Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has developed a new system of processing working and resident permits for foreigners, Online Work Permit Application and Insurance System (OWAIS), which is more effective, very simple, user friendly and time sensitive.
This was announced by the Labour Commissioner from the Prime Minister Office, Brigadier General Francis Mbindi in Dar es Salam yesterday at a meeting that brought together representatives of 450 members of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI).
“OWAIS is a brand new system, which operates 24 hours and it can be accessed anywhere in the world. We started using this system on April 23, 2021 (and) we have so far processed about 2, 600 work permits up to yesterday (Wednesday).
We expect to launch (this) new system next month,” he said. He revealed further that during the old system, they had 33 steps which had to be taken before the final approval was notified to the applicant. However, the Commissioner said, under the new system, there were only seven steps and it was possible to issue a work permit within one day.
Brigadier General Mbindi told participants to the meeting that out of 2, 600 applications that they have handled from April 23, 2021, about 16 of them have been issued within 24 hours. Therefore, he said, if the application contains everything required, it is possible to get a work permit within 24 hours.
“This is a very big achievement, and I would like to register my sincere thanks and gratitude to the government for facilitating the labour department in processing work permits, because it is the government of the United Republic of Tanzania that has developed this system,” he said.
In previous days, they used to process work permits for more than 14 days. He said that the law requires the Labor Commissioner to process work permits within 14 days, but due to some unavoidable circumstances, the process could take longer than 14 days to be finalized.
Brigadier General Mbindi also pointed out that the new system is integrated with other government systems, such as the Government Electronic Payment Gateway (GEPG), the Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA), the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the Immigration Department.
Initially, he said, the labour department and immigration department were having two separate systems, but nowadays they have integrated systems whereby an applicant would be required to fill in just a single application form for work permit as well as resident permit.
“You do not need to come to the office of the Labour Commissioner anymore, unless there is an urgent need for you to come, otherwise you can stay wherever you are and finish each and everything,” he told the CTI members.
Brigadier General Mbindi gave more details on how the application is processed. He revealed that once the Labour Commissioner receives the application, he could assign the same to the assistant to the Labour Commissioner for scrutinizing.
According to him, the Assistant Labour Commissioner could also assign the application to the Assessing Officer and the officer will go through the application to make sure that each and everything is in order.
“Once that officer is satisfied with the application, he can recommend to the Assistant Labour Commissioner or to the Commissioner for either approval or rejection, or sometimes if there is missing information or document, they can recommend for submission of further information or document,” he said.
However, Brigadier General Mbindi said whatever decisions the Labour Commissioner makes, the applicant will be notified, and if granted the application will be submitted to the Commissioner General of Immigration, who will deal with the resident permit part.
“Likewise, the applicant will be notified and called to either make payments or take fingerprints, and at the end the applicant will be given a smart card, which combines information for both work permit and resident permit,” he said.
Earlier, the CIT Executive Director, Mr Leodegar Tenga and First Vice-Chairman, Mr Hussein Ally, thanked the Labour Commissioner for being cooperative and supportive to members of the Confederation.
