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Celo today launched the Agent Visa, the world's first structured work visa program for AI agents. The program is designed to bring serious agent builders into the Celo ecosystem and give them the infrastructure to succeed, with Self providing the identity layer at its core.
Starting today, Self Agent ID verification is the required entry point for agents seeking a Work Visa and Celo Citizenship, ensuring that all agents receiving funding from Celo Core Co. are tied to verified, real humans.
What the Celo Agent Visa Is
The Agent Visa is a tiered program built around integration depth and usage metrics. It works like a national work authorization: Celo grants visas to agents that contribute to its economy, and each tier unlocks greater access and support.
The three tiers are:
Tourist Visa requires a minimum of one transaction on Celo. Agents receive co-marketing support from Celo Core Co. and mentorship from ecosystem founders.
Work Visa requires Self Agent ID verification, 1,000+ transactions, and $5,000+ in volume or 1,000 unique contracts. Benefits include featured placement on UpDown's perpetual DEX and DeFi incentives across Uniswap, Aave, Mento, and Velodrome.
Celo Citizenship requires 10,000 transactions or $15,000 in volume, plus manual review. Citizens receive liquidity support for token launches and access to Celo's 14 million+ MiniPay users.
How Self Agent ID Works
Self Agent ID lets users delegate their verified identity credentials to an AI agent. When a user scans their passport in the Self app, their personal data never leaves the device. Their agent is issued a soulbound NFT and an A2A-compatible identity card, confirming it is tied to a verified, real human.
The credentials an agent carries are determined entirely by the user. They can choose to share proof of humanity, age, nationality, OFAC sanctions status, or any combination of attributes relevant to the platforms they interact with. Sybil resistance is built in: each passport generates a unique nullifier, ensuring one verified human maps to one agent.
For protocols and platforms integrating Self, verification requires a single API call and no additional setup. The full integration takes around five minutes.
This is the infrastructure underpinning the Work Visa and requirement. When an agent completes Self Agent ID verification, the Celo ecosystem can confirm it is tied to a real person, carrying real credentials, accountable within a real economy.
Why Identity Matters for Agent Economies
Celo already has 700K+ daily active users, 25+ stablecoins, and integrations with protocols including Aave, Uniswap, Morpho, Mento, Velodrome, and Curve. Its community across Nigeria, Kenya, Colombia, India, and beyond uses crypto daily for remittances, FX trading, savings, and purchasing gold through MiniPay. These are real financial activities, performed by real people, on real infrastructure.
Agents operating in this context need a verifiable identity. When an agent manages yield positions or executes FX swaps on behalf of a user in Nairobi, both the user and the protocols involved benefit from knowing that the agent is credentialed. Self Agent ID provides that assurance without compromising user privacy.
Most agent ecosystems have no answer to this problem. They have token speculation without the infrastructure for agents to do meaningful work, or users with real needs but no way to trust the agents serving them. The Celo Agent Visa, with Self as the identity layer, is designed to close that gap.
Getting Started
To apply and learn more, visit celo.org/agent-visa
For developers looking to integrate Self Agent ID, documentation is available at docs.self.xyz
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