Crucial Changes On The Law Of Non-Citizen Employment In Tanzania
March 14, 2022

In an attempt to foster investment in Tanzania, the government has recently amended the Non-Citizens (Employment Regulation) Act, [Cap. 436] “the Act” to create more favorable conditions on employment of non-citizens.  The changes are brought by the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act No. 4 of 2021(Hereinafter the “Amendment Act”). The new amendments to the Act have brought significant changes on employment of Non-Citizens. The most salient changes are briefly highlighted herein below:

 

A. Incentives to Investors

Section 19 of the Act which provided for incentives to investors has been repealed and replaced with a new provision. Section 19 of the Act has been amended by section 45 of the Amendment Act so as to allow investors registered under the Tanzania Investment Center “TIC” and the Economic Processing Zone Authority, “EPZA” to employ up to ten non-citizens without being subjected to any conditions under the Act save for the requirement to pay prescribed fees. This means there is no strict condition of qualification for the 10 non-citizen employees for the registered investors.

Further, the amended Section 19(2) of the Act provides that the immigrant quota shall not preclude the investor from employing other non-citizens provided that such employment complies with the employment ratio of one non-citizen to ten local employees and the investor has satisfied the Labour Commissioner that the nature of his business demands such number of non-citizens. This entails that an investor can employ other non-citizens as long as the nature of business demands so and the provided employment ratio is satisfied.

Additionally Section 19(3) of the Act, as amended, states that for an employer who is not a registered investor and the nature of business does not permit employment of local employees as per the required ratio,  be subjected to the requirement of creating employment opportunities at the ratio of one non-citizen to ten local employees.

 

B. Validity of Work Permit

Section 12 (4) of the Act has been amended by section 43 of the Amendment Act by increasing the period of work permit validity from the previous five (5) years to eight (8) years.  This means that the total period of validity of the first grant and its renewals should not exceed 8 years. Therefore a non-citizen whose permit was to expire after the end of five years can now apply for a new permit up to three (3) more years. Hence a non-citizen can be employed in Tanzania for a maximum period of eight (8) years.

 

C. Issuance of Permit through Electronic System.

Section 42 of the Amendment Act has amended Section 10 of the Act by adding new sub-section 4 which introduces electronic system for applying and issuing work permits. The electronic system for work permit is already operational and functioning for the past few months.

Victory Attorneys & Consultants © 2023

Augustine Dominic Shio

Managing Partner

Augustine Dominic Shio is also known as Mr Shio is a highly sought-after and widely recognized criminal law expert with more than 30 years of experience advising and assisting corporations and individuals charged with white-collar crimes.

Overview

Before founding the firm Mr Shio held several positions in the public sector, he served as a Principal State Attorney at the Attorney General’s Chambers, Legal Advisor at the President’s Office (Commission for Enforcement of the Leadership Code), Director of Legal Services and Complaints at the Ministry of Home Affairs and retired as a Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions at the Directorate of the Public Prosecutions.

Mr Shio is a recipient of the Presidential Medal for his distinctive public services and ethics of the highest order. His distinguished aptitude in handling complex criminal cases, particularly money laundering, economic and organized crimes has enabled the firm to handle high profile criminal cases in Tanzania.

Practice Focus

As the firm’s head of the Financial & Organized Crimes Department, Mr Shio represents corporations and individuals in the telecoms, media & ICT, mining, oil & gas and banking sectors in high profile criminal cases. He has advised and prepared legal compliance models and for large scale agribusiness operators, public listed companies and securities dealers and brokers in line with sector-specific laws.

He possesses vast experience in advising multinational corporations on money laundering and tax evasion throughout the life span of their commercial transactions.

Mr Shio has represented clients in major plea bargaining negotiations at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He is renowned for closing some of the best pleas deals in the country on behalf of many locals and expatriates charged with money laundering, economic and organized crimes and cybercrimes. Additionally, Mr Shio consults and assists criminally charged individuals to secure pre-trail and post-trial bail on serious criminal charges.

Education

Mr Shio holds a Bachelor’s Degree (LL.B Hons) from the University of Dar es Salaam, Certificate in Criminal Justice and Treatment of Offenders from the United Nations Institute (Fuchu, Japan). He is a certified criminal law expert in Money Laundering and Terrorism.

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