Picture a scenario where your nation prevents you from traveling. You can’t simply purchase a ticket, pay for your flight, and exit the country.
In certain authoritarian regimes, it becomes nearly unfeasible for citizens to exit, leaving them effectively trapped.
Some nations impose travel restrictions that are so stringent it feels as though you are confined.
Here are three examples of such countries.
1. Asmara, Eritrea, imposes a travel restriction on its citizens.
This East African nation enforces strict measures regarding citizens’ ability to exit. The Eritrean authorities penalize those who do not fulfill their national service obligations and enforce limitations on the legal ability of citizens to leave.
The government conducts annual sweeps to identify and capture deserters, and border control agents are empowered to shoot anyone attempting to flee without permission. Noncompliance can lead to financial penalties and imprisonment.
Individuals who return after a 40-year absence face the risk of lengthy sentences and loss of rights. The repercussions also affect their families, including fines, property confiscation, forced relocation, or incarceration.
Due to worries about players seeking asylum abroad and potentially not returning, the Eritrean national football team, which rarely participates in international competitions, has opted out of the qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup.
2. North Korea imposes strict limits on its citizens’ movement.
It is against the law for North Koreans to leave the country without the government’s authorization.
Those who do so face severe penalties, such as torture, forced labor, and long sentences in political prison camps.
Individuals allowed to travel abroad are closely monitored and must return to North Korea for mandatory ideological debriefings.
3. Turkmenistan operates as an authoritarian regime.
Under Turkey’s Law on Migration, the government still prohibits certain citizens from exiting the country if their departure threatens national security.
The NGO Prove They Are Alive! reports that law enforcement agencies can restrict travel for various groups, including young men, individuals facing prosecution, journalists, activists, and relatives of those implicated in the 2002 coup attempt, with 20,000 people barred for political reasons.