Low permit fee for EAC citizens

IMMIGRATION Services Department has significantly reduced residence permit charges for citizens from the East African Community (EAC) member states seeking to live in Tanzania.

While EAC citizens have their charges slashed by threequarters, investors from the region will now pay only half of what they had been coughing.

The charge relief for EAC citizens has come amid complaints by foreigners over exorbitant fees that Tanzania charges on residence permits for foreigners intending to live in the country for investment, business, employment or any other legal activity.

Immigration Services Commissioner for Border Control and Management Abdullah Khamis told the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the fee change was in line with the government’s commitment to implement the EAC protocol. He said the new fee structure came through the Government Notices (GNs) number 246 and 247 of August, 2016.

The GN 246 details the regulations on preferential treatment and residence permits for EAC citizens and investors as well as student pass, among others. Through the notices, said Mr Khamis, the government has effected changes in regulations as well as introducing new ones.

“These changes seek to provide preferential treatments to citizens of the EAC member countries, as compared to those coming from other countries,” he said.

Under the new fee structure, Kenyans, Ugandans, Burundians, Rwandese and South Sudanese wishing to reside in Tanzania will now pay 500 US dollars (over 1m/-), down from 2,000 US dollars (over 4m/-) they were previously paying. The relief will also benefit investors from the EAC countries to Tanzania, with their residence permit fee decreased by half from 3,000 to 1,500 US dollars.

The move is perceived as an incentive to attract investors from EAC member states to take advantage of the investment opportunities in the country. The immigration has also exempted students under 18 years from EAC countries from paying student pass, instead, they would enter the country freely.

The changes will also reduce the burden on Tanzanian men wishing to have their foreign wives living in the country as the dependence pass charge has been reduced. They will now be paying 100,000/- for their foreign wives against the past 500 US dollars.