Business Establishment

Immigration policy on business establishment in the republic of the Gambia will be as it is laid down, and revised from time to time, by The Government of the Gambia.

The government of The Gambia reserves the right to refuse the admission of entrepreneurs for the purpose of engaging in any trade, occupation, business undertaking which, either by itself or by the methods by which it is financed, is inimical to the interest of the Gambia.

The entry of foreign capital and enterprises into any sphere of business and industrial activity which has not been adequately served by the Gambians will be welcomed and will not be unduly restricted. Even in cases of trades that are adequately served by Gambian (e.g. retail trade) exceptions can be made in respect of certain areas of the country which have not been adequately served.

Enterprise Promotion

Businesses reserved exclusively for Gambians with concession to citizens of ECOWAS countries.

They are the informal sector as follows:

  1. Advertising and public relation business
  2. All aspects of betting and lotteries (also in schedule II)
  3. Block making for building and construction works
  4. Bread and cake making (mechanized bakery is in scheduled II)
  5. Casinos and gaming centres (both formal and informal sector)
  6. Commercial transportation (on small scale)
  7. Commission agents
  8. Distribution agencies, excluding motor vehicles, machinery and equipment and spare parts.
  9. Estate agency (belongs to both informal and formal).
  10. Film distribution (including cinema films) (same as in 9)
  11. Hair dressing
  12. Indenting and confirming
  13. Laundry and dry cleaning
  14. Manufactures representatives
  15. Municipal bus services and taxis
  16. Newspaper publications and printing
  17. Office cleaning
  18. Passenger bus service (excluding luxurious bus service)
  19. Poultry farming
  20. Protective agencies
  21. Retail trade (except by or within the category of departmental stores and supermarkets)
  22. Wholesale distribution of local manufacturers and other locally produced goods.

Note: Where foreign equity participation shall be allowed, it shall not exceed 30%.

Enterprises in Respect of Which Gambian Must Have at Least 30% Equity Interest.

  1. Assembly of all electric domestic appliances such as radios, television sets, tape recorders etc.
  2. Bottling of soft drinks and blending of alcoholic drinks.
  3. Candle manufacture
  4. Clearing and forwarding agencies
  5. Cinema and other places of entertainment
  6. Canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables
  7. Coastal and inland waterways shipping
  8. Departmental store and supermarket having an annual turnover of less than D2,000.00
  9. Distribution of agencies for machines and technical equipment.
  10. Distribution and serving of motor vehicles, tractors and spare parts.
  11. Electrical repair shop and other repair shops associated with distribution of electrical goods.
  12. Establishments specialized in the repair of clocks, watches and jewelry.
  13. Fish and shrimp travelling and processing
  14. Garment manufacture
  15. Grain mill products and rice milling
  16. Ice –cream making
  17. Industrial cleaning
  18. Insurance (all cases)
  19. Lighter age
  20. Manufacture of jewellery and all related articles
  21. Manufacture of suitcases, brief cases, and bags, purses, wallets, portfolios and shopping bags.
  22. Manufacture of furniture and interior decoration
  23. Manufacture of matches
  24. Manufacture of leather footwear
  25. Manufacture of soap and detergents
  26. Oil milling, cotton ginning and crushing industries
  27. Plantation sugar and processing
  28. Plantation agriculture for tree crops, gains and other cash crops
  29. Printing of stationery and books and publishing of books and periodicals
  30. Restaurants, cafes and other eating and drinking places
  31. Radio and television broadcasting
  32. Singlet manufacture
  33. Slaughtering, storage and distribution of meat
  34. Stevedoring and shore handling
  35. Tanneries and leather finishing
  36. Tyre retreading
  37. Travel agencies
  38. Wholesale distribution of imported goods
  39. Photographic studies, including commercial and aerial photography
  40. Manufacturing of umbrellas, non- rubber and non-plastic toys, canes, buttons, brooms, brushes, lampshades, tobacco pipes and cigarette holders.
  •  

Enterprises in Which Gambians Must Have at Least 10% Equity Interest

  1. Banking commercial, merchant and development banking
  2. Basic iron and steel manufacture
  3. Beer brewing
  4. Boat building
  5. Construction industry
  6. Departmental stores and supermarkets with an annual turnover of not less than D2,000.00
  7. Distilling and rectifying and blending of spirits such as ethyl alcohol, whisky, gin, brandy etc.
  8. Fertilizer production
  9. Insecticides, pesticides and fungicides.
  10. International and national air transport (scheduled and charter)
  11. Manufacture of bicycles
  12. Manufacture of biscuits and similar dry bakery products.
  13. Manufacture of cement
  14. Manufacture of cosmetics and perfumery
  15. Manufacture of chocolate and sugar confectionery
  16. Manufacture of dairy, butter, cheese, milk etc
  17. Manufacture of food product starch, baking powder, coffee etc
  18. Manufacture of metal containers
  19. Manufacture of paints, vanishes or other articles.
  20. Manufacture of plastic products.
  21. Manufacture of rubber stamps
  22. Manufacture of tyres and tubes
  23. Manufacture of wires, nails, washers, bolts, vivats and others.
  24. Manufacture of basic industrial chemicals
  25. Manufacture of synthetic resins and man- made fibers
  26. Manufacture of drugs and medicines
  27. Manufacture of pottery, china and earthenware
  28. Manufacture of glass and glass production
  29. Manufacture of burnt bricks and structural clay products
  30. Manufacture of asbestos, graphite, abrasive and other non- mineral product
  31. Manufacture of cutlery, hand tools and general hardware
  32. Manufacture of metal doors and screens, window frames and similar structural metal products
  33. Manufacture of fabricated metal products such as stoves, steels springs furnaces etc
  34. Manufacture of engine and turbines 
  35. Manufacture of agricultural machinery and equipment
  36. Manufacture of metal and wood working machinery
  37. Manufacture of textile and food machinery, paper industry machinery, etc
  38. Manufacture of office, computing and accounting machinery
  39. Manufacture of electrical industrial machinery and apparatus
  40. Manufacture of radio, TV, and communication equipment
  41. Manufacture of electrical appliances and house ware, batteries, cables and wires, lamps and tubes, switches, sockets insulator, etc
  42. Manufacture of railway equipment
  43. Manufacture of motor vehicles and motor cycles
  44. Manufacture of aircrafts
  45. Manufacture of scientific, laboratory and medical equipment
  46. Manufacture of photographic and optical equipment
  47. Manufacture of watches and clocks
  48. Manufacture of machinery and equipment rental and leasing
  49. Manufacture of mining and quarrying
  50. Manufacture of ocean transport/shipping (including coastal shipping oil servicing companies)
  51. Manufacture of oil servicing companies
  52. Manufacture of production of sawn timber, plywood, pulp and paper mill
  53. Manufacture of production of cinema and television films
  54. Manufacture of salt refinery and packaging
  55. Manufacture of screen printing on cloth, dyeing
  56. Manufacture of storage and warehousing –the operation of storage facilities and warehouses (including bonded and refrigerated ware houses) for hire by the general public
  57. Manufacture of textile manufacturing industries
  58. Manufacture of tobacco manufacture
  59. Manufacture of ship building and repairing
  60. Manufacture of hotels, rooming houses, camps and lodging places.
  61. Manufacture of data processing and tabulating services
  62. Manufacture of all other businesses not included in schedules 1 and 2.

Note. In special cases, 100% foreign equity capital can be allowed in any of the schedules, subject to approval by the minister.

 

It follows from the above that participation in any trade or business not covered under the scheduled one will be welcomed. Each application will be examined by the Immigration Authority on its merits in light of this general policy.

Establishment of Business

Any person who is not a citizen of the Gambia is precluded from establishing on his own account or in partnership with any other person, practicing any profession or establishing or taking over any trade or business whatsoever or taking over any company with limited liability for any such purpose of employing non-citizens of the Gambia without the consent in writing of the minister of the interior.

Persons wishing to obtain the permission of the minister under the provisions of the above are acquired to submit completed application forms in four copies to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Interior, through the Director General of Immigration, 21 OAU Boulevard Banjul on immigration Form T/I which may be obtained from Immigration office.

No person is permitted to take any steps to establish any business. Until the consent of the minister has been obtained (even on a temporary basis).

 Such permission when granted will state the number of non-citizens of the Gambia who may be employed, and the number of non-citizens so permitted is known as expatriate quota of the firm.

Where any company wishes to increase its expatriate quota, application must be made on Immigration form T/2 in the same manner as outlined in paragraph

Where a company or business wishes to employ expatriate staff over and above all allocated quota for temporary work such as the erection of the factory of installation of machinery etc, where the work cannot be carried out within the existing quota, a temporary quota should be applied for the period required to carry out the work.

All persons requiring extending their activities over other spheres of activity will be required to address their application to the Director of Immigration.

Each company or business is permitted to employ expatriate staff up to the number granted by the minister, provided that such persons possess the qualifications stipulated by the company or business while applying to the minister for quota.

All non-Gambians on duty in the Gambia, on vacation leave, temporarily absent from the Gambia, temporarily employed in the Gambia or holding valid entry visa or residence permit for entry into the Gambia, will be counted against the quota.

The quota system does not normally apply to educational institutions or Government corporations. It does, however, apply to all commercial companies wholly or partly owned by the government of the Gambia. It will also apply to religious organizations that however, will be issued with gratis quota.

Employment

A section of the act provides that:  No person not being a citizen of the Gambia may take up employment with the Gambia Government, without the consent of the Director of Immigration.

The Act provides for the manner in which this shall be done. Application must be made to the Director of Immigration by the prospective employer in writing confirming that he has vacancy on the expatriate quota, and at the same time stating the positive employees is to be engaged, and confirming acceptance of Immigration responsibilities. The application must be accompanied by the personal application of the prospective employee together with his passport and immigration permit.

This procedure relates only to prospective employees who are in The Gambia at the time of application, and no person may undertake any such employment until he has received the written permission of the Director General of Immigration. In respect of persons outside the Gambia, see chapter IV of this manual.

The employer is responsible (under the provision of the Act) for notifying the Director of Immigration of any person he discharges from his employment together with details of the arrangements made for the repatriation of the employee discharged and to forward particulars of departure accordingly.

When any discharged employee has failed to leave the Gambia according to arrangements made for his repatriation, and has received permission from the Director of Immigration to remain in the Gambia, an Immigration officer shall make an immediate report to the Director, giving the facts of the case.

All expatriate employees wishing to change employment are required to direct their applications to the Director of Immigration, together with their residence permit, letter of no objection from their present /previous employer, and a letter of guarantee for their prospective employer. Under no circumstances must any change of employment be permitted to take place by an employer without the prior approval of the Director of Immigration.

  1. No person, not being a citizen of the Gambia, is permitted to take up any employment in the Gambia, temporary or otherwise, without the consent of the Director of Immigration. The only exception to this is employment with the Government of the Gambia.
  2. No person being dependent of a member of staff of the commission, Embassy or consulate of any country may take up employment, temporarily or otherwise in the Gambia.
  3. No person being a dependent of an officer in the service of the Gambia Government is permitted to take up employment in any high commission, Embassy or consulate in Gambia.

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