Lebanon · Religious

Visas and Residency for Students of Religion, Missionaries, Volunteers and Men of Religion

Visas and Residency for Students of Religion, Missionaries, Volunteers and Men of Religion is issued by General Directorate of General Security (Lebanon). VisaAI tracks 23 official requirements for it, each traced to the government page that states it.

Last verified against the official source on .

VisaAI is not a government body and does not issue visas. It cannot decide, predict or guarantee the outcome of an application, and this page is not legal or immigration advice.

Requirements change. Confirm every item on General Directorate of General Security (Lebanon)’s own page before you apply.

Each requirement below is written in plain English by VisaAI. The indented text beneath it is quoted from General Directorate of General Security (Lebanon)’s own page, so you can check what we say against what they say. Where a quotation shows “ ... ”, text has been left out.

Conditions you must meet

  • Who this covers: religious men, students, missionaries and volunteersThe authority's own framing of the page.
    The requirements regarding the applicants for a Lebanese visa or residency permit for religious men, students, missionaries or volunteers will be highlighted in the following section.
  • Students of religion, ANY religion, get an entry visa a month before entryApplies whether or not the institution or the studies are religious, which the authority states explicitly.
    11- The students in religion regardless of their religion, and whether they are enrolled in an accredited universities or accredited religious institutions in Lebanon (even those whose studies or universities are not religious), are granted an entry visa for a month prior to their entry
  • Condition 112: the applicant must be 18 or olderA hard floor.
    112- The interested party has to be 18 years old or more
  • Condition 114: entry at the start of the academic year, applying a month beforeA timing rule that is easy to miss and expensive to miss.
    114- The interested party has to enter Lebanese territories in the beginning of the academic year (the visa have to be applied for, a month before the beginning of the academic year).
  • Condition 115: the applicant must come from the country of their nationalityStated as an absolute — otherwise entry is refused.
    115- The interested party has to come the country of which he holds the nationality. If this is not the case, he cannot enter Lebanese authorities.
  • The institution must sign a departure attestation and ensure departure on breach or crimeAn obligation on the host, not the student.
    13- The universities and religious institutions have to sing an attestation of departure when the interested party finished the required academic years or semesters indicated. His departure has to be ensured if there is an infraction regarding his visa, or if he committed a crime.
  • Fourteen nationalities are TEMPORARILY excludedQuoted whole. The authority gives security concerns for Lebanon and for the students' own countries as the reason, and naming only some of the fourteen would be the worst possible summary.
    14- In virtue of security concerns regarding both Lebanon and the countries of origin of the students in question, only the following nationalities are temporarily excluded: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Albanian, Bosnian, Indian, Sri Lankans, Philippine, Sudan, Egyptian, Chechen, Bangladesh, Algerian, Somalian, Iraqi.
  • Condition 212: an attestation of passing the previous year; a year may be repeated only onceFailing twice ends the right to remain, which the authority states plainly.
    212- The interested party has to hand out an attestation establishing that he has passed the previous year. The student cannot repeat his year more than once. If he fails to do so, he will have to leave the Lebanese territory.
  • Condition 213: children of married students get no residency of their own and cannot live with themA rule that decides whether a family can come at all.
    213- If the students are married, their children will not have a residency permit in virtue of their own, and cannot hence live with them.
  • A multiple-entry residence permit: once a year, for 3 months onlyBoth limits are in one sentence.
    22- A residency permit – multiple entries can be requested one time a year and for 3months only.
  • Men of religion, missionaries and volunteers enter on the host institution’s requestA different route from the student one.
    3- Men of religion, missionaries, and volunteers are permitted to enter in virtue of a request done by the religious institution, the charitable institution or the university in question:
  • Their conditions depend on the applicant’s nationalityThe authority does not enumerate them on this page and none is invented.
    31- The requested conditions are based on the nationality of each applicant.
  • Those visas are TOURISTIC and cannot become residency — the holder must leave at expiryThe single most consequential sentence on the page for this group.
    32- The visas granted according to the article 31 are assimilated to touristic visas that cannot be transformed into residency visas. The interested party has to leave when the validity period of the visa comes to an end.
  • To reside, they need prior authorisation from General Security via the host institutionThe route out of the tourist-visa limitation.
    33- Men of religion, volunteers, and missionaries that wish to reside in Lebanon have to request a previous authorization delivered by the general security in virtue of a requested addressed by the host institution.
  • The host institution must satisfy conditions 111, 112, 115, 211 and 213The authority cross-references its own numbered conditions, and they are published above.
    34- The host institution has to ensure the above-mentioned conditions 111, 112, 115, 211, and 213, for an entry visa or a residency permit.
  • What counts as a host institutionReligious leaders, universities or legally accredited charitable institutions.
    The host institution: Religious leaders, universities, or charitable institutions that are legally accredited in Lebanon.
  • The instructions apply equally to nuns and to women students, volunteers and missionariesStated by the authority as its closing line.
    5- The above-mentioned instructions are also related to nuns, and students, volunteers, or missionaries that are women.

Official forms

  • Condition 111: prior authorisation from General Security, requested BY the institutionThe applicant cannot apply through a Lebanese mission abroad — the institution must request it.
    111- An authorization prior to the entrance granted by the general security in virtue of a requested presented by the university or the institution in question. The latter can’t apply via a Lebanese delegation abroad

Documents you must provide

  • Condition 113: an enrolment attestation naming the degree, period and semestersThree things the attestation must state.
    113- Attestation of enrollment in an accredited university or an accredited religious institution in Lebanon. The type of degree has to be specified in the attestation, as well as the period and semesters indicated.
  • Two attestations: the activity, location and period; and the date of departureBoth signed by the host institution and filed with General Security.
    35- The host institution has to sign an attestation that specifies the type of activity in question, the location of the project and the period indicated for the latter. The date of departures has to be specified in a second attestation that will also be signed by the host institution. These attestations will have to be handed out to the general security.

Steps in the process

  • Condition 211: apply for the residence permit at a regional bureau within a month of entryA deadline that starts on entry.
    211- After a month of his entry in Lebanon, the interested party has to show up at a regional bureau of the general security, where he will apply for a residency permit, handing out the application and the required documents.

Government fees

  • Students of religion: LBP 15,000,000LBP 15,000,000Quoted with the "the costs" heading above it, because the amount alone does not say what it buys.
    4- The costs: ... Students in religion: 15.000.000 L.B.P
  • Men of religion, missionaries and volunteers: LBP 18,000,000LBP 18,000,000Quoted as the authority writes it, spacing included.
    4- The costs: ... Men of religion, missionaries and volunteers: 18.000 000L.B.P

Official sources

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