The new work permit requirements for foreign nationals in Tanzania is causing unease in the region, with the East African Business Council (EABC) calling on Dar to reconsider measures, which are contrary to the EAC Common Market Protocol.

A notice issued last year from Tanzania’s Prime Minister’s office indicated that all foreigners wishing to work in the country would be required to obtain separate work and residence permits.

The EABC said the move undermines the Common Market Protocol, which allows for free movement of people, goods and services in the bloc.

“Tanzania should reconsider the step of introducing the work permit fees in addition to the resident permit fees. The government had progressively reduced and finally zero-rated these fees like the other East African countries,” said Lilian Awinja, acting executive director at EABC.

READ: Workers to move freely in the EAC from 2016

As per the notice, work permits for those employed in Tanzania under Class B (a person who has been offered a specific job by a specific employer and he or she has the required qualifications and experience) will now cost an additional $1000 over the usual $2050.

Those with dependants will pay an extra $500 to obtain the dependant pass.

The new requirement does not differentiate between EAC nationals and citizens of countries outside the region.

While Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya have waived work permit fees for East African Community citizens to encourage free movement of labour, Tanzania maintains the restrictions for EAC citizens and other foreigners.

READ: Uganda joins Kenya, Rwanda in abolishing work permits for professionals

Work permit fees in Tanzania range between $2,000 and $3,000, a tidy sum for small and medium enterprise companies with low turnover.

In Burundi, it ranges from $60 to $84, Uganda charges $250 per year for work permits for missionaries, volunteers and $1,500 for businessmen and consultants. Kenya, charges $1,976 for foreign workers.

Two Tanzanian companies have already been penalised for going against this requirement.

Sunflag Tanzania Ltd, a textiles firm was penalised $12,560 for having employees without work contracts while Lodhia Industries which manufactures plastics and metal products was fined $14,355.

The two companies were also penalised for employing foreign workers whose permits indicated different types of jobs contrary to what they are doing.

Ms Awinja said a longer and costly process of placing workers would impact negatively on businesses already grappling with high energy costs, high operational costs, the cost of air transport, telecommunications, a high wage bill among others.

She said Tanzania should be pursuing policy reforms that reduce the overall cost of doing business.

Under the notice, workers recruited for jobs that can be done by nationals would be repatriated. This, however, is in line with agreements under EAC. “We urge all workers to comply by obtaining the necessary clearance,” said Ms Awinja.

Prior to the new law, Tanzania’s immigration department used to issue a single document, namely a work permit, which also acted as a resident permit.

The new law also requires applications for a work permit to be accompanied by a plan for the transfer of the applicant’s knowledge to local employees through training.

Employers and investors in Tanzania are required to pay the costs and requirements of obtaining the separate permits before filing the work permit requests.