Business

The Commerce, Industry and Services Association (ACIS) of Mozambique on Wednesday advocated changes in the legislation on hiring foreign labour to make the regime more flexible, and that Mozambique’s diplomatic missions enjoy more autonomy in granting work visas.

“The legislation and regulations inherent to the hiring and legalisation of workers of foreign nationality must be changed, so that they are adapted to current needs,” ACIS says in the recommendations following from a survey it carried out and which was released yesterday.The other recommendation is to grant independence to diplomatic and consular missions in approving or refusing visa applications.ACIS also asks that additional requirements demanded of foreign workers by Mozambican public administration officials be regulated and standardised.The authorities should also standardise the procedures to be followed by diplomatic missions in processing visa applications.

“The public administration must conform its computer system with the legal formalities inherent to each procedure,” the document reads.ACIS understands that the Mozambican state should be held accountable for “damage incurred due to the non-observance of the law” in the granting of visas, identification documents and residence permits for foreigners. The investigation found there were risks of corruption in the granting of visas and the process of hiring foreign labour, including bureaucratic dispersion, procedural requirements not provided for by law and lack of standardisation of the requirements applied by diplomatic and consular missions.