A Foreign Worker Passport Rights Guide: East Africa

A passport is not an office ID card. It proves identity and nationality, enables travel and, for a foreign worker, supports lawful immigration status. Yet employees sometimes hand the original to an employer during recruitment or work-permit processing and later discover that it is kept in a company safe, held as “security”, or returned only with management approval. The important legal question is therefore not simply whether an employer may see your passport, but whether the employer may control it.

Across the eight Partner States of the East African Community, the precise rules differ. Some countries expressly criminalise withholding another person’s travel document. Others regulate passport possession, forced labour or trafficking, while current work-permit procedures commonly ask for a copy rather than permanent custody of the original. The safest general principle is that an employer may have a legitimate reason to inspect, copy or briefly handle a passport for an official process. Temporary administrative use, however, should not become control over the worker’s ability to identify themselves, travel, change jobs or seek help.

Inspection is different from possession

There are three different situations. Human resources may inspect the original against a copy and immediately return it. The passport may also be produced to immigration because an official process requires the original. The more difficult situation is employer custody: the company keeps the document after the official purpose has ended and the worker cannot obtain it on request.

“Company policy”, “safe keeping”, “everyone gives us their passport” or “you will get it back when your contract ends” are not, by themselves, legal powers. If an authority has lawfully required surrender or seizure, the employee should be told which authority and under what process. A private employer should not imitate statutory powers given to immigration officers, courts or law-enforcement agencies.

Kenya: the law is unusually direct

Kenya gives one of the clearest answers. Section 24 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act says a valid passport issued under the Act remains in the holder’s possession until there is lawful cause for withdrawal, suspension or confiscation. Section 54 goes further by making it an offence, without lawful cause, to confiscate, forcefully take or detain a passport or travel document issued to another person.

The Act separately identifies situations in which immigration or law-enforcement officers may lawfully suspend or confiscate a travel document. Those are public powers, not a general licence for an employer. Current Class D employment-permit guidance also asks for passport copies. Where document retention is used to stop a person leaving Kenya or seeking help, section 8 of the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act creates an additional serious protection against interference with identification or travel documents.

Uganda: possession and coercion both matter

Uganda’s Citizenship and Immigration Control Act places passport administration and control with immigration authorities. Section 48 makes possession of a passport or travel document without lawful authority an offence. Foreign workers also need access to the passport and immigration status on which lawful presence depends.

Uganda’s Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act is particularly relevant to coercive retention. Section 7 covers confiscating, concealing or destroying a passport, travel document or other personal documents where this is done to unlawfully deny freedom of movement or access to public services.

An employer temporarily handling a passport for a sponsored permit process is not automatically committing trafficking. Refusing to return it so that the employee cannot leave, report abuse or approach public authorities is very different. Uganda’s current permit procedures use documentary uploads and require the worker to appear with the passport at relevant immigration stages. That supports cooperation with the official process, not indefinite employer custody.

Rwanda: withholding another person’s travel document is an offence

Rwanda’s Law on Immigration and Emigration is exceptionally clear. Article 53 provides that, except for an immigration officer, a person who withholds a travel document that does not belong to them commits an offence. Article 52 separately addresses pledging, selling or buying travel documents.

The employer may request the information and documents needed for a work or residence permit, and immigration officers may inspect originals where necessary. That does not create private passport-control powers. If a passport is withheld, the employee should request its immediate return in writing and ask the employer to identify any legal or immigration instruction said to justify continued custody. If it is not returned, the matter can be taken to the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration and, where appropriate, law-enforcement authorities.

Tanzania: another person’s passport should be handed back

Tanzania’s Passports and Travel Documents Act, Cap. 42, Revised Edition 2023, provides that a person who comes into possession of a passport or travel document belonging to another and fails to hand it over to the holder, the Immigration Department or another government agent commits an offence. Current Class B residence-permit guidance, meanwhile, asks for a copy of the national passport.

Because the passport statute principally regulates Tanzanian passports and travel documents, a foreign worker should not rely on that provision alone. Tanzania’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act adds an important safeguard where documents are confiscated or concealed in furtherance of trafficking or a trafficked person is prevented from leaving or seeking redress. The practical distinction remains clear: copying a passport for immigration compliance is not the same thing as retaining the original to control resignation, movement or departure.

Burundi: a passport cannot simply become employer security

Burundi’s official legal materials continue to invoke the 1996 passport framework in later passport measures. Article 20 of the 1996 passport decree provides a penalty where a person destroys, steals or retains a passport or equivalent document against the holder’s will or without a legal or plausible reason. More recent rules governing employment of foreigners and EAC citizens require valid travel and immigration documents for lawful work.

The 2022 joint employment order requires a valid standard travel document in the work-permit process. That requirement should not be confused with a right for an employer to keep it after the application purpose ends. Where the original must temporarily leave the employee’s hands, the practical safeguard is a receipt stating who has it, why, and when it should be returned.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: current permit rules ask for a photocopy

The DRC Constitution protects the right of every person on the national territory to move freely and to leave and return subject to law, while legally present foreigners receive legal protection. The Labour Code also prohibits forced or compulsory labour.

The October 2025 rules governing the foreign-worker card are especially useful in practice. They require a photocopy of the worker’s passport and valid visa among the application documents. The permit file itself therefore does not explain or justify permanent employer possession of the original.

An older Congolese ordinance also addresses retention of certain official documents against the holder’s will without legal or plausible reason. Because that instrument is old, it should not be the only basis for action. A worker facing refusal should rely on current immigration documentation requirements and labour protections and raise the matter with the labour inspectorate, migration authorities or police.

South Sudan: official processing is not company custody

South Sudan’s current Ministry of Labour work-permit guidance says the foreign applicant should be in possession of a valid passport. Official registration may require presentation of an original, while the permit file also uses passport copies. Those procedures do not state that an employer acquires a general right to keep the employee’s original passport.

The Labour Act 2017 also protects access to employment records. Section 44 provides for the employee to receive a copy of a written employment contract, while the employer keeps its own copy. The Act prohibits forced labour as well. A worker should therefore keep the contract, passport, work-permit card and immigration records. If the original is required for an official step, ask which authority requires it and when it will be returned. Unresolved withholding can be raised with the Ministry of Labour, immigration authorities and police.

Somalia: current rules do not create a general employer right

Somalia’s federal work-permit service requires a valid passport and says the company must request a work permit before a foreign employee legally begins work. The permit-of-stay procedure likewise requires a valid passport, approved employment contract and work permit.

The current public service materials reviewed do not give employers a general right to retain an original passport after processing. That fits Somalia’s newer labour-migration framework: the National Labour Migration Policy adopted in 2025 is rights-based, while the private employment agency regulations strengthen fair recruitment and safeguards against exploitation, with implementation continuing in 2026.

It would therefore be inaccurate to invent a single criminal rule or grace period that the published materials do not provide. A worker whose passport is refused should contact the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Immigration and Citizenship Agency and, where coercion or immediate danger is involved, police.

What to do if the passport is already being withheld

Begin with a written request. Identify the document, ask for its return by a clear date, and ask the employer to state the specific legal authority for any continued custody. Keep the message factual. At the same time, secure copies of the passport identity page, visa, work or residence permit, employment contract and messages showing why the document was handed over.

If the employer says immigration has the original, ask for the receipt, application reference and office handling it. If the employer refuses to return it, contact immigration and the labour ministry or labour inspectorate. Where retention is being used to prevent travel, force continued work, block a complaint or deny access to public authorities, involve police or an anti-trafficking body. A consulate or embassy can assist with passport and protection issues, but do not falsely report a document as “lost” when you know it is being withheld.

Do not hand over an original passport as security for recruitment fees, accommodation, a salary advance or debt merely because this is presented as normal practice. If an original must temporarily be submitted, obtain a receipt recording the purpose, recipient and expected return date.

The simple legal test

The most useful question is not, “Did I voluntarily hand over my passport?” It is, “Can I get it back when I ask?” Consent to copying or short administrative handling is not the same as consent to indefinite control.

Across East Africa, the strongest laws make that distinction explicit, while the more cautious jurisdictions still provide no obvious general entitlement for a private employer to turn a worker’s passport into company property. Immigration compliance may require cooperation, but it should not require surrendering personal freedom. A responsible employer verifies the document, keeps the copies legally required, uses the original only where an official process genuinely needs it, and returns it promptly.

Sources and publication note

Source note. This article was prepared from official and primary materials reviewed on 2 September 2026, including the East African Community’s current Partner State information; Kenya’s Citizenship and Immigration Act, Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act and immigration permit guidance; Uganda’s Citizenship and Immigration Control Act, Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act and immigration guidance; Rwanda’s Law on Immigration and Emigration; Tanzania’s Passports and Travel Documents Act, Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and residence-permit guidance; Burundi’s passport legislation and 2022 joint order on employment of foreigners and EAC citizens; the DRC Constitution, Labour Code and 2025 foreign-worker-card rules; South Sudan’s Labour Act 2017 and Ministry of Labour work-permit guidance; and Somalia’s federal work-permit and permit-of-stay services, National Labour Migration Policy and private employment agency framework. Individual facts and later amendments may change the result. This is general legal information, not legal advice for a particular case.

Suggested citation: 

Ronald Serwanga, “A Foreign Worker Passport Rights Guide: East Africa” East Africa Legal Insight (2 September 2026).