VELMA Law, Dar es Salaam Tanzanian Law Firm 1200 627
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VELMA Law, Dar es Salaam Tanzanian Law Firm 310 310

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The new Non-Citizens (Employment Regulation) Act 2015 was passed by Parliament in February 2015, assented to by the President on 25 April 2015 and came into effect on 1 October 2015.

The Act applies to mainland Tanzania and its main objective is to simplify the application process and issuance of work permits, to create a more conducive environment for foreign investment and a good base for implementation of various regional agreements.

The main feature of the Act is that all work permits will now be processed and issued by the Labour Commissioner. Issuance of work permits will be restricted to two categories that is, Class A (issued to investors and self employed non citizens) and Class B (issued to non-citizens other than those qualified for Class A). But where any exception arises then a ministerial exemption by way of an Exemption Certificate shall be issued.

The validity of the work permit shall be 2 years from the date of issue, and it may be renewed provided that the total period of validity of the first grant and its renewals does not exceed 5 years. A work permit to an investor who has contributed to the economy or the wellbeing of Tanzania may be extended to exceed 10 years.

Investors granted incentives under the Tanzania Investment Act, Special Economic Zones Act or the Export Processing Zones Act will continue to be entitled to an initial automatic immigrant quota of 5 persons and maybe additional persons.

Fees are reduced to USD 1,000 generally.

Employers are required to prepare a succession plan and a training programme to show their commitment to prepare local employees to undertake duties of the non-citizen experts.

And they are also required to submit to the Labour Commissioner returns each 30 June and 31 December.


Please contact us if you have any comments or questions, so we can advise you further.

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