by the Safari Dispatch team
Career advice

Working at a safari lodge in Botswana or Tanzania as a foreigner: the permit reality

What a Botswana or Tanzania employer has to prove to hire you, the permit fees, and why Tanzanian guiding is citizens only.

SafariCareers · Updated 17 October 2026

You can’t arrange a lodge job permit yourself. In both Botswana and Tanzania the employer applies, and has to show that no suitable citizen was available and that a citizen is being trained to take over. In practice that means foreigners are hired for senior and specialist roles, not junior ones. In Tanzania, guiding is closed to foreigners altogether: tour guiding is reserved for Tanzanian citizens by law.

Botswana

Two permits, not one

To work in Botswana you need a work permit and a separate residence permit. The work permit is handled by the Department of Labour and Social Security through local Labour Offices (including Maun and Kasane). The residence permit comes from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

What the employer has to show

Under the Employment of Non-Citizens Act, a regional board decides each application and must weigh the effect on jobs open to Botswana citizens and the employer’s plans to train a citizen to replace the foreign worker. The government’s checklist asks for the job advert, the contract and offer letter, your CV and certified certificates (foreign ones checked by the Botswana Qualifications Authority) and, where it applies, the CV of the citizen understudy.

Item Official fee Official processing time
Work permit (new, renewal or replacement) BWP 1,500 14 working days
Residence permit BWP 1,500 30 working days
Emergency work permit (3 months) BWP 1,000
Appeal BWP 500

Renewals should be filed six months before the permit expires. The law sets no standard permit length; the board decides it case by case.

Guides and volunteers

A foreign guide needs a work and residence permit, or a waiver, before applying for a Department of Wildlife and National Parks professional guide licence, which costs non-citizens BWP 1,500 a year against BWP 100 to 200 for citizens. Many entry-level lodge roles in Botswana are advertised for citizens only. Volunteering doesn’t get round any of this: the government’s employment visa checklist asks volunteers for a labour waiver, a volunteer offer letter and proof of support.

Tanzania

A work permit first, then a residence permit

The employer applies for a work permit from the Labour Commissioner through the online system (OWAIS). Once it is approved, the file goes to Immigration for the residence permit, and both end up on one e-permit card after you enrol your fingerprints. Employment permits should be in place before you arrive.

Permit Fee
Work permit, Class B or D US$500 (per law firm guides)
Work permit, Class A or C US$1,000 (per law firm guides)
Residence permit B-1, employment with a specific employer US$2,000 (official; US$500 for East African Community citizens)
Residence permit C-5, volunteers US$200 (official)
Residence permit C-9, unpaid interns US$200 (official)

Local hiring first, and a handover plan

The Labour Commissioner must be satisfied that every effort was made to find a Tanzanian for the job first, and employers of foreigners must have a succession plan, with a training programme, to hand the job to a Tanzanian. A work permit lasts 24 months and can be renewed, but the total can’t exceed eight years (raised from five in 2021), and renewals must be filed 60 days before expiry. Employers that aren’t registered investors generally need about ten Tanzanian employees for every foreign one.

Guiding sits outside all of this. The 2015 tour guide regulations require guides to be Tanzanian citizens aged 21 or older, and a July 2025 order lists tour guiding among activities banned to non-citizens, with fines of at least TZS 10 million and possible loss of your permit.

South Africa and Kenya set the bar differently

In South Africa, since October 2024 a general work visa has needed 100 points on a points test, and a salary under R650,976 a year earns no salary points, which rules out most junior lodge roles for foreigners. Our South Africa work visa guide runs the numbers. A bill that would let the government set foreign-worker quotas by sector was before Parliament in August 2026 but is not yet law. Kenya’s Class D employment permit is for skills not available in Kenya. It needs proof that the job couldn’t be filled locally and a named Kenyan understudy, and costs KES 500,000 a year to issue. Our Kenya permits guide has the detail.

Before you apply from abroad

If you are not a citizen, aim at roles where you bring something local candidates usually can’t: senior management, specialist chefs, technical and conservation posts. Those are the roles foreigners are hired for. Ask the employer early whether they will apply for your permit and pay for it, and how long it usually takes them, and don’t start work, paid or unpaid, until the permit is approved.

If you are a citizen, many lodge jobs are open to you first: see jobs in Botswana and jobs in Tanzania.

This is a plain-language summary of the official rules as they stood in October 2026, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, so check the official sources below or ask the employer before you apply.

Sources

We check facts against the organisations’ own pages and the job ads we link to. Rules, fees and pay change, so check the source before you rely on a figure. Spotted something out of date? Email editor@safaridispatch.com.