What is Chad's Carte de séjour as a 'resident' rather than a 'visitor'?

Anyone who will live in Chad without a Chadian employment contract — accompanying spouses and children, people supported by a partner or a family, and long-stay visitors whose purpose has become residence. Read the confidence rating before relying on any of it. It lasts not published. We could not verify the term of a Chadian residence card, whether a dependant's card is aligned to the principal's, or what evidence of support is required. Do not plan on the assumption that it works like a European family permit, because we have no basis for saying it does. Unknown, and we will not guess. Chad publishes no settlement or naturalisation route we could read. Verify at the immigration directorate before making any plan that depends on an outcome.

What is Chad's Getting in first: the e-Visa (the step before any of the above)?

Everyone. This is not a residency route and we are not presenting it as one — it is the entry step every route above assumes, and since May 2026 it is the only lawful one. It is also the part of the Chadian system that changed most recently and most completely. It lasts set by the category applied for on the platform. None of them is a right to reside: an e-Visa gets you in, the 72-hour police registration records that you arrived, and the carte de séjour is what makes you a resident. The portal itself advises contacting the Direction de l'Émigration et de l'Immigration to extend an e-Visa that expires during your stay. None on its own. What the e-Visa does is admit you lawfully so that the police registration and the residence-card file can follow.

GlobeQuest

Moving from Congo to Chad

What your passport gets you at the border — and what it takes to actually stay.

Congo

ChadShort stay

Visa-free · 90 days

Congo passport holders can enter Chad without a visa and stay up to 90 days.

This is short-stay visitor policy only. It does not let you work, study or settle in Chad — that needs a residence permit.

Passport Index · updated 17 February 2026Chad's official immigration service

Long stay

How you actually move to Chad

Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Carte de séjour + employment contract approved by the employment-promotion body

Anyone taking a job in Chad — which in practice means the very large humanitarian and UN operation run out of N'Djamena, the diplomatic missions, the oil and pipeline sector, the banks and telcos, and the contractors around all of them. The residence card comes first here: an employer must verify you hold one before hiring you, which reverses the sequence most people expect.

What you need

An e-Visa obtained on the official platform before travel — since 21 May 2026 a visa issued anywhere else is invalid and does not admit you
A passport with an expiry date at least six months after your arrival
A yellow fever certificate if you are arriving from a country listed as a transmission risk
Registration with the police within 72 hours of arrival — in N'Djamena, at the Commissariat Central on Avenue General Kerim Nassour, with a passport photograph
A carte de séjour: any employer wishing to hire a foreign worker must first ensure that the worker holds one
A written work contract approved (visé) by the body responsible for employment promotion — it is prohibited to employ anyone whose contract has not been
Registration with the CNPS by the employer, which then withholds 3.5% from you and pays 16.5% itself, both capped on a XAF 500,000 monthly salary ceiling

How long it lasts: Not published on any page we could read. The framework is decree-based — décret n° 0128/PR/PM/MSPI/2024 of 23 July 2024 sets the visitor and resident categories and the compliance requirements, and décret n° 2299/PR/PM/MSPI/2025 of 17 September 2025 governs the conditions of admission to stay and the exercise of professions — but neither the card's term nor its renewal cycle is stated anywhere we could verify. Ask at the immigration directorate and get the answer in writing.
Path to permanent residence: None that we could verify. Chad publishes no settlement category, no permanent-residence route and no naturalisation timetable in any form reachable from outside the country, and we are not going to construct one from inference. Assume renewal, indefinitely, and confirm the terms locally.
Cost: The e-Visa tariff is published on the official platform, which reissued its visa fee schedule on 11 May 2026 — read it there. The police registration, the carte de séjour and the employment authorisation are not published on any page we could read. An issuance fee is charged for the employment authorisation and Chadian employer guidance describes it as a proportion of the annual salary, but we found no official schedule and will not quote an unofficial one. Insist on an official receipt for every payment.
Processing time: Not published. The e-Visa before you fly; the police registration inside 72 hours of landing; the residence card and the employment approval over the following weeks. Organisations with a regular international intake — the UN agencies and the larger NGOs, which is most of the internationally-recruited workforce here — handle this routinely and are the only reliable source of a realistic timeline.

Worth knowing

The order is not what you expect. The residence card is a precondition of lawful hiring rather than a consequence of it: an employer must ensure the foreign worker holds one before employing them, and must not employ anyone whose contract has not been approved by the employment-promotion body.
The 72-hour police registration is separate from both the visa and the residence card and falls due before most people have unpacked. It is the obligation newcomers miss most often.
Enforcement is a standing operation. In May 2026 the National Police ordered permanent and unannounced nationwide checks on foreigners' visas and residence cards under articles 51 and 52 of the 2025 decree, with a two-week deadline to cover the territory. Carry a certified copy of your passport.
Travel outside N'Djamena requires authorisation from the Ministry of the Interior, and the FCDO recommends escorts and communications equipment for such journeys. A residence card is not permission to move around the country.
Watch the tax residence test, which is wider than the usual day count: a dwelling at your disposal for at least a year, OR more than 183 days in Chad, OR a centre of economic interests here. Signing a twelve-month lease can make you resident before six months have passed.
Photographing military sites, government buildings or airports without a permit is illegal, and people are detained for it.
The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the whole of Chad including N'Djamena, and against all travel to Borkou, Ennedi Ouest, Ennedi Est, Tibesti, western Kanem, the Lake Chad region and within 30 km of other borders. That is the insurance and duty-of-care context every employer here is working in.

Sources:e-Visa Tchad — plateforme officielle de la Direction des Étrangers et de l'Immigration (D.E.I)UK FCDO — Chad travel advice: entry requirements (visa required, passport valid 6 months, yellow fever, police registration within 72 hours at the Commissariat Central, Avenue General Kerim Nassour)Le N'Djam Post — l'embauche des travailleurs étrangers au Tchad : carte de séjour obligatoire et contrat visé par l'organe en charge de la Promotion de l'Emploi (décret n° 0128/PR/PM/MSPI/2024)ONAMA (agence nationale de presse) — la Police nationale lance une vaste opération de vérification des titres de séjour, articles 51 et 52 du décret n° 2299 du 17 septembre 2025 Journal Le Pays — contrôle généralisé des titres de séjour des étrangers : instruction du 19 mai 2026, décret n° 2299/PR/PM/MSPI/2025, e-Visa obligatoire et visas hors plateforme invalides au 21 mai PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries — Chad: other taxes (CNPS 3.5% employee and 16.5% employer, capped on a XAF 500,000 monthly ceiling; apprenticeship tax 1.2%; fixed tax 7.5%; VAT 18%)Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale (CNPS) — Tchad UK FCDO — Chad travel advice: safety and security (carry a certified passport copy, Ministry of the Interior authorisation for travel outside N'Djamena, state of emergency in Lac and Kanem, photography restrictions)

Freelance / self-employedLow confidenceVerified August 2026

Carte de séjour with authorisation for an independent commercial, industrial or liberal profession

Foreigners who want to run a business or practise a profession in Chad on their own account rather than on a Chadian employer's payroll — traders, consultants, and the professional services around the oil, aid and construction sectors.

What you need

An e-Visa obtained on the official platform before travel, and police registration within 72 hours of arrival
A carte de séjour, on the same terms as any other resident
Authorisation from the residence authorities to exercise a commercial, industrial or liberal profession — this is an additional, separate permission from the residence card itself
Prior authorisation from the body responsible for employment promotion, which Chadian guidance states is required for any professional activity
Compliance with the Chadian labour code and with the tax registration that follows from having a centre of economic interests here

How long it lasts: Not published. The residence card's term is not stated on any page we could read, and the professional authorisation's term is not either. Ask at the counter, in writing, before you build a plan on either.
Path to permanent residence: None that we could verify. Chad publishes no permanent-residence category and no naturalisation timetable reachable from outside the country. Plan on renewal.
Cost: Not published, beyond the e-Visa tariff on the official platform. Business registration and tax registration are separate costs governed by Chadian commercial and tax law rather than by immigration. Insist on an official receipt for everything.
Processing time: Not published. Expect it to be slower than a corporate file that an established organisation is pushing.

Worth knowing

This is NOT a digital-nomad or remote-worker route. Chad has no nomad visa, no remote-worker permit and no freelance visa in the modern sense; what exists is a residence card plus a separate authorisation to exercise a profession. Anyone selling you a 'Chad digital nomad visa' is selling something that does not exist.
Two authorisations, not one. The residence authorities authorise the profession and the employment-promotion body authorises the activity. Having one is not having the other.
There is no retirement route. Chad publishes no pensioner visa and no retiree tax treatment, and therefore also no health-cover provision — which matters, because UK government advice describes medical facilities in Chad as poor and requires insurance covering treatment abroad and repatriation.
The tax residence test is disjunctive and catches independents fast: a dwelling at your disposal for a year, or 183 days, or a centre of economic interests. Running a business here satisfies the third limb by definition.
Enforcement of residence documents has been a standing police operation since May 2026. An independent has no employer's administration to fix an irregularity, which makes keeping the file clean entirely your problem.

Sources:Le N'Djam Post — l'embauche des travailleurs étrangers au Tchad : carte de séjour obligatoire et contrat visé par l'organe en charge de la Promotion de l'Emploi (décret n° 0128/PR/PM/MSPI/2024)e-Visa Tchad — plateforme officielle de la Direction des Étrangers et de l'Immigration (D.E.I)UK FCDO — Chad travel advice: entry requirements (visa required, passport valid 6 months, yellow fever, police registration within 72 hours at the Commissariat Central, Avenue General Kerim Nassour)PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries — Chad: individual residence (a dwelling at your disposal for at least a year, more than 183 days, or a centre of economic interests)PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries — Chad: taxes on personal income (work-income bands from nil to 30%)ONAMA (agence nationale de presse) — la Police nationale lance une vaste opération de vérification des titres de séjour, articles 51 et 52 du décret n° 2299 du 17 septembre 2025

FamilyLow confidenceVerified August 2026

Carte de séjour as a 'resident' rather than a 'visitor'

Anyone who will live in Chad without a Chadian employment contract — accompanying spouses and children, people supported by a partner or a family, and long-stay visitors whose purpose has become residence. Read the confidence rating before relying on any of it.

What you need

An e-Visa obtained on the official platform before travel; from 21 May 2026 nothing else admits you
A passport valid at least six months beyond arrival, and a yellow fever certificate if arriving from a listed transmission-risk country
Registration with the police within 72 hours of arrival
A carte de séjour: the governing decree distinguishes 'visitor' from 'resident' categories, and anyone intending to reside must hold the card

How long it lasts: Not published. We could not verify the term of a Chadian residence card, whether a dependant's card is aligned to the principal's, or what evidence of support is required. Do not plan on the assumption that it works like a European family permit, because we have no basis for saying it does.
Path to permanent residence: Unknown, and we will not guess. Chad publishes no settlement or naturalisation route we could read. Verify at the immigration directorate before making any plan that depends on an outcome.
Cost: Not published. Insist on an official receipt for anything paid.
Processing time: Not published.

Worth knowing

LOW CONFIDENCE, deliberately. This route is grounded only in the visitor/resident distinction that Chadian reporting attributes to décret n° 0128/PR/PM/MSPI/2024 and in the general obligation to hold a carte de séjour. We could NOT find a published family-reunification category, a dependant category, a student category or an investor category for Chad in any source reachable from outside the country. Their absence from this file means we could not verify them, not that they do not exist — ask the Direction des Étrangers et de l'Immigration directly.
A residence card is not a work authorisation. Any paid work needs a contract approved by the employment-promotion body, and any independent profession needs that body's prior authorisation plus authorisation from the residence authorities.
The residence card is what the police ask for, and since May 2026 they have been asking systematically. A dependant with an irregular card has the same exposure as anyone else and usually less institutional support.
Foreign civil-status documents will need legalisation and translation into French before any Chadian office will consider them. Start that before you leave home.
Anyone quoting you a fee, a term or a guaranteed outcome for a Chadian family route is quoting something no government page publishes.

Sources:Tribune Echos — un cadre réglementaire renforcé pour le séjour des étrangers au Tchad : catégories visiteur et résident du décret n° 0128/PR/PM/MSPI/2024 du 23 juillet 2024 e-Visa Tchad — plateforme officielle de la Direction des Étrangers et de l'Immigration (D.E.I)UK FCDO — Chad travel advice: entry requirements (visa required, passport valid 6 months, yellow fever, police registration within 72 hours at the Commissariat Central, Avenue General Kerim Nassour)ONAMA (agence nationale de presse) — la Police nationale lance une vaste opération de vérification des titres de séjour, articles 51 et 52 du décret n° 2299 du 17 septembre 2025 France Diplomatie — Tchad, contacts utiles (centre médico-social, SOS International, Hôpital de la Renaissance)

Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Getting in first: the e-Visa (the step before any of the above)

Everyone. This is not a residency route and we are not presenting it as one — it is the entry step every route above assumes, and since May 2026 it is the only lawful one. It is also the part of the Chadian system that changed most recently and most completely.

What you need

An application on the official e-Visa platform run by the Direction des Étrangers et de l'Immigration — mandatory for all categories since 11 May 2026 except diplomatic and courtesy visas, which remain with the foreign ministry
A passport with an expiry date at least six months after your date of arrival
A yellow fever certificate if you are coming from a country listed as a transmission risk
Travel insurance with accessible funds for medical treatment abroad and repatriation — the FCDO describes medical facilities in Chad as poor

How long it lasts: Set by the category applied for on the platform. None of them is a right to reside: an e-Visa gets you in, the 72-hour police registration records that you arrived, and the carte de séjour is what makes you a resident. The portal itself advises contacting the Direction de l'Émigration et de l'Immigration to extend an e-Visa that expires during your stay.
Path to permanent residence: None on its own. What the e-Visa does is admit you lawfully so that the police registration and the residence-card file can follow.
Cost: Per the fee schedule published on the platform, which was reissued on 11 May 2026 under the heading of new visa pricing for the Republic of Chad. Read it there rather than anywhere else: every third-party page quoting Chadian visa prices predates the reform, and an agent charging a premium for a document you can obtain directly is the predictable consequence of a system that changed this fast.
Processing time: Not published as a service standard. Apply well ahead of travel; the platform is new.

Worth knowing

From 21 May 2026, a visa issued outside the official platform is considered invalid and no longer permits entry. Visas issued before that date remain valid until they expire. Manual entry authorisations have been abolished.
Diplomatic and courtesy visas are the only exceptions and continue to be handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The 72-hour police registration is not part of the visa and is not done for you. In N'Djamena it is at the Commissariat Central on Avenue General Kerim Nassour, with a passport photograph.
Entry policy and residence policy are different questions. Any number of days on an e-Visa is not a right to live in Chad; the carte de séjour is, and only the immigration authorities issue it.
Read the FCDO's advisory before you accept a posting, not after: it advises against all travel to Borkou, Ennedi Ouest, Ennedi Est, Tibesti, western Kanem, the Lake Chad region and within 30 km of Chad's other borders, and against all but essential travel to the rest of the country including N'Djamena. Insurance and employer duty-of-care both key off it.

Sources:e-Visa Tchad — portail (nouvelles tarifications des visas en République du Tchad, 11 mai 2026)e-Visa Tchad — plateforme officielle de la Direction des Étrangers et de l'Immigration (D.E.I)UK FCDO — Chad travel advice: entry requirements (visa required, passport valid 6 months, yellow fever, police registration within 72 hours at the Commissariat Central, Avenue General Kerim Nassour)UK FCDO — Chad travel advice (advises against all travel to Borkou, Ennedi Ouest, Ennedi Est, Tibesti, western Kanem, the Lake Chad region and within 30 km of other borders; all but essential travel to the rest, including N'Djamena)Journal Le Pays — contrôle généralisé des titres de séjour des étrangers : instruction du 19 mai 2026, décret n° 2299/PR/PM/MSPI/2025, e-Visa obligatoire et visas hors plateforme invalides au 21 mai

On the ground

Where you'd land in Chad

N'Djamena

Sahelian capital at the confluence of two rivers — 42°C in April, one of the costliest cities on earth for foreigners, and the seven-million-year-old skull that made Chad famous.

Full N'Djamena guide