Tanzania border technology

The EAC e-passport

The EastAfrican reported on 31 January 2018 that Tanzania had launched the new electronic East African Community passport, witnessed by President John Magufuli ⁴. It said the e-passport would replace national travel documents, which were to be phased out by January 2020 ⁴.

ITWeb Africa reported on 7 January 2020 that Magufuli was the first Tanzanian issued an e-passport, on 31 January 2018 ³. It said the 35th EAC Council of Ministers, meeting on 4 April 2017, had directed partner states to start issuing the passport from that date ³. The chip stores the holder's biometric information and the passport is valid for 10 years, as reported ³.

Africanews reporter Daniel Mumbere reported that the passport cost US$67.5 (Tsh150,000) ². He reported that HID installed the printing technology with support from the Government of Ireland, at a cost of about US$58 million ². This page has not found a government record of the contract value.

Rollout and the old passport deadline

ITWeb Africa reported that applications rose to an average of 1,200 a day, from 300 to 400 a day, as the deadline for old passports approached ³. Commissioner General of Immigration Dr Anna Makakala said all applicants needed a national identity card from the National Identification Authority (NIDA), as reported ³.

Makakala said the department had installed e-passport issuance equipment at all Tanzanian embassies abroad since August 2019 and that Tanzania complies with ICAO standards, as reported ³. She said old passports could still be used to travel to Tanzania from abroad but not to apply for a visa ³.

HID Global and the e-Immigration programme

In a company statement published by Silicon Trust on 29 April 2019, HID Global said the government of Tanzania selected its citizen ID solutions to add e-Visa and e-Permit services to the e-passport ¹. HID said the web-based services let visitors and residents apply for and receive credentials for travel or residence ¹.

HID said it had helped deploy the e-passport the previous year as part of the Tanzania e-Immigration programme and had been the main supplier of an end-to-end e-passport solution since early 2018 ¹. It said the government planned to extend the solution to border crossings ¹. The statement quotes Commissioner General Makakala describing the step as an important milestone in work with HID Global ¹.

The Immigration Services Department runs the official website at immigration.go.tz ⁸. The page read for this update needed JavaScript and showed no visa fees, so this page does not state them ⁸.

MIDAS and the ICAO PKD

A presentation by Florian G. Forster, head of IOM's Immigration and Border Management division, at the ICAO TRIP Symposium of 25 to 28 June 2019 listed Tanzania among 22 states using MIDAS ⁶. The slide said MIDAS operated at 140 border crossing points in those 22 states ⁶. The slide does not say which Tanzanian posts use it ⁶.

The ICAO PKD participant list shows the United Republic of Tanzania with a joining date of 20 November 2019 ⁵.

Cargo tracking and border posts

IPP Media reported on 1 October 2018 that Tanzania and Burundi were the only EAC partner states that had not approved the electronic Cargo Tracking System launched by Rwanda in 2017 ⁷. TRA Commissioner for Customs and Excise Ben Usaje said Tanzania used its TANCIS customs system and that the systems needed to interface for the Single Customs Territory to work, as reported ⁷.

Rwanda's immigration directorate lists Rusumo as its border post with Tanzania ⁹.