

Work permits are supposed to be obtained before aid workers enter the country but in practice this is usually impossible, not least because the Labour Ministry stopped accepting new applications last December owing to a backlog of paperwork. Major delays had also occurred in early 2012.

An aid worker who fails to obtain a work permit will be ineligible for visas with a duration longer than one month and thus will have to pay annually $100 for the entry visa and 4500 SSP for 12 visa renewals in order to remain in the country, a total value of $1625. He will then also be expected to register at the Interior Ministry for the price of 170 pounds. Assuming he leaves and re-enters the country, say, twice in a year, whether for work or furlough, he can expect to pay 170 SSP each time, or about $115 dollars for two registrations.

Presumably also he ought to submit paperwork for a work permit, which costs $200 and is often accompanied by a fine of $200, bringing the total fees to $2140. Almost all work permit applications incur a fine, regardless of whether paperwork was submitted in a timely manner. According to a South Sudanese who works in the human resources department of an international NGO, one application he submitted on behalf of an English employee was returned with a $50 late fee even though the applicant was still in the UK and had not yet even entered the country.

Work permits are often backdated, NGO sources told Radio Tamazuj, meaning that aid workers pay for the full cost of the year-long permit while having to apply several times per year. In a bad year, then, an aid worker might have to pay more than $2500 in fees and fines for visas and permits.

In the case of an aid worker with a work permit who is able to obtain 3 month multiple-entry visas, the total fee costs would be somewhat lower, theoretically as low as about $1000. Immigration bureaus in some state capitals are issuing 3 month visas, but in the national capital the norm is 1 month single-entry visas, and 6 month visas are rare. In practice, few INGOs obtain 3 month visas for all of their staff.

Increasingly, the Department of Immigration has disallowed visa extensions earlier than two to three days prior to the expiry of the previous visa. It has also increasingly demanded to see foreigners in-person for visa applications and foreign national registrations, while the labour department too more frequently of late demands that foreigners appear in-person for work permit applications rather than sending staff to complete the procedures.

“The actual cost to NGOs is an order of magnitude higher than the cost paid to the government,” commented one foreigner at an INGO who asked not to be named, pointing out that senior staff sometimes have to wait days in Nairobi or European capitals for visas, field staff have to travel to Juba or state capitals to complete paperwork and new administrative staff positions sometimes have to be created in order to cope with the burden of compliance.

He added that these fees raise overhead costs, diverting money from other budget categories. He also suggested that the visa and permitting policies may be negatively affecting operations of aid organizations throughout the country.