State sets out strict rules for work permits – Mediamax Network Limited

Foreigners seeking to work in Kenya will find it difficult to acquire documentation after the government has imposed harsh measures for the issuance of work permits.

In a dramatic political shift aimed at protecting local jobs, the interior cabinet secretary, Fred Matiang, said that only foreigners with a pre-approved work permit would be allowed into the country.

"In accordance with the world's best practices for obtaining work permits, applicants will submit their applications wherever they are and will only come to Kenya once the authorization is granted" , he said.

be prohibited to foreigners who enter the country on a tourist visa but who start to work illegally.

"Deterrent sanctions will be imposed on businesses and individuals who employ foreigners without the required documentation," he said. Follow the completion of a two-month verification exercise aimed at eliminating illegal expats from the local labor market.

It comes after an outcry from Kenyans that western African and Chinese aliens invaded their businesses especially in the informal sector. At the same time, complaints were made in the NGO sector that expatriates would exclude plum stations.

The new laws will therefore allow the government to better control the labor market and drastically reduce the expatriate community.

The new work permit system also establishes a committee to recommend laissez-pbader and work permit for approval to seal corruption loopholes. Immigration will maintain a regularly updated digital database. Holders of a work permit, which facilitates the follow-up of the expiry.

Matiang & # 39; i described this exercise as successful, believing that it offered the government a excellent opportunity to learn many valuable lessons about the work permit management regime.

] Based on the lessons learned from the exercise that just ended, the government will put in place a series of administrative and political changes around the work permit management regime so of Service Issuance, Security Guarantee and Holy Title of Kenya Work Permit as well as that of other essential documents issued by the Department of Health Services. (DIS), he said.