Date of publication:

05/27/2025

United Republic of Tanzania (the)

Do domestic laws and policies specify the grounds for immigration and displacement-related detention?

ANALYSIS

Assessment by population

Refugees
Asylum-seekers
Stateless persons
Analysis

Tanzania's approach to immigration and displacement-related detention is governed by the Immigration Act of 1995, which outlines the criteria for identifying "prohibited immigrants" and the procedures for their detention and deportation. The Act defines various categories of individuals considered prohibited, including those without valid documentation, individuals engaged in criminal activities, and persons deemed undesirable by authorities. In practice, Tanzania does not have dedicated immigration detention centers; instead, local police stations, prisons, and remand homes are utilized to detain migrants until deportation can be arranged. This practice raises concerns about the adequacy of facilities and the treatment of detainees, particularly among vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers and refugees.​

    LAW & POLICY

    Related provisions of domestic law or policy

    Immigration Act

    Legal provision

    Section 31.1 - Offences

    (i) unlawfully enters or is unlawfully present within Tanzania in contravention of the provisions of this Act;

    Section 24.1 - Entry, etc. prohibited immigrants

    Subject to subsection 2, the entry and presence in Tanzania of any prohibited immigrant shall be unlawful.

    Section 25.1 - Arrest and expulsion of prohibited immigrants

    Subject to the provisions of this Act, any immigration officer or any police officer may prevent any prohibited immigrant from entering Tanzania and may, without warrant, arrest any prohibited immigrant or any person who he has reasonable cause to suspect of having entered Tanzania while being a prohibited immigrant otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

    Section 23.1 - Meaning of "prohibited immigrant"

    The expression "prohibited immigrant" means any person who, if he seeks to enter Tanzania is, or if he has entered Tanzania was at the time of his entry, or is- (a) a destitute person; (b) mentally defective or a person suffering from mental disorder; (c) a person- (i) who refuses to submit to examination by a medical practitioner after having been required to do so under the provisions of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 5; (ii) who is certified by a medical practitioner to be suffering from a contagious or infections disease which makes or which would make his presence in Tanzania dangerous to the public; (d) a person who, not having received a free pardon, has been convicted in any country other than Tanzania of murder or any offence for which a sentence of imprisonment has been passed for any term and who, by reason of the circumstances connected therewith, is considered by the Minister to be an undesirable immigrant; but this provision shall not apply to offences which, in the opinion of the Minister, are of a political character not involving moral turpitude; (e) a prostitute or a person who is living on or receiving, or who, prior to entering Tanzania, lived on or received, the proceeds of prostitution; (f) a person whose entry into or continued presence in Tanzania is, in the opinion of the Minister of the Director, undesirable and is declared by the Minister or the Director to be a prohibited immigrant; except that every declaration of the Director under this paragraph shall be subject to confirmation by the Minister, whose decision shall be final; (g) a person against whom there is in force a deportation order or any order for deportation or expulsion from Tanzania made under the provisions of any law for the time being in force; (h) a person whose presence in or entry into Tanzania is unlawfully under any law for the time being in force; (i) a dependent of a person to whom any of the preceding paragraphs of this definition apply; (j) a person who is dealing in dangerous drugs.