Several migrant workers are in Uganda illegally and doing jobs which should be reserved for locals, especially in the informal sector, where jobs do not require professional experience and qualifications.
This is despite all the controls put in place by the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) to issue and monitor work permits.
This revelation is contained in the Auditor General’s report for 2023/2024 that was recently presented to Parliament.
Edward Akol, the Auditor General, says despite the notable performance, DCIC does not follow-up to confirm whether employers appoint local counterparts to be trained, and neither does the Directorate assess whether skilled foreign nationals train and mentor Ugandans.
“This has affected the transfer of skills to Ugandans. I noted several instances in the last three years where foreign nationals did not leave the country following the expiry of their work permits. For instance, 6,035 work permits expired and were cancelled, 5,048 (85%) of these expired and cancelled work permits did not leave the country. The continued stay of foreign nationals with expired or cancelled permits has resulted in illegal employment of foreign nationals and loss of revenue,” the report reads in part.
It adds that whereas 102 foreign nationals were fined for overstaying their work permits in the period from July 2019 to June 2023, their respective employers were not fined for knowingly employing foreign nationals without valid entry permits.
As a result, fines estimated at UGX.306Mn were not collected, resulting in loss of revenue to the Government.
“The Directorate still faces some challenges while using the e-Immigration system, including limited coverage of the system, absence of key roles, failure to provide real-time notifications on over stayers, delays to migrate legacy data, and limited reporting capabilities. Without implementing the system’s full functionality, DCIC may not realise value for money from the investment in the system over its lifetime,” the report says, adding that the enforcement efforts of compliance with the class of permit issued were inadequate.
For instance, a review of six (6) monthly investigation reports revealed 11 cases of non-compliance to the class of permit issued to the foreign workers. As a result, many work permit holders are employed in jobs outside their class of work permits, which has contributed to unemployment in some job categories where Ugandans are qualified to work.
It’s important to note that a work permit is a legal document issued to foreigners who seek to invest, carry on business, work and reside in the host country. Worldwide countries regulate foreign workers through the issuance of work permits to control the entry, stay and exit of foreign workers. If unregulated, migrant labour creates competition for the local work force for the few available jobs.
According to the report, there are several foreign nationals working or running private businesses in Uganda without valid work-permits.
DCIC identifies foreign nationals working without permits and over the three years, the Directorate has deported 2,403 foreigners working without valid permits and regularized 1,969 others.
However, the report says, this makes up a small proportion of the total number of foreign nationals irregularly working in Uganda.
“The failure to fully identify and apprehend immigrants working without work permits has contributed to increasing unemployment among citizens,” the report says, adding that only 30% of the applications for work-permits were processed within the required time of seven (7) days during the period from 01st July 2018 to 30th June 2023.
“It took 24 days to process and reach a final decision to approve or reject an application. The delays in processing work permits have resulted in delays in bringing in the required skills and expertise from foreign nationals, which negatively affects business investments and contributes to the irregular employment of foreign nationals,” the AG says.
He adds that the DCIC lacks a comprehensive policy framework to guide the employment of foreign nationals in Uganda, which has affected efforts to combat the irregular employment of foreign nationals.
The draft migration policy under development had a number of gaps. For instance, it lacks a clear definition of a skilled worker, quotas to show the number of foreign nationals to be issued with permits per category of employment, and job categories protected in the policy for the citizens, among others.
This has affected efforts to manage work permits and attain lasting benefits from skilled foreign nationals, the report says.
It adds that there was inadequate coordination among some key stakeholders in the management of work-permits.
“For instance, there were no joint-risk analyses and enforcement by the various stakeholders, among others. This has resulted in the failure to effectively control the number and category of jobs that foreigners hold, limit the number of renewals and enforce the exit of foreigners following expiry of their permits,” the Auditor General says.
Key Recommendations
According to the report, DCIC management should develop mechanisms of monitoring and ensuring skills transfer from foreign nationals to local counterparts.
“DCIC should enhance its capacity to enforce the timely exit of foreign nationals by increasing staffing, training and other logistical resources for the relevant departments. DCIC should fast track the interface between the enforcement and permit issuance functions to enable simultaneous fining of the employees and employers of foreign nationals that have overstayed their work permits,” the Auditor General recommends, adding that DCIC should implement system enhancements to ensure that all the additional functionality is used without further delays.
DCIC should also fast track the integration process of the e-immigration system and other stakeholder systems to provide alerts on change of permit class so as to enable the quick identification of immigrants who violate their work-permits.
“Management should put in place mechanisms to systematically capture and record information of all foreign nationals resident in Uganda and empower Uganda’s foreign missions to screen and issue G2-class work-permits to foreign nationals intending to work in Uganda before their arrival in the country,” the report says, adding that DCIC Management should automate the permit processing system to send alerts to applicants when queries have been raised or applications are deferred, thereby minimizing the delays taken to respond.
“DCIC should ensure that a policy framework is quickly developed and approved for implementation. The Directorate should further improve the draft immigration policy by consulting widely with all stakeholders to ensure that all key interests are considered and addressed by this policy. The Directorate should enhance its coordination mechanism with the various stakeholders and should include a provision for measuring the effectiveness of such cooperation using Key Performance Indicators,” the AG says.
