By Tabora Bojang
The Gambia Immigration Department has disclosed that 350 foreign nationals who illegally entered The Gambia in 2024 were deported.
The GID made this disclosure at a press conference called to give an overview of its revenue performance and migration flow in 2024.
Commissioner of Operations responsible for border security and migration management, Sulayman Kujabi, said over the past year, GID under the leadership of director general Ebrima Mboob devised an operational work plan to secure the borders, regulate immigration and combat transnational crimes.
He said entry requirements into The Gambia were “strictly applied”, leading to the denial of entry for individuals lacking valid documents with 1,627 individuals refused entry into The Gambia. “About 350 prohibited immigrants were repatriated, and 62 individuals were convicted and deported following legal proceedings,” Commissioner Kujabi revealed.
He also explained that following intensive border patrols covering key coastal and land border areas to deter illegal crossings, a total of 677 would-be irregular migrants were intercepted and 50 percent were non-Gambians who were all repatriated.
Kujabi also revealed that GID secured convictions for eight individuals out of the 58 migrant smugglers identified.
He also revealed that over 16,473 aliens or non-Gambians were registered in 2024 from across the various regions of the country in accordance with the Aliens Registration Act of 1977 and its amendments.
Revenue
Assistant Commissioner Karanlang Jarju, head of finance at GID, reported that the institution collected a record D420,219,024 in 2024 compared to D317 million collected in 2023. This revenue was generated from a number of sources. Biometric passport generated D28,358,000; machine readable passport D76,912,000; entry visas D38,430,000; entry clearances D7,406,000; Ecowas ID cards D26,505,880; non-Gambian ID cards D17,008,160; Permit A for Ecowas citizens D695,400; Permit A for non-Ecowas citizens D2,063,400; Permit B for Ecowas citizens D65,493,500; Permit B for non-Ecowas citizens D9,554,200; aliens card D6,517,000; extension D1,920,000; naturalization D40,000; forms D9,530,150; expatriate quotas D130,187,006; and ETC D237,000.
He further disclosed that D95,384,300 was collected from residence and work permit fees. This is the revenue collected by the regions, during their raiding or enforcement operations.
