MBABANE – In the spirit of ensuring foreigners are aligned with the Immigration Act, raids by the Home Affairs Immigration Unit resulted in 38 people found contravening the legislation.
The foreign citizens are said to have been found to be trading outside their scope as permitted by their issued work permits from the Ministry of Home Affairs in stores around Manzini and Mbabane.
Thirteen were found to have contravened the Immigration Act in Manzini at the beginning of the week, while 25 were identified in Mbabane yesterday.
Speaking to this publication, Senior Immigration Officer Sipho Mohale detailed that what they noted in the raids they conducted in the two towns was that although having a permit to work in the country, the foreign nationals then derailed from their initially allocated business operations and traded in other businesses which they did not initially apply for.
“It is a violation of the Immigration Act to operate outside of the scope of your work permit. Upon application for the permit, the individual specifies the business they will focus on operating while in the country. Therefore, your trading licence has to align with what is detailed in your work permit,” said the senior immigration officer.
He said what they also found during the raids was that some of the permits had since expired; therefore, the foreign nationals were now operating illegally.
Mohale further issued a warning to Swati nationals who provided the foreign nationals with trading licences registered under their names, whether in urban areas or in rural areas.
“It is against the law to give someone a trading licence to operate when it is not registered in their name,” warned Mohale.
He highlighted that the office was aware that the foreigners paid rent timely and also stocked up on goods, which was highly beneficial to emaSwati, however, not having updated documents or papers was still against the stipulated law.
“We urge them to do things according to the law and the regulations that have been legislated,” said Mohale.
He further cautioned foreign nationals in the country to always have their papers and documents in order, as the Immigration Unit had a prerogative to raid stores and establish the eligibility and validity of each foreign national’s occupation in the businesses around the country.
Full article available in our publication.
Leave a comment