The reality about expatriates in the work force

What you need to know:

Usually the Prime Minister is on target with his remarks. Unfortunately, this time he missed the bulls’ eye.

I was somehow amused to read the remarks of the Prime Minister about foreign workers, as reported in The Citizen of Thursday, May 17, 2018. Only five foreigners allowed in a Tanzanian firm, PM Majaliwa reminded us. Usually the Prime Minister is on target with his remarks. Unfortunately, this time he missed the bulls’ eye.

There may be a law limiting five expatriates per company, but on the ground this remains a fallacy, there are more expatriates with legal rights to work in Tanzania. This is true despite Tanzania being more stringent than other countries in East Africa. Perhaps there is a need to revisit this whole issue of expatriates.

Another misnomer is that there are no expatriates at border entry points. At the Julius Nyerere airport in Dar es Salaam almost all salesman at the duty free shops are foreigners, and they have passes to enter the airport with minimum-security checks. This is the reality on the ground. I come from the healthcare delivery sector and it is a known fact that private hospitals employ expatriates even when their skills are available locally. We may have an acute shortage of medical specialist, for example, orthopedic surgeons, thus it appears justified to employ an expatriate.

Interestingly, some of these hospitals have been in existence for more than half a century but they still prefer medical specialists from abroad. The situation is even more complex because even middle-level accountants, nurses, procurement officers are expatriates.

There is a cultural notion that the finance department should be manned by an expatriate. It’s basically the lack of trust in locally available human resource. Some of these expatriatse are not highly-qualified or skilled but they end up earning unimaginable financial packages, coupled with many privileges like housing, travel etc.

Honourable Prime Minister, please step-out and do some basic investigations and you will be surprised by your own comments. I believe other sectors are not an exception and have similar levels of expatriates in their businesses.

I agree that we are grappling to balance two sometimes-conflicting needs. On the one hand, we want to encourage foreign investment; on the other hand, we want to ensure that local skills and labour are not displaced by imported skills. This tension plays out in the process of issuing of work permits for expatriates. When there is a real need because local skill is not available and the Immigration department confirms, there should be minimum delay in processing work permits for investors.

Generally speaking, there are two main points that need to be considered: One, the need to prove that the expatriate position cannot be filled by local personnel, and secondly, there should be a succession plan so that an expatriate position is time limited while tangible efforts are made to localise the position.

Investors should be aware that the government places a premium on the employment of local people, as it is their contributions that largely fund the country’s social security system. The higher local employment is, the more money there is for social pensions.

In Tanzania, unlike other East African countries, two permits are required by expatriates viz work permit and residence permit.

Labour Commissioner deals with work permits, while the Commissioner for Immigration deals with applications for residence permits by work permit-holders. Although it is possible for an investor to obtain both permits through the Tanzanian Investment Centre, which reduces the time this takes, there is no getting away from the requirement for having both a work permit and a residence permit before entering Tanzania.

In addition, investors should note that professional people such as engineers and chartered accountants must register with the Tanzanian professional body as part of their application to live and work in the country.

In Tanzania, a work permit is granted for a period of two years. It can then be renewed for a further period or periods, adding up to a total period of not more than five years, including the first two years.

However, for an investor who can demonstrate that its contribution to the economy or wellbeing of Tanzanians through investment is of great value, the total validity of a permit may not exceed 10 years.

However the situation on the ground is that some expatriates have been working for more than ten years. Thus from the foregoing it is obvious that the whole saga of expatriates is rather complex and fuelled by corruption.

There is definitely a need for the immigration department to be more proactive and apply the laid down regulations more stringently.