10,000 teaching jobs on the line as Dar expels aliens

Flags of EAC member states during a past summit. Tanzania is expelling foreign nationals without work permits. FILE 

By George Omondi,

In Summary

• Tanzania has been expelling immigrants from its territory following expiry of a grace period it had granted unregistered foreigners to leave voluntarily.
• Kenyan teachers working in Tanzania’s private schools are among the hardest hit by the crackdown on foreigners.
• Most of the teachers have failed to secure work permits because of bureaucracy and prohibitive costs.
• Tanzania charges an annual fee of $2,000 (Sh174,000) for a work permit and applicants must wait up to five months to obtain the documents.

The ongoing crackdown on immigrants in Tanzania is causing anxiety among Kenyan professionals as attention turns to the high cost and lengthy process of obtaining permits to work in East Africa’s most populous state.

Tanzania has been expelling immigrants from its territory following expiry of a grace period it had granted unregistered foreigners to leave voluntarily.

Though originally targeted at the millions of refugees from Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo, the crackdown has not spared Kenyan and Ugandan immigrants who are required to pay exorbitant fees to get work permits in a lengthy and painfully slow process that employers say is counterproductive to any gains they could make from hiring expatriates.

Kenyan teachers working in Tanzania’s private schools are among the hardest hit by the crackdown on foreigners. Most of the teachers now face the prospects of being shoved back to Kenya’s already crowded labour market, having failed to secure work permits because of bureaucracy and prohibitive costs.

Tanzania charges a princely annual fee of $2,000 (Sh174,000) for a work permit and applicants must wait up to five months to obtain the documents.

The high cost and lengthy administrative procedures have forced most institutions to engage foreign workers informally, leading to their current predicament.

“Even those who can readily afford the documents find it very difficult to obtain a work permit in Tanzania,” said Eric Mutua, chairman of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

By comparison, Rwanda has waived work permit fees for EAC citizens while Uganda charges Sh127,500 and takes up to 30 days to process applications.

Kenya, which initially waived fees for East Africans, has since reintroduced a Sh168,000 charge on job seekers under the age of 35.

(READ: Kenya locks out young and low-paid foreign workers)

A recent survey conducted by East African Business Council found that most businesses in the region have chosen to side-step the regulatory burden surrounding work permits by hiring only locals even where the skills required are lacking nationally.

Professionals said difficulties associated with obtaining work permits had made it impossible to set up consultancies across the region despite the regional integration project.

“Even after getting the work permit, most professionals still get discouraged by the time-consuming regulatory requirements they have to comply with in partner states,” said Collins K’Owuor, chairman of the Institute of Surveyors of Kenya.

Mr K’Owuor, however, defended the length of time and rigorous process of vetting labour, saying professional bodies have a duty to ensure high standards of service delivery across the region.

East Africa was expected to drop the work permit requirement with the launch of the Common Market protocol in July 2010. But nearly three years down the line, the Tanzania government has stepped up its expulsion of foreign nationals without work permits.