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.
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