Tanzania has rolled out a biometric enrollment system for residence permits at Immigration Department HQ in Dar es Salaam in a move to allow the immigration department to capture biometric samples from the applicants and to register the applicants’ data in an electronic database.
The system was built on the IOM Border Management Information System and customized to Tanzanian needs and went live November 1st under the Capacity Building for Border Management (CBBM) project.
The new system is expected to speed up the delivery process, reduce human error and provide more transparency during the process, with the final objective of having an automated and paperless permit application process. It is also expected to help combat irregular migration and establish a border management information system along the borders of Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
The roll-out of the e-system is one of the final activities of the CBBM project. The project, “Capacity Building for Border Management”
“Tanzania immigration department has been waiting for a long time to have such a system, which will considerably improve our ability to deliver an efficient and fast service to our customers,” said the Principal Commissioner of Immigration Service.
The two-year project also saw the immigration department receive training on counter trafficking, migration and health, security documents, identity and data management and border management information system and on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs.)
The project was funded by the European Union and co-funded by United Nations Tanzania (One UN Fund), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the US State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and Servico de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF).