Wednesday November 5, 2025
FILE - A view of the new Garowe Airport Terminal. Wiki
Garowe (HOL) — Puntland has launched its own regional visa system, a move seen as
another direct challenge to Somalia’s federal government and a reflection of growing tensions over immigration and airspace control.
Under the new system, travelers entering Puntland will pay $60 for a visa issued locally, nearly matching the $64 charged by Mogadishu’s electronic visa program. Puntland immigration officials said the new “VISO” operates independently and has no administrative link to the federal government.
The decision lays bare Puntland’s growing assertion of autonomy and mirrors a similar policy by Somaliland, which previously ordered international airlines to disregard the federal government’s e-visa requirements. Airlines such as Ethiopian Airlines and Flydubai later dropped acceptance of the federal e-visa to continue flights to Somaliland.
Federal authorities in Mogadishu maintain that the central government remains the only legal entity authorized to regulate visa issuance and oversee Somali airspace. Officials have warned that airlines violating national regulations could face penalties under both domestic and international aviation law.
Mogadishu says the federal e-visa initiative was intended to increase revenue and modernize Somalia’s border management. However, the rollout without consulting regional states has fueled confusion and political friction, deepening mistrust between Mogadishu and its member states.
Officials in Garowe described the VISO initiative as necessary to “streamline regional mobility,” but analysts view it as a direct challenge to federal authority, echoing actions taken by Somaliland earlier this year, when it rejected the federal e-visa requirement and asserted its own immigration controls.
Somaliland’s
defiance of the e-visa system set a precedent for
Puntland's resistance. Its Civil Aviation Ministry warned airlines that they could lose access to Hargeisa’s airports and airspace if they enforced Mogadishu’s visa policies. As a result, major carriers such as Ethiopian Airlines and Flydubai have abandoned the federal e-visa system to continue operating in the region.
The dispute followed a year of escalating tensions after the federal government regained full control of Somali airspace from the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2024, a move that both Puntland and Somaliland said was done without sufficient consultation.