Hiring in Uganda: the entry permit, the contract and what comes off pay, step by step

Move someone who is already in Uganda

A Class G2 application is made with an appointment letter from the organisation the person will work for, and states their current immigration status. A foreign national already in Uganda who moves to new employment applies on the new appointment letter.

A Ugandan citizen needs no permit. Their move turns on the notice their current contract sets, which is at least a month in writing once service passes a year.

Check the role is open to a non-Ugandan

The Minister declares, by notice in the Gazette, the jobs that migrant workers cannot be offered. An employer does not offer one of those jobs to a migrant worker without an exemption certificate from the Commissioner responsible for employment services.

The Minister can allow a migrant worker into one of those jobs where an agreement between Uganda and a foreign organisation or another state covers it. The Minister can also allow it where the job needs a skill no Ugandan citizen has.

These rules do not apply to a worker allowed to work in Uganda under the East African Community's Common Market Protocol. Nationals of Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania still apply for a work permit.

Set the contract up right

A contract of service can be oral or written. Either way, the employee is given written particulars within twelve weeks of the start. They include the job title, the place of work, the pay and when it is paid, the overtime rate, the hours, the annual leave and the sick pay terms. A contract with someone who cannot read or understand the language it is written in is attested by a magistrate or a labour officer.

A probation period lasts up to six months, and can be extended by up to six more with the employee's agreement. Where the employer neither extends it nor ends it, and keeps paying, the employee is confirmed in the job. Either side can end it on 14 days' notice, or the employer can pay a month's wages instead. An employee is taken on under a probationary contract only once.

Monthly-paid staff are paid in legal tender at the end of each month, unless a written agreement sets other intervals.

The working week is up to 48 hours. By agreement it can be longer, up to ten hours a day or 56 a week. A working day of eight hours or more carries a 30-minute break. Overtime, above eight hours a day or 48 a week, is paid at one and a half times the normal hourly rate at least, and twice the rate on a gazetted public holiday, unless a written agreement says otherwise. Nobody works more than six days in a row without a day's rest.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Uganda's Employment Act treats as an employee anyone who agrees to work for an employer in return for pay, under a contract of service. That contract can be oral or written, express or implied.

A casual employee works by the day or the hour and is paid at the end of each day. Nobody is kept on as a casual employee for more than six months in a row. Laying someone off and rehiring them does not break the run.

A non-citizen is not employed in Uganda without a valid entry permit, a certificate of permanent residence or a special pass. A role that needs an entry permit goes through employer of record.

Know what comes off pay each month

The NSSF takes 15% of the employee's total wages each month, with no ceiling. You pay 10%, and 5% is deducted from the employee. Contributions are paid by the 15th of the next month. A contribution still unpaid at the end of the next month has 10% added, and 10% more each month it stays unpaid.

Income tax is withheld on monthly bands. For a resident, nothing is due on the first UGX 335,000. Then 20% is due up to UGX 410,000, 25% up to UGX 485,000 and 30% above it. Income above UGX 10,000,000 a month carries 10% more. The tax withheld is paid within 15 days of the month's end.

A non-resident has no nil band, and the first UGX 335,000 is taxed at 10%.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

Notice is given in writing, in a form and language the employee understands. It is at least two weeks after six months' service, a month after a year, two months after five years and three months after ten years. Where the employee is paid by a period longer than that, the notice matches the pay period. The employee can accept pay instead of notice. During notice, they have at least half a day off each week to look for work.

An employer can end employment on notice, at the end of a fixed term, on redundancy, or for sickness that lasts beyond six months, after a doctor's opinion. A dismissal rests on the grounds the Act lists: absconding, forged documents or missing qualifications, conduct that may harm the business, or a ground the contract sets.

Before a dismissal, the employer explains the reasons in a language the employee understands. The employee can have someone of their choice with them. The employee has five working days to prepare a response, which the employer hears and considers before deciding. Where that is not done, the employee is owed four weeks' net pay.

A dismissal on any other ground is unfair. The labour officer awards eight weeks' wages in every case. Further compensation of between a month and three months of wages can be added. A complaint is made within three months of the dismissal.

Severance, after six months' service, is a month's salary for each year worked. It is owed on an unfair dismissal, a death in service, a termination for physical incapacity and a redundancy, among the cases the Act lists.

Ending the employment of ten or more people within three months, for economic, technological, structural or similar reasons, is a collective termination. Their union is given the relevant information at least four weeks before the first termination. The Commissioner is notified in writing 30 days before.

Wages and accrued benefits are paid within seven days of the end. A certificate of service is given where the employee asks for one.

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