Working in Mozambique: the 2026 guide for foreign employers and professionals

Who this guide is for

• A foreign company sending its own people to a contract, a site or a subsidiary in Mozambique, for weeks or for years.
• A company in Mozambique hiring a foreign professional and needing to know what the quota allows, what it costs and how long it takes.
• A foreign professional who has been offered work in Mozambique and wants to understand the visa, the residence permit and the tax position before accepting.

Oil and gas suppliers have their own set of rules on top of these (Decree 63/2011 and, for the Area 1 and Area 4 projects, Decree-Law 2/2014). They are covered in Work permits and payroll for oil and gas; this guide covers the general regime that applies in the other sectors, without prejudice to special regimes and to the public administration.

Three frameworks, three authorities

The hiring routes at a glance

Decree 88/2024 of 17 December, which revoked Decrees 37/2016 and 43/2022, organises the hiring of foreign citizens into four regimes. Which one applies depends on how long the person will work in Mozambique and on how many foreigners the company already employs.

Three rules apply across regimes. The micro employer may hire one foreigner even with fewer than ten national employees (art. 9 no. 5). A foreign worker’s contract runs for a maximum of two years, renewable by a new application, and never converts into an open-ended contract (art. 21). On termination for any reason the employer notifies the labour authority and the provincial migration service within five days (art. 23). The detail, including the documents each file needs, is in Hiring foreign workers: quotas and the four regimes.

Visas and residence

Law 23/2022, in force since 28 January 2023, sets the visa categories. The three that matter for work are easy to confuse.

For stays beyond the visa the person applies to SENAMI for a temporary residence authorisation, the DIRE, valid for one year and renewable while the reasons for it last (art. 36); investment residence authorisations run for two or five years under art. 32. The right of residence ceases if it is not renewed within 30 days of the end of validity, and also if the holder is absent from the country for more than 90 days without prior written notice to the migration services (art. 38); prepare the renewal before expiry. Since 11 February 2026 a new eVisa/eTA platform handles online applications and prior travel authorisation, including for some visa-exempt nationalities. The step-by-step sequence, documents and timings are in Work visa and residence permit (DIRE).

The employment contract and the Labour Law

A foreign worker’s contract is written, dated and signed by both parties, with the clauses listed in Decree 88/2024 (art. 20): identification, category and tasks, place of work, duration, remuneration and payment terms, start and end dates. Any change in conditions is notified to the labour authority with an addendum. Beyond that, the general Labour Law applies to foreign workers in the same terms as to Mozambican workers, within its own scope of application.

• Working time: 48 hours a week and 8 hours a day as the normal limit (art. 93); overtime paid at +50%, or +100% when it runs past 20:00 into the night, and night work at +25% (art. 125), within the limits of 96 hours per quarter, 8 per week and 200 per year (art. 99).
• Leave: 12 days of paid leave in the first year of effective service and 30 days in the following years, counted in calendar days (art. 108); 90 consecutive days of maternity leave (art. 14).
• Probation: up to 2 months for most workers, 3 months for mid-level technicians, 6 months for senior technicians and managers (art. 48).
• Termination on structural, technological or market grounds: severance of 30 days of salary per year of service where the base salary is between one and seven sector minimum wages, 15 days between more than seven and eighteen, and 5 days above eighteen (art. 141), with the written notices of art. 142 at least 30 days ahead and specific rules for fixed-term contracts and collective dismissals (arts. 142 to 144).
• Discipline: dismissal for misconduct requires a disciplinary procedure with notice of the facts, the worker’s reply and the union’s opinion (arts. 64 to 70).

Contract types, renewals, probation, termination and the obligations that catch foreign employers unprepared are in Labour law for employers.

What an expatriate costs: tax, social security and fees

Two consequences follow. Fees are quoted in minimum wages of the employer’s sector, so a bank pays roughly twice what a construction company pays for the same authorisation. And the 2026 residence rules mean an expatriate on a Mozambican payroll is normally a tax resident from day one, taxed on worldwide income, unless the facts say otherwise; split payrolls do not change that. The payroll mechanics, including the INSS refund on definitive departure and the 2026 minimum wage table, are in Payroll, IRPS and INSS for expatriates.

A realistic sequence

1. Decide the regime from headcount and duration: short-term (up to 120 days), quota, authorisation or approved project. Check the sector minimum wage, because every fee depends on it.
2. Collect the person’s documents early: qualifications authenticated for use in Mozambique (consular legalisation where applicable), translated into Portuguese, with the equivalence certificate where issued abroad, criminal record, medical certificate, passport with at least six months’ validity. They are requested at several points in the chain.
3. File the labour step in the province where the person will work: notification (quota, approved project, short-term; conformity confirmed within five working days) or application (authorisation, decided within 15 working days by law). These are the legal deadlines for the labour decision, not the time to complete a mobilisation.
4. Apply for the work visa at the consulate, or through the official eVisa portal where the category and the applicant are eligible, with the labour document.
5. On arrival: register the worker with INSS within 30 days (or file the exemption proof), obtain the tax number (NUIT), set up payroll, and apply to SENAMI for the DIRE where the stay requires it.
6. Diary the renewals: the contract and authorisation (two years maximum), the visa (one year), the DIRE (one year; prepare the renewal before expiry) and the five-day notice on termination.

Six errors that cost the most time

• Bringing the person in on a business visa to "start while the paperwork runs". The business visa does not allow work (art. 25) and the labour step must precede the work visa.
• Counting the quota on the group instead of the Mozambican entity. The percentages apply to the employer’s own staff, with no rounding (Decree 88/2024, art. 9).
• Treating an audit, inspection or commissioning visit as "no work". Technical assignments can be work subject to notification even when the professional remains employed and paid abroad.
• Letting a fixed-term contract roll over. A foreign worker’s contract cannot exceed two years without a new application and never becomes open-ended (art. 21).
• Forgetting the five-day notice when someone leaves (art. 23). The position stays counted and the records stay wrong.
• Assuming a non-resident payroll abroad keeps the salary out of Mozambican tax. Since 2026 residence follows the facts of where the person lives and works, not a day count.